Step Aside, SoulCycle: Voga Is the New Workout You Will Want to Try in 2016
With the new year only days away and those fitness resolutions creeping up on you, finding the perfect new workout to try is probably becoming a main priority. If you’re not super into the CrossFit or the other no frills workouts classes that have been gaining popularity over recent years, we suggest you take a step back in time instead. Introducing: voga.
Voga is basically exactly what it sounds like: a fusion of yoga and “vogueing” (you know, Madonna’s famous dance). The fast-paced class is set to an iconic ’80s soundtrack and feels like a step back into the jazzercise-filled, Richard Simmons-instructed days of exercise classes… with a modern touch.
The budding fitness trend is the brainchild of Juliet Murrell, a successful set designer in the fashion, film and design industry who qualified as a yoga instructor in 2011 to restore her natural energy levels. She tells the Telegraph, “Voguing might seem incongruous with yoga as it is quite exhibitionist and performance-based, but it’s also about feeling brilliant from the inside, living in the moment, enjoying our bodies. It is possible to be mindful while throwing shapes to Madonna. You definitely feel more energized. You are very focused and no one is looking at anyone. When you’re dancing, it’s easy to zone people out, focus on the shapes and claim your space without feeling self-conscious.”
If you’re dying to try it, we have some good news and bad news depending on your location. As of right now, Voga classes are primarily available in London (at different pop-ups across the city) as well as in a few other UK and European cities. However, House of Voga has plans to hit NYC in June of 2016 and possibly a few other US locations later in the year. Until then, we’ll just be here trying to copy the moves we spotted in the video on repeat while Madonna and Michael Jackson play in the background.
Would you try voga? Tell us what you think on Twitter @britandco.
(Photo via @houseofvoga, h/t Grazia UK)