Calling all the yogi ladies (also fellas) and Queen B lovers—the latest trend in themed yoga classes combines your two passions in life: yoga and Beyoncé. NamasBey, or in some studios, known as Bey-Asana, is the Beyonce-themed yoga class you’ve been waiting for.
These Beyonce-themed yoga classes originated in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, and are now popping up in other cities including Houston. From LA, yoga teacher Paul Schneider (who is also the creator of Namasdrake) encourages themed classes like NamasBey because they bring more people to yoga, especially beginners who might be intimidated by the traditional yoga class setup.
Beyoncé Yoga in Houston and LA
In an interview with the Houston Press, Schneider said the goal and concept behind NamasBey classes is “to make Hatha yoga fun and less intimidating to beginners, or even to people who may never have tried yoga in their life if it wasn’t for fusing it with their favorite artist.”
Susie Edebor and her husband Nosa also host Bey-Asana classes at their Houston-based yoga studio. The couple told Houston Press that their first Beyonce-themed yoga class was back in 2015, which was supposed to be one-off fundraising event to help Nosa cover his yoga teacher training costs. However, the event was featured in their local paper so it got a lot of attention and the event just took off.
“In Houston, Beyoncé represents empowerment, strength and energy, and we wanted to create something fun that would bring all that together while connecting people.”
Chanting, Ohming, the Sanskrit and the sutras, and seeing your neighbor yogis flying through poses effortlessly—it’s true, all these things can sometimes make stepping into your first yoga class intimidating for a newbie. So to help counter this, these new class themes are helping to make yoga more accessible for the namastay-in-bed-types or those who think they don’t quite fit in with the stereotypical yoga crowd.
What do you think—are themed yoga classes a good way to make yoga appealing and welcoming to a wider audience? Would you get in formation for a Beyoncé-themed class? Share your thoughts below!
Image credit: Namasdrake / H/T
