A Calgary woman has created a new take on yoga that substitutes rage for the traditional feeling of serenity.
At first blush, Lindsay Istace's class looks like regular yoga.
That's before she asks her participants to do exercises like "Screaming and giving up on life," which elicits a chorus of expletives from her class.
"Rage yoga," which Istace developed following a painful breakup, is now gaining popularity, and was recently the subject of a segment on the popular American talk show "Live! With Kelly and Michael."
Istace said when her relationship fell apart her world was "pretty much flipped upside down," which in turn affected her approach to yoga.
"My own person practice was very much affected, because suddenly there was a lot more swearing and yelling," Istace told CTV News.
Some friends suggested she hold a workshop to share the approach with others, and it took off from there. Istace now holds the class in a pub, with wine and beer available.
Istace said traditional yoga never worked for her because she couldn't really relax.
"Sometimes it was almost overly serene, overly keen and overly peaceful," she said.
And she knew she wasn't alone.
"It's actually intimidating for a lot of people, so by being as far away from your traditional yoga studio as possible, we actually allow a lot of people who wouldn't otherwise want to, to come out and give it a try," she said.
"And so far they seem to love it."
With a report from CTV's Alberta bureau chief Janet Dirks
