PRESS: National Post Newspaper Canada Dec 2005
God save the yogi, it's anarchy in the ashram: Fitness trend sees punk rockers doing the downward dog
National Post
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Section: Arts & Life
Byline: Misty Harris
Source: CanWest News Service
The picture of inner peace is looking a lot like a Sex Pistols concert as hipsters have their way with yoga apparel.
The newest twist on the ancient practice has rebel yogis donning everything from military pants to skull-and-crossbones T-shirts as they chant their way to fashion Zen. Those behind the unlikely trend say they're simply "using western language to talk about an eastern philosophy" within the context of their own pop cultural experience.
"Yoga is thousands of years old and was punk before punk rock even existed," says Morgwn Rimel, 28.
"It may seem like they're at odds, but if you think about it, punk rock is more than just the music and fashion that immediately comes to mind -- it's a modern attitude, a way of life and being, just like yoga."
Rimel, along with fellow Australian yogi Gaylee Butler, recently started Yogurt Activeculture as a retail expression of this idea.
The online clothing company (www.yogurtactiveculture.com) is the epitome of yoga punk, with cheeky rocker tees that read "Poser" and "Enlighten me," yoga mats emblazoned with six-string electric guitars, and "proactive-wear" with such diverse inspirations as grunge icon Kurt Cobain and the Hindu text Bhagavad Gita.
"So often, [yoga] gets boxed up into this super-chill, Zen hippy packaging," says Rimel. "But anyone who practises regularly knows that it's not always uber-relaxing, feel-good stuff. It can be really confronting and tough sometimes ... hard-core, even!"
In the same way people use art and music to express who they are, "punk yoga" is designed to help someone better express their personality while exercising. Despite appearances, Rimel says it's about "being yourself," not about looking cool.
"Our idea starts with yoga but it doesn't end there," she observes. "Ultimately, it's about the art of living."
Yoga apparel, punk rock or otherwise, has gone from crunchy granola to the pages of Vogue. At Lotuswear in B.C., for instance, it takes the form of punk-inspired wrist gloves, sexy bra tops, fashionable shrugs, and low-rise yoga pants modelled after jeans.
"Whenever you modernize an ancient tradition, you have to be willing to take some of the good with some of the bad," says Lisa Palleson, co-founder of Lotuswear.
"With the commercialization of yoga, not everything is going to be pretty. But at the same time, there are benefits where -- in a society suffering from heart disease and obesity -- if you can get someone into an outfit they feel good about, then they might actually go to a yoga class."
Chip Wilson, founder of lululemon atheltica -- the leading Canadian retailer of yoga- inspired apparel -- says it's all part of the evolution of yoga as a fun and fashionable lifestyle.
"It doesn't matter how people do it as long as they do it," he says. "It's like the world ultimately takes the best things from all different places and decides a new genre. It's part of being global."
Judy Zaichkowsky, a professor of marketing at Simon Fraser University, describes the overarching business concept as "selling an experience."
From lululemon's corporate value system to Yogurt's socially conscious marriage of punk rock and enlightenment, today's yoga customers aren't just one with the universe -- they're also one with the brand.
"Maybe 20% of the people who buy [yoga apparel] actually do yoga," says Zaichkowsky. "More than anything, what they're buying is inspiration."
CanWest Global is Canada's largest media company and newspaper publisher, with ownership of 11 major daily newspapers and a combined average circulation of 1.4 million daily.
posted by Morgwn at 8:12 AM
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