PRESS: BUST Magazine (New York USA) Apr/May 2006

HEY HO, LET'S OM!
From classes to clothes, yoga is going punk rock

When you hear the words 'punk rock yoga', you might picture Sid Vicious doing a shoulder stand. But the latest twist on this ancient fitness tradition has more to do with a DIY ethos than musical chaos.

In 2003, Seattleite Kimberlee Jensen Stedl 'rebelled against the trappings and dogma betraying yoga.' A working-class gal from Boston, Jensen Stedl created Punk Rock Yoga (www.punkrockyoga.com).

'Yoga in this country is white and elitist,' she says. to make it affordable and approachable for a wider audience, she holds her hour-and-a-half classes in an all ages club, charging only a suggested donation of five bucks.

'There aren't a bunch of people doing whiskey shots and putting their cigarettes out on eachother's jackets. Hell, it's got less dust thatn half the yoga studios I've been in.'

There are others taking punk rock to the mat as well. Australian yogis-cum-e-tailers Morgwn Rimel and Gaylee Butler recently launched Yogurt Activculture (www.yogurtactiveculture.com).

'Yoga gets boxed up into this super-chill, hippie packaging,' says Rimel. 'Anyone who practices knows it can be really confronting and tough--hardcore, even.' To reflect this, the two are producing a line of yogic 'proactive-wear' that includes everything from The Six-String Mat (featuring an electric guitar) to saucy rocker tees that read 'Poser' and 'Enlighten Me'.

'Punk rock is more than just music and style-- it's an attitude, a way of being. just like yoga,' explains Rimel.

Hardcore, indeed.

[Alle C. Hall]