We’d first met during yoga teacher training 15 years ago, and continued to compare notes about both the shallow and deeper aspects of the practice: How do you modify crescent pose for someone with a knee injury? Does using Sanskrit feel like it’s honoring the roots of yoga enough?
In her classes, she spoke about yoga philosophy and ethics, did 15 minutes of breathwork, and chanted mantras in Sanskrit. It was the opposite end of the yoga spectrum from the class I’d just stumbled out of, which involved Lady Gaga tunes dialed up to 10, burpees, biceps curls during warrior poses, and deadlifts that morphed into downward-facing dog. Based on everything I’d learned in my yearlong teacher training, as well as nearly two decades of my own practice, it felt like I was cheating on yoga.
“Why is your face so red?” She asked. “Did you just go for a run?” No, I admitted sheepishly, then came clean: “I did…well…I was at yoga sculpt.” She sat back, her face awash in disappointment.
“Why would you do that?” She said, finally. “You know that’s not real yoga.”
Is there such a thing as “real” yoga?
Of all the phrases you can use to take down a yogi, “real yoga” is at the top. It implies there’s one, true way of doing the practice and everything else that deviates from that is somehow polluted and needs to be avoided. Considering how much deviation from that perceived norm there’s been over the last 10 years in particular, it’s not an easy task to stay on the “real” path.
“Yoga is more than a physical practice—it’s a way of living. And in introducing these other elements, people do think it waters that down,” says yoga teacher Kate Lombardo, co-owner and director of YogaRenew. “In some ways, I agree, but I also think if more people practiced yoga with its sense of grounding and peace, the better off we’d all be.”
She believes it’s important to honor the roots of yoga, but not to be so inflexible (pun intended) about how it’s defined, and especially about how it’s evolving.
“It’s not a bad thing to meet people where they are,” she says. “We don’t want to strip yoga down to being only movement, but we also don’t want people avoiding classes because they feel uncomfortable by the more philosophical or spiritual aspects they’re seeing. There has to be a middle ground where we respect the different lineages of the practice, but also invite more people into it in a way that works for them.”
As a yoga teacher, I often tell students that their practice is personal—everyone is on their own path, and comparison is truly the thief of joy.
The benefits of hybrid yoga
According to a soon-to-be-published survey conducted by BetterMe, 42 percent of respondents cited new workouts as the biggest factor in keeping them engaged and motivated to stay physically active.
“Combining modes of exercise can increase the effectiveness of your training program,” says Victoria Repa, certified health coach, Pilates instructor, and founder of BetterMe. “For example, yoga mainly focuses on building strength, stability, and flexibility. However, by adding elements of other types of training, such as cardio or strength training, the body will make significantly more positive adaptations than can typically be achieved through yoga alone.
Hybrid classes can also introduce yoga movement to people who haven’t tried it before, while also giving yogis the opportunity to learn proper resistance training form and integrate more cardio into their daily mix, says Jessica Feldman, instructor of the yoga-inspired Warrior Sculpt classes at Life Time, a fitness and wellness company.
“We have numerous yoga elements, including breathwork, grounding, sun salutations, and ending with savasana,” she says. “We also integrate weights and jumping jacks. All of that can combine to help expand someone’s comfort zone; whether they’re coming from a group fitness background or a yoga-only experience, the blend gives them the benefit of learning new ways to move, as well as improving balance, coordination, and range of movement.”
Karen Verechia, a yoga instructor at Hilton Head Health who integrated TRX into her yoga flows, agrees that people from different movement backgrounds gravitate toward hybrid classes as a way to build physical awareness in fresh ways. She also believes that yoga in these settings can intensify the benefits of that practice.
“In yoga, you’re building a mind-body connection as well as overall awareness, staying in the present moment, and becoming more mindful,” she says. “Adapting that into other fitness settings gives you the best of yoga while expanding your movement options. Yoga has always been about ‘beginner’s mind,’ where you’re approaching the practice with openness and curiosity. Why should a hybrid class be any different?”
Embracing the “not real” approach
During the post-sculpt lunch with my yogi friend, steeped in the “not real yoga” comment, I realized that my views about yoga had changed considerably over the past five years, leaning toward the belief that the practice needs to broaden out in this way, in my opinion.
Yes, there’s a certain silliness in goat yoga or brewery yoga, and maybe there are many aspects that get diluted when you’re ditching Sanskrit, don’t chant, and refrain from talking about yoga philosophy principles like the sutras or the other “limbs” of yoga. But in taking that approach, it feels to me like you’re opening the door to yoga’s potential just a bit wider, so more people can come in and get a feel for the practice. Then they get to decide if they want to explore those other aspects—or if they want to skip them altogether and just pick up some heavy weights and groove to “Bad Romance.”
With that perspective, maybe we all get to decide how we each define what’s “real” and apply that in ways that benefit ourselves and each other, rather than using the word to create a boundary that seems intimidating for people who would otherwise embrace the practice. As a yoga teacher, I often tell students that their practice is personal—everyone is on their own path, and comparison is truly the thief of joy. Applying that with a wider lens feels like an invitation for everyone to join and create their own definitions—and when that happens, it’s all real.
