Drop that beat, hip hop yoga style

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

Yoga is a time for escape. For many people, their mats are a place of getting back to their soul center, forgetting their worries and balancing their lives. But not all yoga practices are the same.

Christy Lecuyer and Kris Pace are bringing a new kind of yoga practice to Flagler County with their studio, Yoga Studio 8, on Boulder Rock Drive. The infrared-heated studio offers traditional Yin and Vinyasa flow classes, but also picks up the tempo with cardioga, Buti and hip hop yoga.

“It’s like yoga with a twist,” Lecuyer said. “It’s allowing us to be a little edgy and let our hair down and get into movements the way that society has made us stop moving. They’ve put something on it that’s it not. I’m just bringing freedom back into people’s lives.”

Yoga Studio 8 was packed Friday, Jan. 30, with close to 60 women and a few men, who wanted to let their hair down, so to speak, and move to the beats at its first live DJ hip hop yoga event.

The addition of live music brings more of a connection, Lecuyer said. And I have to agree.

Adding a DJ to a workout made the Friday evening class into more of an event and not just a yoga class. People planned their weekend around it. They brought friends. While setting up their mats, people were moving their hips and getting into the rhythm before the instruction even began.

“We’re building community,” Lecuyer said after the class ended. “We wanted to get a community built together of love and acceptance and introduce new things to this area.”

Lecuyer is the only certified Buti yoga instructor in Central Florida and Yoga Studio 8, which opened Dec. 21, is the only area studio that offers hip hop yoga.

“When you do something like Buti yoga or hip hop yoga, you can let go, be free,” Lecuyer said. “We get to clear our minds out and just have a lot of fun, smile and laugh and play. And then when we go back, life seems a little easier.”

But don’t be fooled. Hip hop yoga is more than just having fun. It’s a full body workout. I’ll admit that I had to brush some dust off my yoga mat for this event, but halfway through, my legs were already heavy. My core was sore within an hour of finishing the class. And it was amazing.

What better way to spend a Friday evening after a long week at work than clearing your mind, letting the music move you and building community all while pushing yourself physically.

But this wasn’t a one-time event. Lecuyer and Pace said to expect more one-of-a-kind yoga events, including what they are calling yoga recess, which is a combination of acrobatics and yoga often referred to as acroyoga.

“It’s the newest, hottest rage,” Pace said. “It’s partner yoga, so it requires to people to work together to accomplish something.”