Glow Yoga: Not your average yoga class

Glow sticks, body paint, bumpin’ music and tons of movement.

No, I’m not talking about a rave…I’m talking about a yoga class. Glow yoga to be exact. 

Glow Yoga at Yoga Hub Boston was the last stop along Fit University’s Back to School Fit Crawl – following BollyX, Cyc Fitness and Orangetheory. I came up with the idea for the Fit Crawl in the middle of the summer…I’d thought it’d be a great way for Boston students to kick off the semester in a healthy (and fun) way while exploring the fitness options available to them in the city. Not all students are lucky enough to live in such a health-conscious city like Boston so why not take advantage of what we have?

Side note: For those students without the luxury of lots of fitness studios & gyms around, you should start a Fit University chapter at your school! For those students with the luxury of fitness studios & gyms around, you should still start a Fit University chapter at your school!

I wanted the Crawl to include four different ways to stay fit and most importantly, I wanted all of them to be fun and something students would be excited about. So we did Bollywood-inspired cardio, a cycle class with a grand drum finale, heart-rate based circuit training, and to finish it all off, yoga with body paint and glow sticks. I had taken Glow Yoga once before, so I was pumped when Ali Singer, founder of Yoga Hub Boston, agreed to have Fit U in her new space at Pop Allston. 

Let me just say that Pop Allston is awesome. You’ve got Yoga Hub on the first floor, a skatepark on the second, a bike shop and a vintage market on the weekends. I feel trendy just talking about it. 

Glow Yoga is unlike any yoga class I’ve ever taken – and I’ve done a looooot of yoga. When you walk into Yoga Hub, the space is already in blacklight mode. You say ‘Hi!’ to super-friendly Ali, grab a few glow sticks to put around your wrists and head to the paint table (this is the really fun part). You can paint as much as you want, wherever you want, be as creative as possible. I looooved seeing people paint “Fit BU” and “Fit NU” on their faces, backs, arms, etc. Seriously guys, nothing makes me happier than seeing the Fit U community really get into the Fit U spirit!! I painted happy faces on my feet…it’s nice to see little smiley faces when I’m bending forward during my vinyasa! By the time the class actually started, I was sooo ready for it. It’d been a long day and my legs were ridiculously tight from my workout the day before #legday.  The class is everything you want in a yoga class – good movement, focus on breath and awareness, challenging (if you want it to be), and most of all, fun. When Ali asked us to set an intention, I made mine “creating value for the Fit University community.” That’s what I try to do each and every day and it’s through events like The Back to School Fit Crawl that allow me to do so. Not all yoga teachers prompt you to set intentions but I love that Ali does. Through Glow Yoga, Ali is really able to mesh the meditative and restorative aspects of yoga with the challenging and fun portion of fitness (I mean, how can doing yoga covered in body paint NOT be fun?!).

The Back to School Fit Crawl flew by in an instant and I want to thank all of the participating studios BollyX, YMCA of Greater Boston, Cyc Fitness, Orangetheory and Yoga Hub as well as our sponsors Prime Nutrition, Huga Bar, Core Power, Munk Pack, Hint Water and Topo Athletic.

Want more events like the Fit Crawl?

PS – Ready to try Glow Yoga for yourself? Use code FITU for a $10 class! *Perks of being part of the Fit U community.*