If there's snow, chances are there's Snowga, for the marriage of yoga and snow sports with a winter wonderland backdrop is making headlines and inspiring folks from all over to bridge the gap.
When ski instructor and registered Kripalu yoga teacher Anne Anderson choreographed a hybrid class in 2012 and put it on the schedule at Connecticut's Mohawk Mountain resort, it was met with enthusiasm, according to Fitness Magazine.
Anderson's background in Kripalu yoga is said to shine through in her classes, the goal of which is to reduce skiers' fears and anxieties before hitting the slopes, helping them advance through the confidence they build.
Anderson quickly created Snowga.com and gave Snowga a social media presence and it has since been considered her creation, although it's possible the idea came from several sources.
Regardless of where it's from, it's now everywhere, and trendsetters have realized that it doesn't matter if you're a skier, a snowboarder or a snowshoer or a little bit of everything: Snowga is for anyone who likes the snow.
In Washington State, Lynda Kennedy of Yogachelan became the first to start offering snowshoe-based Snowga, and the change of sport fundamentally alters the activity.
"When I first came up with the name five years ago, I thought it was original," said Kennedy in an interview with Relaxnews. "But then I soon found out there were a few others out there."
Under normal conditions, snowshoeing doesn't involve an aspect of fear, and Kennedy says that her classes are more about easing students into yoga, particularly those who find in-studio yoga boring.
"One of the key focuses of yoga is being present," Kennedy told Relaxnews. "We take time to be aware of the snow, its color, its feel, the sky and the views."
Kennedy tells Relaxnews the yoga aspect of her outings is ecclectic to meet the needs of her clients, whose level of fitness is often variable.
Her outings start with 30 minutes of yoga followed by two and a half hours of trekking with pauses for yoga poses and a hot beverage.
"During our stops along the trek we will incorporate trees into the pose," she told Relaxnews. "At the end of the trek there is a flat area where we do an extended practice that I call the Snowga studio."
A good dumping of powder gives Snowgis a softer mat than they'll ever get in a conventional yoga studio, for Snowga is practiced directly on the snow.
The numbers of resorts offering Snowga is growing so fast it's hard to count, and the craze hit Europe early on when Claire Goodchild of the UK launched a retreat program in Val d'Isère in the French Alps.
