Calling All Hungry Yogis…Foodie Yoga Coming To A Studio Near You

What do you do when the urge for chocolate strikes during your sun salutation…Run, don’t walk to your nearest yoga studio embracing the latest trend to hit the yoga community: Foodie Yoga.

Merging eating and yoga, this new combination of exercise and indulgence starts with an hour of yoga and ends with encouragements to “ssssssmeelll the squaaash waaafting through the air” as yogis chow on butternut squash soup, pasta, chocolate and wine.

Tapping into the trend, David Romanelli, a yoga teacher at Exhale Spa in New York City, devised a “Yoga for Foodies” series that he plans to expand to Chicago, Cleveland and Dallas. Romanelli said any pleasure of the senses, eating included, can bring on a “yoga high.”

But not everyone agrees that the enjoyment of food and wine is compatible with yogic enlightenment. Yoga purists say that many foods (like wine and meat) are still a big no no. Others, like Mr. Romanelli, say that anything goes, as long as it tastes good. The debate is exposing rich ores of resentment in the yoga world.

“The culture of judgment in the yoga community, I call it yogier than thou, is rampant, and nowhere more than around food,” said Sadie Nardini, a New York yoga instructor.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, you can be sure if happy hour yoga starts, spandex-sporting folks will start coming out of the woodwork.