Episode #164 — Rage Yoga with Lindsay Istace

So apparently “spooky season” is a thing now. It used to be that we’d hear it every so often and think, “stop trying to make that term happen.” But now it’s all over the internet and TV — one of our producers even had it used at her in a work email on the first day of October. Is “Halloween” as a catch-all not good enough anymore? If this change was a deliberate effort to include other holidays like Day of the Dead, we’d be all for it. But we suspect this is either a) a corporate attempt to monetize Halloween even further; b) a Party City-sponsored event; c) word wall décor created by a demon on Etsy that made its way into the vernacular; or d) a case of us being too crochety.

It’s definitely not “d” because for us, spooky things aren’t confined to a particular time of year: Your house can be haunted in April; you can stay overnight at Buffalo Bill’s house in December; the Loch Ness Monster can be spotted in February if she feels like it because those Scottish lochs get damn cold and maybe she needs to come to the surface for some tea and shortbread occasionally. And sometimes you can lick all the way to the center of a Tootsie Pop only to discover there isn’t a trace of a Tootsie Roll anywhere. Who’s the sucker now?

That last instance is less spooky and more rage-inducing. It’s clear now that owl wearing a mortarboard is a liar, but we’re powerless against him. He’s been raking in cash from his Tootsie Pop commercial since 1970 and has a stable of lawyers ready to shut any challenges down. All we can do is attempt to channel our rage into something more productive, and as luck would have it, our guest for this week’s episode has just the solution. We spoke with Lindsay Istace, the founder of Rage Yoga, to learn about why this type of yoga is just what we’ve been looking for.

Rage Yoga isn’t a gimmick or a joke, though Lindsay doesn’t particularly care if you think it is. This is yoga born of a bad breakup, and it helps you let it all out through kick-ass music, swearing, flipping people off, and just generally not giving a flying f@#k. This isn’t to say breathing techniques, yoga poses, and mindfulness aren’t part of the Rage Yoga experience, but participants are also deliberately practicing being badasses while getting Zen. Plus, the participants might not be in a yoga studio, but rather in a bar. And if they end up with a beer in their hand halfway through class, that’s okay.

Lindsay talked with us about how Rage Yoga came to be and how it went viral. She also shared whether she was ever tempted into selling her business, what kinds of people are drawn to this yoga variant, and how she feels about training others to be Rage Yoga instructors. Truthfully, we’re pretty sure we have what it takes to lead a Rage Yoga class. And by “we,” we mean Heidi. But she must promise to take a nap beforehand.

If your local bar doesn’t happen to offer Rage Yoga, don’t despair. You can find out more about it on the Rage Yoga website or Facebook page. Lindsay has a new book, “Rage Yoga: Unleash Your Inner Badass,” coming out November 2nd, so you can unleash in the privacy of your own home and still learn about being Zen as f@#k and how to love yourself. After listening to our interview with Lindsay, you’ll know that she’s not going to hold anything back in helping you to shut out the petty noise. So, check it out if you want to work on your mindfulness, or even just get healthier in a way that doesn’t earn you any side eye. We’re feeling much better now but are still working on tortured metaphors about time spent licking suckers and missing out on sugar, corn syrup, palm oil, condensed skim milk, cocoa, whey, soy lecithin, and artificial and natural flavors. We’ll have our day in court yet, Mr. Owl.