Yoga Gets Its First Reality TV Show

 

On Monday, May 14, yoga's first reality TV show, Rock Your Yoga, will premiere on Veria Living. Its host is New York City yoga instructor—and self-proclaimed yoga geek—Sadie Nardini.

In addition to teaching founder of Core Strength Vinyasa in New York and on the international yoga circuit, Nardini made a name for herself early on by creating several hundred free how-to yoga videos for YouTube. She also organized a scantily clad yoga flash mob in the middle of Times Square last summer in the name of boosting body confidence among women. So the gutsy yogi is perfectly aligned to move her mat from video to reality TV.

For Rock Your Yoga, you'll see Nardini interviewing other big-name yogis (like Leslie Kaminoff, author of Yoga Anatomy), doing rooftop headstands in front of the Empire State Building, and driving remote control boats in Central Park. Oh, and teaching yoga.

Each hour-long episode starts with a 30–40 minute yoga class and then moves into tips and lifestyle advice. Example tip: what underwear yogis should wear.

While each episode has a theme and outline, Nardini insists that Rock Your Yoga is as real as reality TV gets.

"I mostly improvise on the spot, so you get to see the real me, geeky jokes and all," she says. "Yesterday, I called a pose Snoop Doggy Down Dog and sang the "Da Dip" song—on national TV. Sometimes I go home and just shake my head. But that's me, full-on and uncensored."

Nardini, who's originally from Iowa, hopes that by putting her fun-loving approach to yoga on television, she'll be exposing people across the country to yoga, some for the first time, in a way that's inviting and accessible—and possibly often hilarious.

"I want people to know they can rock who they are, live passionately, laugh loudly, and still have their yoga, too," she says.

That certainly sounds better than whatever message the Kardashians are sending. —Lisa Elaine Held

Rock Your Yoga debuts on Veria Living, Monday, May 14 at 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., and 6 p.m., www.veria.com