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‘Namastizzle’: We tried Hip Hop Yoga and it was everything we could have dreamed of

Will the Real Slim Shady please do downward dog?


If you heard Tupac tunes coming from the Great Hall this morning, no you weren't dreaming, that was just the sound of Hip Hop Yoga. BeActive hosted King's' first ever session on Friday and if a second event comes around you seriously need to get on it.

For only £2 you can stretch it out whilst bopping to Snoop Dogg, working wonders for your mind, body and soul. Oh and you get a free mug so it's totally worth it.

In front of some kind of Snoop Dogg shrine, Sabi the yogi led all the usual Vinyasa yoga moves – we're talking downward facing dog, chaturanga, you name it – pausing every now and then for a little shimmy and twerk (yes, even the boys).

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Who said yoga had to be serious?

We arrived fully equipped with pretentious gym leggings and yoga mats, feeling like absolute goddesses as we strutted around campus. Although, a few topples and the common how-is-my-leg-supposed-to-stretch-that-far later, we realised we were not the yoga connoisseurs we thought we were, and ready for yoga-macation.

Playing songs like "Drop It Like It's Hot" and "No Diggity" it's pretty easy to fall over in pose warrior three when you're distracted by silently rapping the lyrics. The same happened in the nicknamed 'goddess' pose: stretching your legs out wide, squatting and leaning on your heels can be so much more fun given the opportunity to shake your bum at the same time.

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This session dropped the whole 'serious' yoga reputation that can be mundane – adding music we listen to at every party as a classique or tracks that get us through the commute, it added smiles on all of us through the sweat when we recognised tunes we know.

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If you've ever been to regular yoga, you'll be familiar with the usual inspirational speeches that accompany your tree pose, but Sabi actually reads out rap lyrics in the middle of your yoga flow – it's probably the most motivated we've ever been.

The last ten minutes in every gym session is spent meditating and Sabi asked us to be grateful and remain in the moment for just a tiny bit of our busy day. Who knew that you could meditate to Snoop Dogg and Tupac? Nobody now knows me like Tupac knows me.

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Petition for King's to make Hip Hop Yoga a weekly thing? And then maybe we'll find some essay-writing motivation whilst downward-facing-dogging to the running bass of Biggie Smalls?