In Praise of Snowga

It’s hard to love winter by this time of year.

For starters, one of my favorite classes to take has been cancelled three weeks in a row. Thanks, snow. Judging by the forecast, we might get a fourth consecutive cancellation on Monday.

When class does happen, you have to traipse across a parking lot that is probably snowy, icy, slushy or simultaneously all three, no matter how diligent the maintenance crew is. It’s just a losing battle. Every week, more parking spots get swallowed up by mammoth snowbanks. Everyone is sick, forcing you to think hard about the risks of hanging out in an enclosed public space and sharing props. You have to wear approximately 18 layers to get to class, remove around 17 of them to do yoga, and then put the rest back on afterward. And then drive home as even more snow falls (surprise!).

So, when spring feels like an eternity away, what’s a frustrated yogi to do? Snowga.

Technically, snowga involves putting on your winter clothes and physically doing poses outside in the snow. During the recent blizzard (you know, the one that threatened to hit New York but whacked Boston instead), MyYogaWorks held a #snowgaworks Instagram contest that awarded a free subscription to the best photo of, that’s right, snowga. The winning photo is gorgeous, by the way.

During yet another storm, the studio where I take classes mentioned snowga in its email newsletter — which, alas, contained yet more class cancellations. Linking acceptance of the snow to the niyama of isvara pranidhana, surrendering to the divine flow, the letter encouraged embracing our current reality… and sending snowga pics.

Snowga is really a state of mind. It’s easy — or, at least, easier — to practice when conditions are ideal. It’s easier to feel calm, grounded, and happy when the sun is beaming on your face. But pushing into a handstand when your fingers are on ice and your feet are weighed down by boots? Folding forward in a puffy coat? Or even completing a mini indoor home practice… or just sitting quietly inside and just being okay with being stuck there as a blizzard rages? Snowga.

Snowga pictures are also — in every way — the antithesis of those dramatic bikini’d beach yoga photos that dominate #yoga tags on Instagram and other sites. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these shots — they can be beautiful. The aesthetics of yoga are pretty cool. But these photos also represent an idealized state of yoga: a perfect body performing the most visually impressive pose in perfect weather.

Snowga is covered up. Bodies are filled out by layers, their contours blurred and neutralized. Movement is inhibited, and physical limitations are imposed on even the most bendy yogi. The pose might not be the most advanced. It might not even be perfect, and it might even look silly. But it’s real. It says, “Ya know, I’m just working with what we’ve got right now.” Isvara pranidhana.