Yoga Lights Up in Fort Greene Park
Brittni Allen, a Clinton Hill resident and outdoor-exercising enthusiast, is taking yoga to a new level with Brooklyn Zumba Fitness’ “glow in the dark” yoga in Fort Greene Park – a combination of nature, glow sticks and hip-hop jams.
Allen started working out this past fall, running miles each day indoors on a treadmill. Once she built up her endurance and stamina and felt more comfortable in her running abilities, she began running outside. She lost 30 pounds from her daily runs through Fort Greene Park, and she wanted to share the experience of exercising outdoors with others.
Brooklyn Zumba Fitness was born.
“I wanted to take fitness to a new level,” Allen said. “I wanted to take the burden out of working out.”
She wished for a low-stress and spiritually relaxing way to work out, and she was sure others felt the same. But she didn’t know how to be different from the myriad of outdoor fitness classes, especially ones like yoga and zumba. Allen didn’t want to be just another once-a-month outdoors class that substituted for the studio version. She wanted people to be immersed in nature.
“The outdoors has its own music to it,” Allen said. “We can move to the music.”
While she offers more basic, standard classes, what sets Allen apart from other outdoor fitness classes is her “glow in the dark” yoga.
The concept is simple – wait until it gets dark outside, put on some glow-in-the-dark paint and glow bracelets, turn up the music and bend to downward dog. It’s almost like a Friday night party, with the benefit of exercise and stress reduction.
“I like to have fun,” Allen said, “and this doesn’t exist anywhere else in the city.”
Allen’s classes are on a consistent, weekly schedule now that spring is beginning to hit the nabe. She officially opens for business on April 18, with the inaugural glow in the dark yoga party, which starts at 7:30 and runs until 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday boasts sunset yoga, an hour-and-a-half program of silent, relaxing yoga for people who work high-stress jobs throughout the city. It begins at sunset and Allen will offer detox shots and light massages to aid the calming process.
On Saturdays, kids can join the fitness fun, too – Allen is offering storytelling yoga and mommy-and-me yoga with a yoga teacher-slash-storyteller extraordinaire.
She said the warm weather has people roaming the park more often, and she hope they’ll see her class and join in.
“Brooklyn is coming together beautifully,” Allen said. “I want to really know the people in my community.
Classes start at $10 for the first week and will be $15 after that. The sunset yoga class is $30 and includes the cost of the juice shots. All classes will meet at the base of the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park.