Pizza Yoga: A Fitness Trend We Can Really Get Behind

by Food52 · May 7, 2018

    Yoga is pretty cool. The practice, whose roots can be traced back to the Indian subcontinent, has caught on in a big way all over the world. Everyone’s doing it, everyone’s talking about it. Heck, even I Downward Dog from time to time.

    And, as with most things, with popularity comes variation, permutations of the form. People now practice yoga on standup paddleboards, at sundown, at sunrise, with goats (!!!!!!!). But I’m here to present to you the strangest, most outlandish yoga incarnation I’ve seen to date. I give you: pizza yoga.

    Record scratch. Say what? Yep. Pizza. Yoga. Yoga with pizza. Stretches and poses and deep, heavy breaths with a cheese laden saucer. In. The. Room.

    OK, but what’s really going on here? Let's take a look:


    Four people, in what appears to be a makeshift yoga studio, cycle through a few classic positions with slices in their hands, pies on their bellies. They arc deftly into Bridge Pose with pizza boxes balancing on their hips and even take bites while easing into Warrior I. (These are, admittedly, sentences I never thought I'd write.)

    Sure, both yoga and pizza are totally de rigueur. Yoga, an age-old tradition with deep roots in spiritual practice; pizza, a revered disk of dough with tomatoes and toppings. But their existence in tandem?

    I reached out to Level Fitness, the creators of the video, for comment, and they had this to say about the phenomenon: "Pizza yoga is only a fun, light-hearted video that we made in our office. There's no real foundations [to] this—just meant to be a fun, engaging video for our audience."

    Ah, so less legitimate than I had hoped. That said, I'm still full of questions:

    What’s the optimal position for noshing?
    Does yoga pizza taste better than regular pizza?
    What's the best pizza for posing? Toppings or no?
    Is this the wellness/ workout/ food trend we deserve?
    Can I try this at home? Should I try this at home?

    Forget it. Pizza yoga, chez moi. See y'all there.

    Words by Valerio Farris at Food52

    [Photo via @lilfrankies]

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