Harry Potter Yoga just might be better than Quidditch
While most athletic Harry Potter fans typically start up Quidditch leagues, one fit wizard decided to invent Harry Potter Yoga instead.
Isabel Beltran, a model and yoga teacher from Austin, Texas, taught a pretty magical Harry Potter Yoga class at a brewery over the weekend with hopes to make it a regular event.
Mashable talked with Ximena Larkin, Isabel's sister, who helped plan the gathering of flexible witches and wizards.
"Isabel and I were talking about a way to make the class more fun and interactive and boost attendance (average class size is about 10). I was reflecting on Harry Potter because Halloween night is the night his parents died and I thought it would be interesting to do something around Harry Potter, Halloween and death (from our culture's perspective)," Larkin wrote to Mashable.
Naturally, wands were provided.
"We're Mexican and celebrate the Day of The Dead. It's not morbid, but rather a celebration of life (of other's as well as our own)," Larkin said. "I'm the bigger Harry Potter fan between the two of us and the series (especially the last book) is something that changed my perspective on death. It felt very natural to combine the three to make it timely."
The Harry Potter Yoga class, which was taught over Halloween weekend, was specifically centered around Deathly Hallows. During the class, Isabel read passages from the final Harry Potter book.
Larkin shared Beltran's class script with Mashable. It features poses inspired by Fawkes the Phoenix, the Hogwarts Express, the stupify spell, the Nimbus 2001, Professor McGonagall and more. Beltran even had the class cast the Expecto Patronum spell together.
Not only did the event feature a yoga class, but there were also HP–themed cookies, a sorting hat, a mandrake garden, a photo booth, a potion station, pumpkin juice beer made by Circle Brewing Co. and more.
"Isabel is an artist so she spent the week leading up hand-making decorations for the event," Larkin said. "Her boyfriend (who is a co-founder of the brewery) is also a Harry Potter fan so he was all about this. It was a whole team effort/family affair."
Larkin exclusively told Mashable that the next Harry Potter Yoga lesson will be Sunday, Nov. 20, with a specific theme of Magical Creatures. For information on attending, click here.
Beltran teaches yoga at the Circle Brewing Co. in Austin every Sunday at 10:45 a.m.
BONUS: Hamster Potter
Topics Books Harry Potter
Sophie was a Viral Content Intern for the Watercooler channel. More writing and other stuff by Sophie can be found at www.sophiehirsh.com.
