Unusual Yoga Styles: Acro, Laughter, Goat, Nude Yoga and More

Unusual yoga styles are modern spin-offs that add something new to a yoga class: a partner, an animal, a hammock, a paddleboard, a drink, or no clothes at all. The best known are acro yoga, laughter yoga, goat yoga, aerial yoga, SUP yoga and nude yoga. Most of them are less than 30 years old, and most of the health claims around them are marketing. A few, like acro and aerial yoga, are serious physical practices with their own teacher trainings.

Below is what each style is, where it comes from, what a class is like, and what you can honestly expect from it. If you are new to yoga, start with a regular class first. Our beginner's guide to yoga explains the basics, and the yoga styles overview lists the classic styles you can practise at home.

Acro yoga (partner yoga)

Acro yoga mixes yoga, partner acrobatics and elements of Thai massage. You work in pairs or threes, and one person lifts the other off the ground. The name took off in the early 2000s, when two groups used it independently: one in Montreal in 1999 and the AcroYoga school founded in San Francisco in 2003 by Jason Nemer and Jenny Sauer-Klein.

A class has three roles:

• Base: lies on the back and holds the flyer up with the feet and hands. The legs are stacked straight over the hips, so the bones carry the weight and the muscles do less work.
• Flyer: is lifted into shapes in the air. The flyer needs core strength and the trust to stay long and firm while someone else balances them.
• Spotter: stands beside the pair, watches both and catches the flyer if they slip. In a beginner class the spotter is the most important person in the room.

Acro is demanding. The flyer holds arm balances and inversions in the air, and the base presses a whole person up with straight legs. If you already practise Bakasana (Crow Pose) and have worked on your core strength, flying will feel familiar sooner. Falls happen, so learn with a teacher and a spotter, on a soft surface. The "therapeutic" side is calmer: the flyer hangs upside down over the base's feet and gets a gentle traction of the spine.

Acro fans often point to old film of T. Krishnamacharya balancing a child on his body as an early form of acro yoga. It shows that partner balances have been around for a while. Modern acro yoga, with its roles and its circus moves, is a newer invention.

In this video two of our teachers practise together: Daniel Scott as the base and Lauren Matters as the flyer.

Laughter yoga

Laughter yoga is group laughter as exercise. The Indian doctor Madan Kataria started the first laughter club in a park in Mumbai in 1995. The idea: you laugh on purpose, with eye contact and silly games, and fake laughter soon turns into real laughter. Clapping, chanting "ho ho, ha ha ha" and deep breaths fill the gaps. There are few yoga postures in it. The yoga part is mostly the breathing.

What does it do? Laughing hard means long, forced exhales and deep inhales, and most people feel lighter afterwards. Small studies have found lower self-reported stress and better mood after laughter sessions, often in older adults or people in care homes. The groups are small and the studies are short. The bigger claims you will read online, like protection against colds or faster recovery from chronic illness, are not backed by good evidence.

Kataria's organisation says laughter clubs now meet in more than 100 countries. Many are free and meet outdoors.

Goat yoga

Goat yoga is a gentle yoga class with small goats walking around the room. Lainey Morse started it on her farm in Albany, Oregon, in 2016, and it spread to farms around the world within a year. The goats are usually young or dwarf goats. They wander between the mats, nibble at hair and sometimes climb onto a back in Table Top or Child's Pose.

Be honest with yourself about what you are booking. It is a fun hour with animals, and the yoga is simple. Time with animals can lower stress for many people, so the good mood is real. Deep focus is unlikely when a goat is chewing your ponytail. Choose a farm that treats its animals well: small groups, rest breaks for the goats, and no forcing them onto people.

Beer yoga

Beer yoga is a light yoga class in a brewery or taproom, with a beer in hand. You sip between poses, and some teachers have you balance the bottle on your head or hold it in a lunge. Brewery yoga classes were running in the United States by the mid-2010s. The Berlin group BierYoga made the idea famous in 2016.

It is a social event. Alcohol slows your reactions and blunts your balance, which is the opposite of what you want in a standing pose, so the poses stay easy. Enjoy it for what it is and skip the claims that it is good for body and mind.

Ganja yoga

Ganja yoga is a slow yoga class taken after using cannabis. The Canadian teacher Dee Dussault has taught it since 2009, mostly in San Francisco, and wrote a book on it. Students use cannabis before or during class, then move through gentle poses, stretches and breathing, with a long rest at the end.

Two things to know. Cannabis is illegal in many countries, including Sweden, so in many places these classes cannot exist. And the health claims made for ganja yoga, like pain relief, rest on research into cannabis itself, which is mixed, and not on anything about combining it with yoga. If you want a slow, floor-based practice without the side effects, Yin yoga and Restorative yoga give you long holds and deep rest.

Nude yoga (naked yoga)

Nude yoga, or naked yoga, is an ordinary yoga practice done without clothes. The poses, the breathing and the sequence are the same as in any Hatha or Vinyasa class. Only the dress code changes. Most people who practise nude yoga do it alone at home. Group classes exist in larger cities and at naturist retreats, often split into men-only, women-only and mixed groups.

Group classes have clear rules. No touching unless the class is a partner class and everyone has agreed. No photos. Everyone brings a towel for the mat. Nude yoga classes are not sexual, and teachers ask anyone who treats them that way to leave.

Does it have a history? Nakedness as a spiritual discipline does, in India. Digambara Jain monks renounce clothing entirely, and some Hindu ascetics, like Naga sadhus, go naked as a sign that they have given up the world. The Bhagavata Purana tells of the sage Rishabha, who left his kingdom and wandered naked. That is renunciation, though, and has little to do with a group class in a studio. Modern nude yoga grew out of Western naturism and body-positive movements from the late 20th century onwards.

What people say they get from it: a more relaxed relationship with their own body, and a clearer view of alignment, since you can see your knees, hips and spine without fabric in the way. These are reports from practitioners. There is no research to back them, and some people feel more self-conscious, not less. If you are curious, try it at home first. You can follow any of our online classes, and nobody has to know what you are wearing.

Aerial yoga (anti-gravity yoga)

Aerial yoga uses a soft fabric hammock hung from the ceiling. The hammock takes part of your weight, so you can hang upside down, rest your hips in it for backbends and forward bends, or use it like a swing. Christopher Harrison, a New York aerial performer, created AntiGravity Yoga in the mid-2000s, and many other schools followed.

Hanging upside down with the hips supported lets the spine lengthen under its own weight, and many people like that feeling. Holding yourself in the fabric works grip, shoulders and core. Inversions are not for everyone: skip them or ask the teacher first if you are pregnant, have high blood pressure, glaucoma or a recent injury. The hammock must be rigged by a professional.

SUP yoga (stand-up paddleboard yoga)

SUP yoga is yoga on a stand-up paddleboard, usually on a calm lake, bay or slow river. Stand-up paddling itself comes from Hawaii, where surf instructors in Waikiki stood on long boards with a paddle in the mid-20th century. Yoga on the board became popular in the 2010s.

The board moves under you all the time, so every pose asks for small corrections through the feet, legs and core. Teachers stick to stable poses: Savasana, Cat-Cow, Child's Pose and Downward-Facing Dog, and later Warrior poses and Tree Pose for the brave. Any misalignment shows up fast, because it drops you in the water. Wear a leash, check the weather, and stay close to the shore.

Doga (yoga with your dog)

Doga is yoga with your dog. The American teacher Suzi Teitelman is often credited with starting it in the early 2000s. There are two ways to do it. In one, the dog is part of the practice: you lift a small dog in your arms during a pose, or give it a gentle massage while you breathe. In the other, you practise next to your dog and it takes part as it wants, which usually means lying on your mat.

What you get is time with your dog and a calm hour together. Dogs do not do yoga, and claims that doga helps injured or overweight dogs belong with your vet, not your yoga teacher.

Broga

Broga is yoga marketed at men who feel out of place in a yoga studio. Robert Sidoti and Adam O'Neill started it in Massachusetts in 2009. A class mixes yoga poses with strength exercises like push-ups and squats, and the tone is more like a gym class. The benefits are those of any strength-and-stretch workout. The poses are the same ones you would learn in a regular class, and many men find that a yoga strength class gives them what they came for.

Other styles on the rise

Horseback yoga, hoop yoga with a hula hoop, slackline yoga, water yoga in a pool and bunny yoga all have their followers. They share the same pattern: a familiar yoga class with one new element added.

Where sources disagree

Are these yoga at all? Traditional teachers often say no. In the classical texts, yoga is a discipline of attention, and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika describes a quiet, solitary practice. A beer, a goat or a party atmosphere pulls attention outwards. Supporters answer that yoga in the West has always been adapted, and that a fun class gets people onto a mat who would never walk into a studio. Both points have something to them. The movements are yoga poses. Whether the hour counts as yoga practice depends on where your attention goes.

The benefits. Nearly every novelty style is sold with the same list: stress relief, better mood, confidence. The research behind those claims is about yoga, exercise, laughter or time with animals in general. There are almost no studies on goat, beer, ganja or nude yoga themselves. The Skeptic's question applies here: the people making the claims are mostly the ones selling the classes.

Safety. Acro and aerial yoga carry a real risk of falls, and SUP yoga adds open water. Beer and ganja yoga add substances that dull your balance and judgment. Our guide to practising yoga safely covers the basics, and they apply double here.

If you want to try something new without leaving home, the yoga for beginners program gives you the foundations every one of these styles builds on, and the Krishnamacharya lineage, Sivananda lineage and hot yoga guides cover the more traditional styles.

Frequently asked questions

What is nude yoga?

Nude yoga is ordinary yoga practised without clothes, alone at home or in a group class. The poses and breathing are the same as in a regular class. Group classes have strict rules: no touching, no photos, a towel on every mat, and nothing sexual.

Is naked yoga an ancient practice?

Not in its modern form. Some Indian ascetics, like Digambara Jain monks and Naga sadhus, renounce clothing as a spiritual discipline, and the Bhagavata Purana tells of the naked sage Rishabha. Studio classes of nude yoga grew out of Western naturism in the late 20th century.

Is goat yoga real yoga?

The poses are real, but the class is mostly about the goats. Expect a gentle, simple sequence with a lot of laughing and not much focus. Lainey Morse started goat yoga in Oregon in 2016.

Is acro yoga hard for beginners?

You can start as a beginner if you learn with a teacher and a spotter. Basic balances like the flyer lying on the base's feet come quickly. Flying in arm balances and inversions takes core strength and months of practice.

Does laughter yoga work?

Small studies show that people report less stress and a better mood after laughter sessions. The studies are short and the groups are small. Claims that it prevents or cures illness are not supported.

What is the difference between aerial yoga and acro yoga?

In aerial yoga a fabric hammock hung from the ceiling holds part of your weight. In acro yoga another person does: a base lifts a flyer, and a spotter keeps them safe.

Is SUP yoga good for beginners?

Yes, if you can swim and the water is calm. Teachers start with seated and kneeling poses and keep standing poses simple. Expect to fall in at least once.