Are you ready for Martha Stewart Yoga?
You’ve heard of Martha Stewart Living, Martha Stewart Crafts, and Martha Stewart Weddings. But are you ready for Martha Stewart Yoga? Earlier this week, weary commuters in New York’s grand central terminal were treated to a free morning yoga session co-led by the queen of perfection herself.
It wasn’t like Stewart suddenly decided her name rhymed with seva. Rather, the event was part of a two-day publicity campaign for “Martha Stewart American Made” sponsored by JC Penney. The yoga session started at 7am, attracted several dozen participants and featured mats emblazoned with the JCP logo and “Martha Stewart American Made,” according to writer Katherine Rosman in the Wall Street Journal online magazine.
So what kind of yoga does “the world’s most perfect perfectionist” practice? Iyengar yoga, of course. With its precise focus and emphasis on alignment, Iyengar seems the perfect fit for Stewart. With its emphasis on precise progression of yoga postures, precise verbal directions, and minutely detailed alignment guidelines, Iyengar yoga serves up exactly the kind of precision one has come to expect from Stewart herself in her ongoing quest for balance, beauty and perfection for the household.
According to the WSJ, Stewart has been practicing Iyengar yoga for a decade under the direction of James Murphy, director of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Greater New York. It was he who led the class while Martha demonstrated poses. “Here,” said Murphy to the WSJ reporter, pointing to a yoga mat, “is the one place she gets to let go.” Of course, in choosing Iyengar yoga, this super merchandiser has also chosen a form of yoga which emphasizes the use of props such as cushions, benches, blocks, straps and sand bags.
And according to Rosman, expect this quest for perfection to carry over into Stewart’s yoga practice: “As Murphy instructed us to stand at the top of our mats with our big toes but not our heels touching, Stewart surveyed her feet and then others’. ‘Your toes aren’t touching,’ she said to a nearby woman whom I presume will never let them separate again.”
Next up? Our bet is on Martha Stewart knitted yoga straps, accessorized yoga props, special tips for cleaning your yoga mat and last, but not least, directions for making your own ultra-hip yoga mat tote bag.