Breaking Boundaries Through Trill Yoga

by Core Hydration (@cbquality)

Breaking boundaries and not playing by the “rules” of the wellness world: Claire Fountain is the creator of Trill Yoga, a yoga movement that has amassed an international following of over 200K fans on Instagram and beyond. The notion of Trill Yoga states that anyone, and any body can practice yoga – an inclusive standpoint to a seemingly exclusive community. We took some time with Claire to break our own rules (stealth photoshoots through downtown Manhattan, anyone?) and get her take on Trill Yoga, and what wellness really means – not the social media #wellness, but the no filter definition of wellness from Claire’s point of view.

Breaking Boundaries Through Trill Yoga

The start of Trill Yoga…

“I had gotten into yoga at around 16 for depression and anxiety – the practice mattered so much to me, so I had to come up with a way to differentiate how I was practicing. Trill Yoga started in 2013; it’s not any new-fangled flows or anything like that – it’s just saying that you can practice yoga in a way that’s authentic to you. I don’t have a “yoga body,” and maybe I have a different style . But yoga can have stigmas and stereotypes – like skinny, privileged people chanting on an island — I’d like to show that these aren’t the only faces of yoga. You shouldn’t have to shy away from the practice because you feel like it’s not for you. Yoga is for everyone.”

#TrillYoga

When you search #TrillYoga on Instagram, there’s over 20,000 unique posts…

“Once you do something (like a hashtag) on the internet, it can go in all different directions so I’m hoping it still makes sense. Social media can be very void and vapid, and the stuff I do and talk about, I try to make it more real and relatable. It may not be for everybody but I think the people that are there get it. And if you get it, it’s all the better. I think so many people assume yoga is slow and boring. That’s the thing, yoga eventually can be slow, but it’s this whole journey back to yourself. At first, maybe, that’s too heavy. No one wants to dig that deep at first, you have to scratch the surface. Whether its music, what you wear, if anything like that gets you to practice – you’ll eventually get to the deeper stuff but I don’t think it has to be the first thing out of the gate.”

The start of Trill Yoga…

We’ve seen #builtandbendy pop up on your channels, tell us everything…

Built and bendy is a set of e-books which are strength training and yoga programs; most of programs out there are only strength and a lot of HIIT. I think strength training is where it’s at in terms of body composition, longevity, health, and how your body’s going to feel. Built and Bendy is strength training with a yoga component so that you have flexibility, mobility, cardio vascular work, and muscle strength. Build and Bendy 2.0 will be out soon as well, which will also contain a meditation aspect. I would rather someone do 10 minutes of meditation a day than go on Instagram and spend 10 minutes comparing themselves to things that aren’t even real. I would rather people work forwards in a positive direction then work backwards in a negative direction.”

Pressures Of Social Media

On The Pressures Of Social Media…

“I’m in it now, but from the outside looking in at social media, the way people think of themselves, body positivity, the fitness industry, yoga, women’s empowerment…some of it is so well intended but also so misguided. So I am trying to be somewhat of an intelligent voice of reason. I think once you’re given a platform, you have a social responsibility to speak truth if you can. It’s the same idea as when you know better, do better. Now, social media is a place where I can shape things that I believe matter and hopefully it aggregates a different conversation.

On giving yoga and wellness a chance…

“It’s not just yoga, it’s wellness and well being overall; wellness is a word that is getting so played out but it’s still honest in the fact that we all need this. It doesn’t have to be extreme like with juice cleanses and what we see on social media. It is a collection of good decisions, made everyday. You want all of your good decisions to add up and outweigh the not so healthy ones. Sometimes a lot of things that we do in the name of health are self-destructive and that’s not okay. It’s all about making positive, healthy decisions that are sound and that are sane.”

On giving yoga and wellness a chance

On hydrating and nourishing greatness…

“Drinking enough water is key, water solves everything, I tell my followers to drink more water so that we can live, if there’s one thing you can do more of, do that. When it comes to food, every meal you get a chance to make a healthier choice. On rest, you’ve got to give yourself the time to rest and think when you can – stopping and breathing more. When it comes to yoga, see if you can get to a beginner class, where the teacher can watch your form and really help you so that you can take it back home. They say if you can breathe, you can do yoga – it’s about breathing, being present, and taking the time to do so.”

On hydrating and nourishing greatness

“Trill yoga’s philosophy is to take these principles, all of these things that are good for you, and make them your own, and then you own that.”

Follow Claire on Instagram.

Visit the CB Quality website.

Visit the Trill Yoga website.

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