From Carcass, Emperor and Iron Maiden, Darkside Yoga's founder and instructor Dawn Collins uses songs from metal’s finest, including Halifax’s own Pith, in a practice meant to heal and inspire. At Darkside (18 Rosedale Drive), the physicality of Bhakti and Hatha yoga blends with the artistic expression of metal, creating a synergy of emotion and sweat—the inspiration commanding your movements.
“The intention is to empower people to achieve whatever they feel is their self-realization,” says Collins. It’s intense but empowering. Fast or slow, students move and experiment — yogi-virtuosos if you will — using their space as a musician would in a fired-up guitar solo. As with music, yoga too carries with it symbolic meanings, and as each posture brings out something from within, Collins points out, so can music. “I felt there was this missing link in yoga…that I have to divorce these two realities.” She says it's the choice to do what feels right for you, to “use our tools in our own way.”
Working for over 10 years as a counsellor, and with her own battles to fight, Collins wants metal and yoga to speak for her, and others, when words are simply not enough. “Music is essentially my own healing.” Quite literally, let the music be your guide.
Feel free to drop-in Thursdays from 8-9pm. For more information, call 902-237-6883.
