Black light yoga is a thing in Boston

Some yoga instructors turn down the lights for savasana. But Boston’s Goldie Graham turns them off at the first inhale—so her students can glow in the dark.

The 30-year-old instructor is becoming well-known for the edgy sensibility she brings to her vinyasa and hip-hop yoga classes at studios like Sweat and Soul and at Back Bay Yoga, where she also teaches Black Light Yoga on Wednesday nights. An in-studio take on the yogi club scene?

“My Black Light Yoga class is a fluid and constant flow under a black light to deep and sexy beats,” Graham explains. And you’re encouraged to wear white or neon to “contribute to the effects” of the incandescent experience. “It was sold out with a huge waiting list at Wanderlust Vermont this year.” (In fact, we discovered her there, in a separate crazy challenging hip-opener class, where she said, “Now throw your leg over your shoulder like a backpack.” Twice!)

Graham got the idea for the class after seeing a YouTube video of a similar class in Canada. She immediately proposed the idea to the forward-thinking founders at Back Bay.

“For me, it’s really all about the external environment enhancing the internal,” she explains. “It’s super dark, the music is very loud, and there’s very minimal verbal cuing. It’s more about flowing, regardless of perfect alignment. You feel like you’re a part of something that not many people know about.”

And while glowing tank tops and the thumping beats are a far cry from chanting to a Harmonium, Graham says there’s plenty of spirituality involved.

“We’re able to connect spiritually to our practice no matter what kind,” she affirms. “There aren’t many rules. I find that I experience a deep spirituality while running. Things can be spiritual without being obviously spiritual.” Especially in the dark. —Jamie McKillop

 For more information, visit www.goldieyoga.com