A picture split in two with a pile of weights and barbell in the left image and a white man playing a guitar to represent the topic of the article - 4 Amazing Heavy Metal Wellness Alternatives

4 Amazing Heavy Metal Wellness Alternatives

After writing the article ‘Alternative Subcultures: Goths And Mental Health‘ which is an article close to my heart as an alternative and heavy metal fan, I’ve been itching to write another related to all things alternative. So I went looking for wellness alternatives to help out my fellow Goths, Punks, Emos, and Metalheads, which rarely gets catered for.

 

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To be honest, it wasn’t easy to find wellness alternatives for metal fans that you could do if you like alternative music and belong to the alternative scene. Thus, because of this, you might not be able to find any of these available in your area. However, hopefully, what I did find will inspire you to do these at home or set up a group within your local alternative community so you can enjoy them together.

 

Contents show

 

Wellness Alternatives: Yoga

 

One of the first wellness alternatives I knew to look for was Metal Yoga. I’d come across this a few times over the years, so I knew it was already a thing, which made it easy to find. I even found Metal Yoga mentioned in The Guardian and Men’s Health. Metal Yoga comes in several flavours, so hopefully, you’ll find one that works for you.

 

DO.OMYoga

I magazine I used to buy a lot as a teen in the 90s, Metal Hammer, did a feature on DO.OMYoga. This one is probably better suited to the Goth crowd or those who like to relax to a slower tempo, as it incorporates a more traditional yoga approach with Doom Metal’s sense of impending doom.

 

 

They’re currently doing ZOOM sessions at the moment on Tuesdays at 18.00 UK time if you feel like taking a class. Either way, go check them out at doom.yoga.

 

Metal Yoga Bones

For their yoga sessions, you can expect yoga to be combined with your favourite metal tunes. They currently have online classes on Tuesday-Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday with classes scheduled using ET, so bear that in mind if you’re not living in the US.

 

You can find their website here and their Facebook page here. Go check them out if you’re looking for a more metal yoga session.

 

Black Widow Yoga

Black Widow Yoga holds weekly online classes which feature doom and heavy metal music. So why not check out their website here or their Facebook page here, and take a couple of their classes for a spin. Unfortunately, they’re another US-based yoga class, with classes on Wednesdays from 18:30-19:15 CT or 19:30-20:15 ET. This would be Thursday from 12:30- 01:15 for us in the UK, so not ideal for us Europeans.

 

However, there is some hope. You can see some of their stuff over on their YouTube channel, which you can find by clicking here. You don’t get to enjoy doing the classes with a group, but you can still enjoy the classes themselves.

 

Metal Vinyasa Yoga

Vinyasa’s Metal yoga classes use heavy metal music to help clear the mind of chatter and distraction that often comes with silence. I know this is a huge problem for me, and why I have to sleep with the TV on.

 

The good news, these yoga classes are UK based, so if you live in the UK like me, then attending these sessions will be a lot easier. To best keep track of the classes, I recommended joining their Facebook page, which you can do by clicking here. The website doesn’t seem to be as up-to-date yet, but you could still check out their website, which you can do by clicking here.

 

Yoga Self-Help

If doing classes with other people isn’t your thing, then I’ve got you covered. Check out the following links to try yoga at home on your own with your own selection of metal music, or do it as a group with your friends (obeying your local covid19 lockdown guidelines, of course).

 

Click here to see 11 yoga poses composed by the above yoga instructors for Metal Hammer. There’s even an interesting WikiHow for doing heavy metal yoga you could try following, by clicking here.

 

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Wellness Alternatives: Meditation

 

Unfortunately, the sites I was hoping to link to this with examples of how it could be done no longer seem to exist. Which is a real shame, because I know heavy metal meditation exists.

 

The Black Market

The Black Market does offer both yoga and meditation classes for us alternatives, but I don’t know if they’ve moved online with these or not. However, if you live in Cleveland, go check it out once the pandemic is over.

 

Self-Help

The best I can do for now is suggest you check out a meditation YouTube videos for beginners, and substitute the deafening sound of silence with a playlist from your alternative music collection to try it out with. Whatever helps you clear your mind and relax. Here’s a WikiHow guide for beginners to get you started: Trying Basic Meditation Practices.

 

A photo split in two with a black man deadlifting in one image and a white woman standing on an arm chair outside holding a guitar above her head in the other image to represent the topic of the article - 4 Amazing Heavy Metal Wellness Alternatives

 

Wellness Alternatives: Fitness

 

Rock Fit

Rock Fit is a fitness class done to wonderful rock and metal music, operating in the UK. Rock out to some Black Sabbath as your sweat through your black clothes doing cardio as you prepare for the mosh pit. They were planning to do live sessions in three cities across the UK, but that’s currently on hold due to the coronavirus.

 

But fret not, they are doing online classes. In order to join these classes, you’ll need to pick one of three membership levels: Rookie Rocker, Mid-Level Metaller, and Ulitmate Rockstar.

 

Furthermore, if you want to become a rocking fitness instructor, then they’re currently recruiting. Just click here to find out more.

 

Deadlifts & Death Metal

Like doing deadlifts and you come from Downunder? Then we’ve got you covered too. So if you like to lift heavy to heavy music, then once a month Deadlifts & Death Metal meet at 16-20 Abbott Street Alphington, Victoria, to do just that.

 

Go check out their website for more information by clicking here, where you’ll also be able to read about the personal training, online coaching, and nutrition services Elissa also offers.

 

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Wellness Alternatives: Music Therapy

 

Heavy Metal Therapy

Although not technically therapy, Heavy Metal Therapy team offers resources for heavy metal fans out there to help manage their mental wellbeing. What’s great about this team is that they’ve created playlists for a whole host of mental health, wellbeing, and emotional states you might like to listen to to better manage it all. To check out their playlists, click here. If you feel like you need some videos to go with that playlist, then check out their YouTube playlists here.

 

As always, leave your feedback in the comments section below. Also, feel free to share your experiences of trying out metal and Goth wellness alternatives or recommend any places that offer them in the comments section below as well. If you want to stay up-to-date with my blog, then sign up for my newsletter below. Alternatively, get push notifications for new articles by clicking the red bell icon in the bottom right corner.

 

Lastly, if you’d like to support my blog, then you can make a donation of any size below as well. Until next time, Unwanted Life readers.

 

 

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56 thoughts on “4 Amazing Heavy Metal Wellness Alternatives”

  3. These are great! Over here in Canada, I haven’t heard of any of the options you listed BUT with so much available online, I’m all over that! Guess what I’m going to be exploring in the coming days?? Thank you for sharing all of these. Most ‘self care’ type posts leave many of us feeling a little left out.

  4. Great recommendations, would love to try yoga at some point! It would be good for my anxiety issues.

  5. This is a super interesting concept! Metal Vinyasa Yoga sounds like it would be A LOT of fun! Thanks for sharing such an interesting idea, and covering it so thoroughly. I haven’t heard of a lot of these things, but it’s always fun to learn new things!

  6. I’m a huge fan of both yoga and meditation. I’ve never experienced a heavy metal yoga class, but would be interested in trying it. I could see this in a very physical yoga session, maybe even hot yoga (although hot yoga is not for me). The music would have to be something I liked. Not all heavy metal appeals to me.

  10. Lots of information here, I’m so happy I found this article, will check out some of the UK suggestions!

  11. I’ve only just started doing yoga but I am really loving it so far! My fiance is a metal lover so I’m going to float the idea with him of incorperating the tewo!
    Rosie

  13. The only yoga I know the peaceful yoga with pretty names. While all yoga is good for calming down and for finding a balance with mental and physical health, it is refreshing to see that there are people who practice yoga not with the sound of raindrops but with heavy metal music. Rock Fit and Black Widow yoga sound new and interesting (to me)
    Thanks for sharing!

  14. I saw this headline, and simply couldn’t not check it out. Really cool idea for a topic! And I absolutely believe you when you say it wasn’t easy finding all these resources, there’s a ton of stuff in here that I didn’t know existed, and I really look forward to trying some of them. Deadlifts and death metal is one of the coolest phrases I’ve heard in a long time, and I wish there was something like that near me.

  16. The title of your post sounded so fascinating that I had to have a look! And I’m glad I did. I would never have thought of this, but it makes a lot of sense. Relaxing doesn’t come from the same place for all of us, so this makes perfect sense, but I’d never thought of it before. And how cool does ‘deadlifts and death metal’ sound!!

  17. I’ve never heard of anything like this. I don’t think it’s caught on here yet, but it sounds awesome! I bet it’s a different vibe.

  18. I love that there are so many alternative ways for people that enjoy rock and metal and other forms of music to get the mental health benefits of Yoga and meditation- thank you for sharing!

  19. This is such an unique piece of copy, I love it! I totally agree that there are ways to combine the two and I’m going to give a few of them a go!

    Rosie

    loverosiee.co.uk

  20. I practice vinyasa yoga regularly (and like ashtanga too) and meditate, though I’m not as good at keeping up with it. I love the idea of trying some different music and shaking things up! Thanks for the links!

  22. Okay this is so fascinating to me! Heavy metal yoga blows my mind, that’s such a unique practice and something I never knew existed

  26. How interesting! I never thought outside of the yoga/wellness/selfcare box before. I love the alternatives for those that don’t want the mainstream wellness avenues. Thanks for sharing!
    Christy | beholdher.life

  27. I am a big fan of Yoga do it regularly for staying fit. Will definitely try the ones you have suggested. Thanks for sharing.

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