SOMERVILLE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Tina Moroney-Ebarb, the owner and creator of Black Widow Yoga, is bringing a unique approach to yoga.
Instead of the calm, ambient music, she plays heavy metal.
“So, I would play a lot of doom metal [and] some like what’s called stoner metal, similar to doom [but] it’s like slowed heavy,” she told WBZ NewsRadio.
She got her yoga instructor certification in 2015 shortly before her father died. While mourning the loss, she didn't feel connected with the music typically played in yoga classes and felt "mismatched" instructing others physically and spiritually while dealing with her own mental health. Moroney-Ebarb found that playing metal music instead is what clicked.
“It felt more genuine, and it felt more real,” she said.
That's why she decided to open Black Widow Yoga in 2017, teaching in-person classes to provide a space for like-minded people. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she started doing online classes and more people started joining.
“I knew there were other metal fans, [and] I knew there was also metal people out there and maybe there are some people in between I could form and bring new people to yoga as well,” Moroney-Ebarb said.
According to its website, Black Widow Yoga "aims to challenge" what "yoga means to each individual, and to encourage every outsider to harness the energy within that truly connects to doomy and dark music."
Black Widow Yoga offers online classes as well as pop-up classes at Arts at the Armory in Somerville and Deep Cuts in Medford.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Emma Friedman (@EmmaFriedmanWBZ) reports.