Jonathan Van Ness rose to fame as the grooming expert on Netflix’s Queer Eye. But the hairstylist and all-around hilarious star is now making his dedication to yoga, meditation and even gymnastics known to all, thanks to his endlessly inspirational Instagram. Can you believe!
“I practice every morning,” the unlikely fitfluencer told Us Monday, October 8. “Anyone that wants to get into yoga, I always encourage them to remember that it’s really not about the poses or the way it looks, it’s about the way that it feels, right?”
A longtime yogi who occasionally teaches, JVN wants people to know they shouldn’t be intimidated by unfamiliar poses or moves. “So yoga really literally means to yoke or to union, and the union they talk about is between your body and your breath,” he says. “It’s really just about getting your brain to calm down long enough so that you can listen to the sound of your breath leaving your body, which is very important these days, I think.”
Another way the positive reality star focuses on breathing is through meditation. Besides the poses he does every morning when he wakes up — “yoga is kind of a moving meditation,” he notes — he finds space and stillness to think. “I like to sit and do a proper meditation for like three minutes, but it’s only three minutes.” Looking to get started with yoga? Check out the best yoga podcasts for beginners at Vurbl.
In fact, the 31-year-old podcast host assures newbies the length of the session doesn’t matter. “It’s really about doing it every day and doing it for a small amount, because the point is just doing it every day,” he says. “You don’t even have to do it for like 30 minutes a day.” But, he advises that setting a consistent time of day “is important for your nervous system to get the benefits.”
The former high school and college cheerleader, who tells Us he aims to get back to doing “a standing back tuck without a spot,” cops to using a rather a unconventional technique to help with his agility when he’s home at night. “First what I do is I get my non-GMO Smirnoff No. 21 Vodka, and I make a very moderate drink before,” he joked to Us at Smirnoff’s Pop-Up Corn Maze in NYC to celebrate their announcement that their brand is now non-GMO. “I just don’t do a heavy pour. I do a light, moderate pour because I want to be able to feel my body whilst I’m getting into my back openers.”
With reporting by Travis Cronin
