Chroma Yoga: New York's Most Instagramable Class is a Wellness Hybrid

When Alexandra Janelli opened Modrn Sanctuary, a sleek wellness center in NoMad, she decided to transform one room into a salt cave. The floor, which is covered in granules shipped from the foothills of the Himalayas to the States, looks like a pale pink sandpit. LED lights installed behind a wall of marbled salt tiles saturate the room with a rose gold glow.

People spend time in the salt room for its reputed benefits—inhaling fine particles expelled by the halo generator (a machine that crushes salt crystals and disseminates them into the air) is thought to alleviate colds and respiratory issues, and when the delicate dust settles on your skin it can help clear up eczema and psoriasis. Just sitting and relaxing in the salty ambiance is beneficial, but by introducing three new wellness classes to the mix, Modrn Sanctuary is significantly amplifying those effects.
The Chroma Series combines healing modalities with chakra balancing and color therapy. There’s Chroma Mudra, a pranayama (breath focused) class incorporating hand gestures known in Hindu and Buddhist traditions as mudras; Chroma Crystal, an energy healing class incorporating reiki and crystals with meditation; and Chroma Yoga, a vinyasa session with the additional challenge of balancing on the shifting salty dunes.

The chakra system—seven colorful energy centers aligned along the midline of the body—provide an overarching theme for each class. Poses, crystals, mudras, and even the colored light in the room are selected to correspond to a specific chakra, clearing energy and addressing any physical or energetic issues associated with it.

“It’s a really unique experience you won’t have the opportunity to try many other places,” explains Janelli, of the salt room. “You’re gonna shift your energy—life is all about energy and tensions and how you create the possibility of change within yourself. There’s a reason we feel so good when we go on vacation: it’s because we’re changing environments. So this is providing this womb-like environment within the chaos [of New York].”

The pretty light, the salty air, the warmth (the floor is lightly heated, too)—all the conditions are conspiring to bring you into the moment, mentally and physically. You only fully realize the spectrum of ways a Chroma class is impacting your wellbeing when the hour is up, and it’s time to leave the bubble.