Toy inventor Dan Abramson has taken an interesting approach towards promoting yoga practice. He's created Yoga Joes, which are classic green plastic army men who've traded their guns in for yoga poses.
Abramson claims that each soldier demonstrates the proper posture for their yoga pose, meaning that the figurines are perfect gifts for beginners. “I made Yoga Joes because I thought that it would be a fun way to get more people into yoga – especially dudes,” Abramson explains in his Kickstarter video. “Beyond that, I wanted to make a violent toy become peaceful.”
In his Kickstarter video, Abramson also outlines the trial-and-error creation process behind these soldiers before he came up with their final form. Read on for Abramson's interview with Bored Panda and for his video!
"I hope people will laugh when they see this toy, and maybe in that moment, it will unlock certain assumptions about what kinds of people practice yoga," Abramson told Bored Panda.
"Because yoga is for everyone, it reaches far beyond the cliche of a skinny, pumpkin spice latte white girl. All kinds of people can benefit from the strength and focus that comes from a good stretch, and I hope people who look at this toy, will consider giving it a try."
"When I was having coffee with my friend Paul Simmons (a Bay area comedian), we tried to brainstorm funny ways to make yoga more manly," Abramson told Bored Panda. "And then it hit us like a ton of bricks - army men doing yoga! Yoga Joes were born in a San Francisco coffee shop."
"Right now we were able to unlock NINE poses, because the kickstarter campaign was so successful. I'm pretty proud that it's such a diverse toy."
"There has also been a lot of pressure from the community to explore Half Moon Pose as well as Peaceful Warrior, and I agree with them. Both poses could look really interesting, especially if we were able to make them balance upright. I could see both of those poses being represented in the next round of Joes."
We'd like to thank Dan Abramson for the info about his Yoga Joes, and we wish him the best of luck with getting them out there!