No matter how hard some may try, it’s difficult to keep a yoga pose in the proper form. Wearable X, a company founded in 2013 that combines fashion and tech, is hoping its smart yoga pants, called NADI X, will help yoga practitioners focus on the right moves.
The NADI X is new to the market and could pose a challenge to Lululemon’s line of fashionable yoga and fitness clothing. The pants contain a Pulse sensor, which gives off gentle vibrations at the hips, knees and ankles to guide the wearer toward the suggested form. According to CNN, form for 30 different yoga poses can be improved. Vibrations will increase in frequency and intensity to help direct the body to make certain movements.
“The point of the product isn’t to say there is a right and a wrong pose,” Billie Whitehouse, Wearable X’s co-founder and CEO, told CNN. “It isn’t black and white. This is just about highlighting those micro muscles that you could be thinking about — that you don’t even know exist.”
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The Pulse, placed on the upper left knee, lasts up to 90 minutes is connected by Bluetooth to an iPhone app, through which users can choose the level of yoga they want to perform, according to CNN. The app also includes accompanying playlists, according to Vogue.
“I was never really good at yoga and felt intimidated whenever I would explore a new pose,” Whitehouse said in a statement. She also stated that she and co-founder Ben Moir worked with over 50 yogis (yoga instructors and experts) to “understand the importance of alignment in time and space.”
Using the principles of machine learning, the pants and Pulse sensor are designed to help the wearer, over time, respond automatically to the vibrations when doing a given movement, according to Vogue. Wearable X co-founder and CTO Ben Moir added that he and Whitehouse believe “technology should empower the human experience, not overtake it.”
So how does Wearable X justify the NADI X’s $299 price tag? The pants do offer a kind of simulated yoga instruction, Whitehouse told Vogue, noting the steep per-hour rates of many private yoga instructors. “A private instructor costs $150 to $200 an hour. These are like an instructor that comes with you to every class,” Whitehouse said in the article.
The NADI X is Wearable X’s first direct-to-consumer product, and is on pre-order now with an August shipping timetable.