Yoga Instagram stars Cristen and Kimberly Chin, otherwise known as the @ChinTwins, bring their practice off the mat and into our homes this week with the premiere of The Chin Twins on The Design Network. The six-episode series takes an inside look at the daily lives of these twin sisters, fashion models, wives, mothers, and family chefs who share recipes, beauty tips, and ways to entertain that incorporate the balance and serenity they seek as yogis.
The Chin Twins launched their Instagram in 2014, somewhat unplanned. While visiting in Alabama, where Kimberly and family make their home, the twins were practicing yoga together at the end of a pier when Cristen’s husband, acclaimed fashion photographer Nigel Barker, wandered down with his camera and started shooting the duo in action. He posted the pictures on his Instagram and the response was so overwhelming the Chin Twins decided to launch their own handle.
Barker has continued as their lensman and @ChinTwins has amassed nearly 100,000 followers. The images are very stylized, artistic, and not surprisingly, have a heavy fashion focus. “We’ve shown our audience one side of us, which has been primarily our yoga practice and how we use yoga in a physical way”, says Kimberly (Kimmy). “This show gave us the opportunity to take our audience into our homes and into our lives to show how you can infuse yoga into all parts of life, not just on the mat”.
Each episode is based on one of the seven chakras, which are the energy centers of the body. Yoga seeks to open, stimulate, and balance these chakras. “Chakras can feel so lofty”, says Cristen (Crissy). “Do I need to sit and meditate for an hour to connect with my root chakra? No… you can make dumplings from a recipe passed down from your grandmother to get that same connection and balance.”
Food and cooking is at the heart of the show, and each episode features a different recipe to go with each chakra. The first episode starts with the root chakra, considered our foundation, which makes us feel grounded and stable. To illustrate ways to connect with the root chakra off the mat, the twins prepare their grandmother’s Chinese dumplings. Says Crissy, “This is a recipe we prepared with her, and now make with our family and kids. It’s a way to connect with your past, your traditions, and with future generations.”
Each episode also features a DIY beauty treatment that incorporates ingredients from the shows’ recipes — for example, it’s a ginger lemon footbath in episode 1. There are field trips and visits with local artisans and shops around Woodstock, NY where Crissy and family reside. That same episode features a visit to a new Filipino market where we meet the owners, “a beautiful couple with their own stories, recipes they learned as children, and are now sharing with the community.”
The rich storytelling in each jam-packed episode offers viewers ways to make those same connections. The series illustrates how you can infuse yoga into all parts of your life and how easy it can be to bring mindfulness to everyday activities. The Chin Twins premieres Wednesday, February 16th at 9/8pm Central on The Design Network.
