Photos: O.M.G: Fact

A woman has sparked backlash from the yoga community by striking a pose 25 stories up on a New York City building ledge.

In a nail-biting video posted on Sunday, actress and dancer Rachele Brooke Smith is seen practicing several different yoga poses on a thin beam on top of the building, balancing on one foot while leaning precariously over the edge.

But while the cityscape provides for a stunning background, the risk she took to take the shot has many people questioning her motives.

'This this pure ego...Not yoga!' one person commented on her Facebook page. 

'All I see is a person who is willing to risk their life for their ego,' said another. 'It's an enormous display of strength and willpower, but as both a yoga teacher and a nurse all I see is ego doing something so dangerous for a yoga pose.'

Rachele captioned the video, which was filmed as part of a photo shoot, 'I dare you to push yourself further tomorrow than you did today.'

'"Pushing yourself harder" doesn't mean risking your life for a shock factor,' one critic commented on her post. 

This is NOT what yoga is about. I am so tired of seeing all of these yoga fanatics trying to do poses off of cliffs and other unsafe backdrops just to "Instagram" it.'

The commenter added: 'Let's not forget the reason behind why we practice and do not lose sight of the spirituality and selflessness yoga teaches us and inspires in us. It's personal. Not showy.'

And another person slammed Rachele for encouraging others to follow suit, potentially putting then in danger.

'Yoga and danger don't mix. Nice backdrop, but that could've been done in a studio with the same effect,' she wrote.

'Risking your life like that is unnecessary, and we can only hope there won't be any foolish copycats.'

Other yoga aficionados, however, jumped to her defense, with one person writing: 'When I watched this I thought of how focused one has to be to accomplish a pose. The same focus to the body breath and form should be applied no matter where one is practicing. I saw fierce concentration and I was wowed! 

Despite the mixed reactions, Rachele has defended her decision to make the video, claiming that she felt perfectly safe doing it so high up. 

'I did feel safe on that ledge otherwise I would never have done it,' the performer told Today. 'I practice every day and feel extremely confident in the moves that I was doing.'

She added that while it was 'definitely was a little scary being so high,' she never felt in danger during the filming. 

It's not the first time a yogi has come under fire for pulling off poses in a seemingly exhibitionist fashion.

Alex Baldwin's wife Hilaria, for instance, regularly posts Instagram photos of herself doing difficult poses in high heels or in dangerous places like traintracks and rooftops.

Her habit has drawn ire from the yoga community, which claims that these yoga snaps are nothing more than a publicity stunt and do little to promote the ideals of the ancient practice.
#For a million pounds, I could never try this, I'd rather do my Yoga on the ground as I'm scared of heights! Can YOU do this?