Power Yoga…really?

I’ll never forget how I felt after my first power yoga class about ten years ago. I was a group fitness instructor, teaching indoor cycle classes and had a regular yoga practice. I was working with a personal trainer and was quite fit and wondered what the difference was between power yoga and the yoga I was currently practicing. I signed up for a class at one of the local studios, grabbed my mat, and headed for class. I never felt so demoralized, defeated, frustrated, confused, and even a little angry as I had when I left that hour of power. I felt like I had taken a competitive calisthenics class under the guise of yoga. We moved at a pace that was frustratingly fast with a sequence that was dizzying in its complexity. I swore that I would never do power yoga again, but then I wondered if that was just me or the result of my one experience. Not one to give up, I felt that I needed to figure this out for myself.

Knowing that one data point does not indicate a trend, over the next couple of years I sampled other power yoga classes from other studios in my area only to be left with the same negative experience. I figured that I was just not cut out for this thing called power yoga and swore off any class labeled as such. But something nagged at me. Why did I feel this way? What I experienced in those classes is not what I was taught yoga was. I was taught that yoga meant union between body, breath, mind, and spirit; that yoga was to calm the fluctuations of the mind (Sutra 1:2); that asana was only one step on the eight-limb path and that you needed to embody the other seven limbs (Sutra 2:28-29). This left me wondering, was I really practicing yoga in those power yoga classes? Or was I practicing what Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois referred to as “ignorant bodybuilding” in his 1995 letter to Yoga Journal Magazine?

In my years of both teaching and practicing various styles of yoga, I was both comforted and disappointed in knowing that I was not alone in my experiences with power yoga. Comforted in that I was not alone, but disappointed in that so many felt as I did. When I was approached by the studio manager at iShine Yoga and Wellness to teach a power yoga class, I was a little surprised. My teaching style mostly focused on slow flow, deep stretch, and Hatha and I strived to make all my classes accessible to everyone regardless of ability or prior experience. How could I teach a power yoga class and still honor that commitment to myself and my students while also adhering to the class description? I decided to use that opportunity to resolve this personal conflict. I felt that if I did not, then I would be guilty of gaslighting my students as those past teachers did to me.

In the Marine Corps we are taught that we leave no one behind. This formed the basis for my approach to power yoga both as a personal practice as well as a teaching tool. We start together and we finish together. A few years ago, I did my 300-hr Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) with Rolf Gates, a world-renowned teacher of teachers. I was so anxious and self-conscious that I hid in the back of the room, or so I thought. No-one can hide in the back of the room. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the simplicity of his sequences, the ease of his pace, and just how subtly impactful those practices were that I looked forward to each YTT weekend. It was as if the pressure valve had been released. Little by little, practice by practice, I started to overcome my past experiences and feel more confident. Rolf reiterated that lesson I learned in the Marine Corps and everyone who showed up to practice all finished together. What could be more powerful than that? Not long after, I did my training with Veterans Yoga Project (VYP) and Yoga for 12-Step Recovery (Y12SR). I learned some valuable lessons from both, but the one that stuck out most was the freedom to choose. Choosing how you show up for your practice. Choosing options that are appropriate for you. Choosing the pace in which you practice and feeling free to let go of that competitive spirit to practice yoga mindfully and intentionally. A class does not need to be fast paced or complex to be powerful or challenging. This is something I learned when training for my first half marathon. My goal for that race was to finish, have fun, and not die. I ran it in 3 hours 16 minutes and though the pace was slow, it was still just as challenging as those who ran the same race in 2 hours or less. My race, my pace. The takeaway is that we all need to be able to show up as we are and feel free to push ourselves at our own pace, whether it is a race or a yoga class. Sometimes simplicity can have more impact than anything complex. I have been finding ways to weave these lessons into my power yoga classes while also making them accessible and challenging to all abilities. What I have seen so far is the students are able to relax, as if a weight has been lifted. To finish the class, free to choose any option from the sequence buffet, relieved from the pressure to perform, and to taste success at the end has been priceless.

We get so caught up with wondering if we are doing something correctly or seeking approval from external sources that we forget that we are strong and powerful and beautiful in our own right. As a teacher I encourage my students to not allow their egos to dictate their options, to not surrender their power to me or to their fellow practitioner (which is difficult in a group setting). But also, as a teacher, I need to check my own ego at the door and remember that I am there not only to serve but also to help everyone cross that finish line together regardless of ability.