By: Jeanne Williamson, RYT 200
I fell in love with power yoga in 2007. I was living in the twin cities at the time and decided that it was time to see what all the buzz was about. I was dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety at the time having just moved to Minneapolis from the only place I’d ever known. New job, newly engaged.. lots of new. I walked into my first power yoga class in a 102 degree room. I had a lot of thoughts going through my head at the time including but not limited to: “Get me out of this room” “If I don’t leave this room I might pass out” “This is supposed to be relaxing?” “Oh my gosh.. everyone is amazing- look at the headstands, forearm stands, handstands” “This pigeon thing is going to kill me for sure” “Seriously why am I still in this pigeon pose?” “Please don’t touch me instructor” “Holy shit I am hot.. for real this is ridiculous” “Okay, this isn’t so bad” “I think I could get used to this”… and so on and so forth. Something kept me coming back though… soon the hot room felt amazing in the middle of a Minnesota winter, I enjoyed walking into the heat.. feeling my body start to relax. I soon let myself release all those thoughts.. breath became my constant focus…. Soon my body, breath, heart and mind all started to flow together. I was oblivious to what others were doing in the space, and couldn’t wait for those instructors to adjust my poses.
Power yoga was the only type of yoga I practiced for many years. After I had children, I needed to find a new pace. Not only did I continue to love power and vinyasa flows, but I found room for meditation, hatha, slow flow vinyasa, restorative and more. I’ve experimented with Yin and other types of classes and you know what? Each brings a unique and special thing into my mind and body. Each one provides me with a different type of release. I honestly don’t think I would have been ready for the other types without power first. I was so high strung.. so stressed and I certainly didn’t find meditation easy. Power yoga allowed me an easy way into the practice and it will always be my first yoga love. Power yoga is defined by Yoga Journal as: “A fitness-based vinyasa practice. An offshoot of Ashtanga Yoga, it has many of the same qualities and benefits, including building internal heat, increased stamina, strength, and flexibility, as well as stress reduction. Teachers design their own sequences, while students synchronize their breath with their movement.I love all types of yoga but here are the reasons I love power yoga.
- You get a workout! No, for real… power yoga is vigorous. You get your heart rate pumping and it can be awesome cardio.
- Breath with movement. Vinyasa practices synchronize breath with movement. This doesn’t leave too much space for my inner chatter of to-do lists, self judgement, should have, could have and would have’s.
- It’s fun. Seriously you guys… it is FUN! I love to pick out great play lists.. feel my body move with breath to music. It’s like a dance!
- It’s relaxing. Even with all of that movement, YES.. it is relaxing. Savasana at the end is extra special after all of that effort.
- The Breath. Ujjayi Pranayama is the type of breath utilized in vinyasa practices that slows and smooths the pace and flow of the breath.
It’s always okay to mumble and fumble through any yoga practice, and power yoga at ELC is not exception. We try to always leave judgement at the door and there are lots of opportunities for modification. No one is perfect and we hope that you give yourself a space to try something new! When it felt like the right time to go back and get my 200 hour yoga teacher training, I knew that I should do it with a power focus. My training studio, Haute Yogis in Fargo was amazing and since then I’ve had the support of ELC to continue to expand power yoga here in Morris. I love developing sequencing for you all, trying new things and practicing together in our space. My real love will always be the practice itself, and I’m so honored to bring it to the yogi’s at ELC!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1sm927miww&w=560&h=315]