POWER YOGA!!
Many of you might have heard of it, some of you might have attended various sessions or a few of you may well be teaching it. Here let us have a look at what is power yoga.
INTRODUCTION
Power yoga is essentially the Americanized interpretation of the Ashtanga - vinyasa yoga method. Yoga teachers Beryl Bender Birch and Bryan Kest coined the term Power yoga in the late 1980's. Both were practicing Ashtanga vinyasa yoga at the same time, both studied with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and both were teaching his method. They agree that they must have come up with the name by simultaneously tapping into the collective unconscious, Birch on the East Coast and Kest on the West Coast. Calling what they were teaching "power yoga" was simply a way of making the fairly esoteric Ashtanga yoga system more accessible to Americans, while letting everyone know that this practice, unlike the majority of the yoga taught in the 1970's, was a very athletic, intense, sweaty workout designed to build strength along with concentration and flexibility.
Birch's first book, Power yoga, sold over 2,00,000 copies and was many people's first introduction to yoga. Unfortunately, the name was never trademarked, leaving the style open for interpretation, and pretty soon everyone had his or her own version of power yoga: along came power yoga in every gym, as well as Mark Blanchard's Power yoga, Baron Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga, Reebok Power yoga, and Core Power Yoga. Originally closely modelled on the Ashtanga-vinyasa yoga method, power yoga has many different variations today, and the way the style is taught can vary widely from teacher to teacher, depending on who his or her trainer was.
BENEFITS
In general, power yoga classes are very fitness based and physically demanding. With many of the same elements as an Ashtanga yoga practise - vinyasa, ujjayi breath, Sun Salutations (Suryanamaskara), active postures, internal heat, and sweat - power yoga also has many of the same benefits gained from that style of yoga. They are:
- increased stamina
- increased strength, balance, and flexibility
- detoxification
- weight loss
- stress reduction
Power yoga does not follow a set series of postures.
Teachers creatively design their own class sequences, one pose flowing directly into the next, and their teaching style often develops from their own personal home practice. The presence or absence of any overtly spiritual component is completely dependent on the teacher or the studio, though many would argue it's nearly impossible to take all spirituality out of yoga. The poses are given in their English names, there usually isn't much chanting or meditation, and any yoga philosophy or wisdom is presented in a very accessible, contextual manner.
THE GOLDEN RULE OF POWER YOGA
The general guiding principle in power yoga is to listen to your body and your breath: If something hurts - stop. If you notice you aren't breathing deeply or can't keep a fullness of breath, back out of the pose. The practice is as much a test of your personal willpower as it is a challenge to surrender when necessary, which isn't an easy feat for those who are used to pushing themselves through their workouts. In class, you are encouraged to skip vinyasas of take Child's pose (Balasana) when it's appropriate for you.
Often billed as a class for athletes, power yoga tends to attract the more fitness-oriented students and sports enthusiasts looking for a strong, balanced workout. However, sometimes the more fit or built you are as an athlete in a particular sport, the more difficult this type of yoga can be, challenging you to access strength and open your body in completely unfamiliar ways. Therefore, no matter how strong or in shape you think you are, you should be cautious about throwing yourself into a power yoga class without first learning the basics from a qualified teacher.
Power yoga should be eased into and learned progressively to avoid injury. As in Ashtanga yoga, in power yoga a good teacher will be able to cater to a newcomer. The sort of magic behind the system is that the strong athletic practice attracts people looking to build strength, sweat, and lose weight, but once they're in class, paying attention to their bodies and focusing on their breath, power yoga becomes a work within, and students start to transform from the inside out.
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