Power Yoga

While yoga’s roots are deeply eastern in philosophy, stressing above all the balance of body, mind, and soul, in its modern-day, western incarnation, yoga is primarily a physical activity. Power yoga, which started in the United States during the mid 1990s, is a revved-up form of Ashtanga Yoga (power yoga’s two pioneers, Beryl Bender Birch and Bryan Kest, both studied under Ashtanga master Sri K. Pattabhi Jois). Like traditional Ashtanga, power yoga stresses increasing strength, flexibility, and endurance through a flowing series of basic yoga poses, but power yoga differs from its eastern sibling in that its series are not fixed.

Power classes start with a warm-up, as the poses often require deep stretching that can injure stiff muscles. During a power yoga class, students will practice sun salutations, along with standing, seated, back-bend, and inversion poses that are held for longer than in typical Hatha yoga classes. Many power yoga classes are conducted in heated rooms to promote flexibility and speed the detoxification process.

While anyone can practice power yoga, it is especially useful as a form of cross training for athletes and as a form of alternative strength training for the elderly.