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| - I've been practicing yoga for a few years so after moving to Pittsburgh, one of the first things I did was begin sampling the local yoga scene. Due to convenient proximity and the lure of unlimited 2 weeks of practice for $25, south side amazing yoga was the first studio I tried. Power yoga is not my thing, but I was in dire need of a spring detox, so I signed up.
New students should realize that this is an aggressive style of yoga adapted for the westerner who more often than not is after a good workout. Consequently, a great deal of the philosophy and intention of ancient yoga is lost. One of my concerns is that it can misrepresent yoga to new students and potentially turn them off from trying more gentle styles that may be a better fit for them.
In power yoga, sun salutations are performed at breakneck speed and poses are often held for just a split second before it's time to jump into the next one. What happened to moving slowly and feeling each pose and breath? A previous teacher of mine translated "asana" as "taking a seat" with the point of the poses being to settle in to them, find a comfortable spot--this is where the meditation and sweetness of yoga seeps in. It's nigh impossible to do this at the rate at which power yoga classes are conducted, so I just decided to go at my own pace in order to protect my body. The danger in this style of yoga is that the risk of injury is distinctly heightened in a room that's heated to 90-100 degrees; the heat artificially lengthens the muscles, which enables you to go deeper with stretches and tricks you into thinking you're doing good yoga. And you may be doing good for your body, but without careful attention and awareness, it's easy to go too deep and cause injury. Again, moving so fast and trying to keep up with the class, makes it a lot easier to ignore or skip over the messages your body is trying to send you. Another bone I have to pick is the excessive amounts of chaturanga, which can cause or exacerbate shoulder injuries. No fun.
The instructors generally breeze over these risks, and one must remember that this ancient Indian philosophy has been transformed by Western capitalism into a for-profit industry. Their motive is to get students to keep coming back. In my opinion, Baron Baptiste and Bikram Choudoroy have a lot more in common with Billy Blanks than with Patanjali or BKS Iyengar, but hey, it's all what you make it. Can you turn this into yoga? Sure, I can turn going to the grocery store into a yoga practice. Doing power yoga, you can surrender to the brutal physicality of it and use this to break down the ego. However, I'd venture to guess that a lot of egos in the room were being strengthened by the power trip this yoga can offer. To me, it's not inviting the kind of stillness that is essential to real 'progress' in yoga.
Afterwards you feel detoxed and exhilarated (a feeling which can become 'addictive' as a lot of the proponents of power yoga advertise like it's a positive thing), but inspired or enlightened? Not so much. Amazed by amazing yoga? Nah. I've seen these gimmicks before. Moving on and looking forward to trying other studios.
These are just my two cents. If it's your thing, more power to you.
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