How to Do Power Yoga

Published by admin on Tagged Body, Beauty & Health ashtanga power yoga yoga

What’s power yoga, and why should you care? Because it’s the answer to your weepy exercise prayers.

Power yoga, or ashtanga yoga, is not your 70s, Ali McGraw, pansy yoga. Forget the lotus position, the meditation, and the “stretching.” Power yoga beats you submissive. It makes you drip and sweat and groan while you pull your atrophied muscles back into suppleness. It is fantastic exercise. And you will happily worship at its altar.  

Highly aerobic and hugely fat burning, power yoga accomplishes the magic without making you leap around, jog in place, or engage in The Hustle. For the woman who resents the indignity of exercise, the fact that yoga is exercise is rather cleverly hidden from your consciousness.

Yes, it’s occurring, but somehow it doesn’t really feel like exercise. In your mind you’re just moving around into different positions while Seal warbles Kiss From a Rose.

As you move into those positions (called poses) and sweat like you’re bench pressing Kathy Ireland, you’ll find it’s far superior to hitting the weights for toning; yoga cuts and defines muscles to an unbelievable extent. Have you seen Madonna’s verging-on-the-grotesque arms?

Power yoga makes you strong and puts you back into a forgotten oneness with your body. You feel like you’re really in there. Ever seen a baby put its toes in its mouth? That’s where power yoga will take you… back to a flexible, Gumby-like version of your pre-puberty body. But minus all the pesky “I hate you, Mom!” shrieking.

And you can do the toe trick for your boyfriend.

Yoga will change your posture and make you naturally stand upright like a ballet star, and once you master the backbend you’ll enjoy giving yourself a weekly chiropractic adjustment. The heat of the room functions like a sauna and vastly improves your complexion. Some classes even load up their music with subliminal empowering messages embedded Manchurian Candidate-style so you feel peaceful, gorgeous, and powerful. Let’s see a lame spin class top that.

How-To:

Get a DVD like Bryan Kest’s series. It’s a good idea to drop in to a class first to get an idea about the poses. Drop in fees at a gym are usually around $10. Join a class – Check gyms or the local Y, sometimes even coffee houses, churches and community centers offer classes.

What You Need:

• Water bottle
• Small towel
• Bare feet
• Leggings
• Tank top
• Yoga mat

May 20th, 2007