The Real Power in Power Yoga

When I was in school, there were kids who were cool.  (Yes, I know it was a long time ago. Nobody says "cool" anymore.)  You could always pick the cool kids out of the crowd.  There was something about the way they walked, the way they carried themselves, that told you they had it all together and they were in charge.  I was not one of them.  Walking down the hallway, I was doing my best to blend in with the wall.  I wanted to be cool, but I could never pull it off, so I learned to stay out of the way.  I'd been staying out of the way ever since.

Last year, I went on a weekend retreat with my yoga teacher and some of her other students.  We had a number of different yoga classes over the weekend, and one of them was a power class.  I had taken some flow classes, but I had never done a power yoga class.  It was very, very difficult for me, physically, but there was something about it that made me want to try again.  I started going to power yoga classes once a week.  Now power yoga is my favorite style.

In the power yoga classes I go to, most of the asanas are all about the third chakra, the power center in your solar plexus.  The asanas help to build core strength, which stabilizes you in the pose, and create heat in your body to relax muscles and allow them to stretch.  The heat in the room is turned up high, and I sweat.  I really, really sweat.  I have never before, at any time in my life, done anything that makes me really, really sweat.  At first I didn't like the sweating.  It was pretty gross.  Now I recognize that the sweating is good for me.  My body feels so much lighter afterward, and cleaner inside.  It's great to dump all those toxins.  It's like giving your insides a fresh start.

The real change that came from my power yoga practice came slowly, so slowly I didn't notice it until it had happened.  As my core strength built, my abdominal muscles started to support my back better, which improved my posture.  I started to stand taller.  Countless Sun Salutations strengthened my shoulders and upper back, and my shoulders stopped hunching forward.  As I lifted up out of my low back, my hip were free to swing a little easier.  One day I noticed that people were responding to me differently.  For instance, they realized I was in the room.  Co-workers who hadn't noticed my existence before were saying hello to me.  I didn't like my job, so I went out and found a new one.  I had been putting it off because I was terrified of going on an interview, but this time I wasn't even nervous, and I got a great offer.

I spent all day yesterday in yoga teacher training, so my body awareness is turned up high, which might be why I noticed it today.  I was walking around my house, and it occurred to me that I was walking like a cool kid.  That's how people have been treating me, too.  I'm cool, I've got it all together, and they want to hang out with me.  I don't think I could blend into the wall if I tried.  That's the power of power yoga.  It changes your physical presence, and you move differently through the world. 

Don't go thinking I'm completely transformed.  I'm still pretty shy, but I'm not overwhelmed by fear when I meet new people anymore.  I'm not likely to run for President, or even Mayor, or anything like that.  I just have some new personal power, a little fire in my belly, and a really cool walk.