Photo courtesy of Creative Commons
Everyone’s heard of Bikram yoga. Or if you haven’t, you’ve at least heard of hot yoga. The two are the same: you twist into all these great asanas (yoga postures) in a room that’s been heated to the scorching temperature of 120 degrees. Because, you know, yoga.
This week I did not do Bikram yoga, but I might as well have. I say that because I’m pretty sure I sweated out the full three pounds of water weight I would’ve lost in a Bikram class anyway doing the power yoga intro course at SCAD Studio.
Power yoga starts with ujjayi breath.
I know – in my head I asked the same questions you’re asking yourself now. What is ujjayi breath? How do I even say that? Ooh-jai-ee? Where’s Wikipedia …
To sum it up, ujjayi breath consists of very strong rushing inhales and exhales that pump in and out through your nose. Think of it as that quick panting you do after running a few sprints at fifth grade soccer practice, but with your nose. The wave-like sound of everyone doing it together fills the studio, which is why it’s sometimes called “ocean breath.”
Ujjayi warms up the body tremendously. Your waist, stomach, chest, neck, shoulders and face all begin to radiate heat. You can physically feel the energy gathering in these areas; it rolls off your body in beads of sweat and more puffs of ujjayi.
With the room all hot and full of ocean-y sounds, you can begin. Sun salutations come first. They increase the heat and stretch out any remaining kinks in your body. Downward-facing dog is your resting pose and remains so throughout the course. Child’s pose is always an option as well.
By the end of your sun salutations, you’re already sweating. It’s a good sweat, though. It’s clean and mild. It loosens your joints, relaxes your skin and allows you to really fold into your next asana.
Yogis familiar with vinyasa or really any generic yoga course will recognize some of the asanas here: cobra pose, plank, tree pose, downward- and upward-facing dog. These are all some of power yoga’s easier postures. Warrior pose and an optional dolphin pose represent some of the trickier ones. Keep in mind that even the easier asanas are upped a bit in power yoga. You’ll be instructed to pull up your stomach and really tighten it, to roll your calves and inner thighs and stretch them out. This sounds simple, but with ujjayi breath in full swing and a warrior pose coming up next, that clean, refreshing sweat turns into something heavier.
The sweat really shouldn’t bother you. It didn’t bother me — I just remembered to wear all black and take a spot in the back row. But I also knew going into the course what I was there for: to stretch, sweat and grow in my yoga practice. That’s what I did and that’s what you will do.
Ultimately, what I found to be the most rewarding part of power yoga was the intense amount of focus it entails. The class is fast-paced and at times can be truly strenuous. The speed combined with the heavy focus on breath — the timing of which dictates the flow of asanas — doesn’t give your mind any time to wander. I left the building with a one-pointed mind and a glowing hara.
Those are two more terms for you to look up on your own before you sign up for Intro to Power Yoga at SCAD Studio.
