Powering up with yoga for a full-body workout
2005-11-08
Prana Power Yoga Studio
Not all yoga is about contortions and navel contemplation. Consider power yoga.
It aims to develop strength, tone and a balanced physique. Rather than segregate strength, stamina, flexibility and cardiovascular training, it combines them.
Imagine a 90-minute workout whereby striking 53 posses in a continuous flow of movement calls on every muscle in your body. Add to that, controlled breathing - all with the thermostat set at a toasty 30 degrees.
It's guaranteed to work up a sweat - about a liter's worth, says Naomi Hoshina, yoga instructor and president of Prana Power Corp.
"You'll definitely build muscles, she says. "We use every part of every muscle. And if losing a few kilos is the goal, she adds: "You don't just get skinny. You get toned.
Hoshina is Japan's only certified teacher of baptiste power vinyasa yoga. She opened Prana Power Yoga Studio in Ebisu in May, after a decade of study at the Baptiste Power Yoga Institute in Boston, Jivamukti Yoga Center and the Yoga Zone in New York, and elsewhere. She says Baron Baptiste's power yoga has swept America for good reason.
His demystified system is accessible to novices and diehards alike. It does not require vegetarianism, 3 a.m. sessions or allegiance to a yogi. And while traditional ashtanga yoga demands pretzel-like malleability, Hoshina says, power yoga is, well, more flexible on that point too.
"With ashtanga yoga you have to be very flexible, Hoshina says of the discipline she once studied. "A lot of people who first try it injure themselves because it forces postures. Rather than getting too into specific postures, we focus on conditioning.
While power yoga can compliment most sports and fitness activities, she says, it's more about body balancing than the bodybuilding such workouts produce. Disproportionately bulging biceps or a tennis player's one strong arm is counterintuitive to power yoga's holistic approach.
"A lot of athletes come to our studio-J-League soccer players, she offers as an example. "Their hamstrings are very tight because of all the running they do, which can lead to injuries. In such cases more stretching and flexibility is in order.
On the other hand, the yoga teacher says, too much of a good thing, even flexibility, is bad: "If you're flexible it may be because you have week muscles. Knee problems can be the result of ligaments that are too loose, causing the knees to hyperextend. It's something that improved posture as well as conditioning may help.
Pragmatism aside, Hoshina admits that: "power yoga is not just physical. The "power in the yoga is not just physical strength. It's the power to get the best out of life from balanced lifestyle and well-being. This comes not by adhering to the rigid rules of an external training system, she says, but by pushing the edge of personal limits.
"We always say, 'face yourself. Observe yourself,'" recounts Hoshina. "If you can control your breathing you can control your mind.
For more information about Prana Power Yoga Studio visit their Web site at www.pranapys.com. Information on baptiste power vinyasa yoga is available at: www.baronbaptiste.com.
