Spotlight on: Power yoga Thinkstock

Festivals, retreats, dedicated studios... Yoga is becoming increasingly popular as a fashionable fitness class for busy, urban professionals. Yoga has really revolutionised our minds, and practising it helps us stay in touch with ourselves as well as keeping us fit and healthy, Batrice Delahaie tells us. In fact, yoga seems to respond to all our needs, connecting us with our bodies, and boosting fitness and energy levels as well as helping us develop our inner calm. For purists, yoga is also about achieving a higher form of spirituality.

Hatha yoga is perhaps the best known form of yoga, but its static positions arent popular with fitness junkies. The more dynamic version, Ashtanga yoga, kickstarted yogamania with a strong celebrity following. Now, a highly charged and less traditional version of Ashtanga has taken the yoga scene by a storm: power yoga.

Power Yoga began in the US in the 1980s, whereas other practices mainly started off in India where they were devised by wise men or yogis. Power yoga sprang up in many places, notably California, Batrice Delahaie explains. She was trained herself by Bryan Kest, co-founder of Power Yoga in Santa Monica. He came up with the idea with Byron Baptiste, and together they transformed Ashtanga yoga to create a less strict, fitness-based yoga class. They found Ashtanga classes too rigid in the sense that only by mastering the first series of poses could you go on to the second and third series which made up the session, our expert explains.

You could say that power yoga is a deconstructed version of ashtanga yoga. Ashtanga can be very repetitive, and this is where power yoga differs. The new practice takes poses from ashtanga yoga, and puts them together in a unique sequence. Teachers reinvent the sequence each time, depending on the pupils energy or according to a particular direction the teacher wants to go in. Its all about balance, flexibility and muscle strength. This practice is particularly focused on physical fitness and includes poses specific to yoga as well as fitness exercise and Pilates. Another element that is different is the music. The session injects energy into the poses though music, which can be anything from soul to hip-hop and even jazz.

The key benefit of practising power yoga is getting a toned, sculpted body. The most popular poses target muscle strength. This is one of the main reasons people practise yoga, says Batrice Delahaie. Power yoga also works on your endurance, makes you sweat a lot and burns loads of calories. You will definitely slim down! our expert says.

Regular yoga also guarantees many other benefits too, making your body more flexible and improving your balance. The anti-stress benefits are also significant. Practising Ujjayi breathing allows you to relax your mind. The stresses of everyday life take their toll on your body. Yoga relaxes your shoulders, regulates your breathing and helps you centre yourself in the present.

Power yoga is for anyone who is looking for a more dynamic version of yoga and appreciates classes that stray from tradition. Power yoga is freer and more fun, but still has all the benefits for your body that other forms have. Music lovers will also appreciate this new kind of fitness.

Where can you do power yoga?The Power Yoga Company in South West London was the first dedicated Power Yoga studio in the UK:thepoweryogaco.com

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Spotlight on: Power yoga