New power yoga class can help heal

The Oak Park Community Center is offering a power yoga class in addition to the more traditional yoga class already available.

Renee Peace, the community center's director, describes power yoga as an intense program that builds stamina and strength.

"It's the kind of class where you're doing more resistance training. When you do a plank or downward dog (yoga poses) you're holding for a long time," Peace said. "When you walk out of there you feel like you've been with a personal trainer."

The class is led by Suzie Gullett, who has been teaching yoga for 11 years in various settings, including her church and at the Moorpark Athletic Club. Gullett, a certified personal trainer and Pilates instructor, became involved in yoga after being diagnosed with cancer.

"Yoga helped me see that there is power in the subtle movements of the body and the body need not be only worked out hard and fast," Gullett said. "The dynamic strength, balance and fluid movement that came from yoga brought my body, my mind and my breath back to a place not only of wellness, but of true power and strength."

The term power yoga was developed by Beryl Bender Birch in the 1980s after a car accident left her in pain. Gullett said the new, less rigid form of yoga helped Birch to heal faster.

Gullett believes the benefits of yoga can be enjoyed by anyone. Power yoga builds on endurance to protect muscles from injury, Gullett said.

"Yoga prepares the body and mind to work together," Gullett said. "Young or old, yoga sustains, rejuvenates and restores the body from the inside out."

Two six-week sessions are being offered every Thursday from 11 a.m. to noon beginning today, Jan. 8. The second session begins on Feb. 19.

The fee per session is $48. Registration is available online at www.rsrpd.org or at the community center at 1000 Kanan Road, in Oak Park. For information, call (818) 865-9304.

—Sophia Fischer