तपस्tapas · heat, disciplined effort
Power yoga, ashtanga's athletic offspring
3 min read · Updated October 16, 2026 · sources checked October 16, 2026
In short
Power yoga is a vigorous, flowing style of yoga that appeared in the United States in the 1990s, created by students of K. Pattabhi Jois's ashtanga, notably Beryl Bender Birch, whose book Power Yoga appeared in 1995, and Bryan Kest; Baron Baptiste developed his own version. It keeps ashtanga's breath-linked movement but drops its fixed series, with an athletic aim.
Sweat, strength, music, a fast flow of sun salutations and arm balances: for many people, this is what "yoga" now means. Power yoga took the athletic edge of ashtanga and brought it into the gyms and studios of the 1990s. It is worth knowing where it comes from, and what the tradition might say to it.
Where it comes from
Power yoga appeared in the United States in the 1990s, through students of K. Pattabhi Jois, the Mysore teacher of ashtanga vinyasa yoga:
- Beryl Bender Birch published Power Yoga: The Total Strength and Flexibility Workout in 1995. Yoga Journal calls her version "the original Power Yoga".
- Bryan Kest, who had studied ashtanga with Jois, developed and branded his own power yoga at almost the same time.
- Baron Baptiste developed another version, drawing also on Bikram yoga, which became known as Baptiste power vinyasa.
Neither Kest's nor Baptiste's power yoga is the same as ashtanga. The name was a bridge: it presented the demanding, breath-linked ashtanga practice to an American public interested in fitness, in words that public understood.
Pattabhi Jois's objection
The bridge did not please everyone. In a letter to Yoga Journal published in 1995, Pattabhi Jois objected to the association of his ashtanga with the term "power yoga", which he called "ignorant bodybuilding". For him, the series were a spiritual discipline in which the body serves the mind, not an end in itself.
What a class looks like
A power yoga class usually lasts 60 to 75 minutes, sometimes in a warm room, often with music:
- Centring: a minute of breathing, seated or standing.
- Sun salutations, several rounds of A and B, to warm up quickly (Surya Namaskar).
- Standing flow: lunges, warriors, triangle, held longer than in a gentle class, linked by vinyasas (plank and chaturanga, upward dog, downward dog).
- Strength and balance: core work, crow, side plank, sometimes inversions.
- Floor work and cool-down: hip openers, backbends such as the bridge, twists.
- Śavāsana, often shorter than it should be: stay longer if you can.
Seen from the tradition
The texts do value effort. Patañjali places it first in the yoga of action:
तपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः
tapaḥ-svādhyāyeśvara-praṇidhānāni kriyā-yogaḥ
Austerity, self-study and devotion to the Lord are the yoga of action.
Tapas literally means heat, the heat of disciplined effort. Patañjali says what it produces:
कायेन्द्रियसिद्धिरशुद्धिक्षयात्तपसः
kāyendriya-siddhir aśuddhi-kṣayāt tapasaḥ
Through tapas, as impurities are destroyed, comes the perfection of the body and the senses.
But in the same text, tapas sits beside self-study and devotion, and among the observances that follow the restraints, beginning with non-harming. Effort that injures, compares or feeds the ego is not tapas in this sense. A power class becomes yoga when the effort is placed on the breath, measured, and followed by stillness. Read the eight limbs of yoga for the whole picture.
Who it suits
Power yoga suits people who are already active, like strong physical work and want a demanding practice; it can be a door to yoga for athletes. It suits less well beginners in standard classes, people with wrist, shoulder or lower-back problems, and anyone looking mainly for calm. Intensity is high. On the levels of practice, choose a "beginner" or "level 1" class first.
Before you start
- Learn the basic postures first: the beginner postures or a slower vinyasa class.
- Strength before depth: a strong, stable posture is better than a deep, collapsed one.
- Keep the final rest. It is part of the practice, not the end of the workout.
Finding a good class
Power yoga has no lineage holder and no certifying body. Ask the teacher where they trained, whether they know ashtanga or another traditional method, how they adapt for injuries, and how much time the class leaves for rest. A Yoga Alliance registration shows a completed training, no more (see what Yoga Alliance certifies). To go back to the source, try a few weeks of Mysore-style ashtanga. All the schools and paths: the paths of yoga.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between power yoga and ashtanga?
Ashtanga follows the same fixed series every day, learnt pose by pose. Power yoga borrows its strong, breath-linked movement but changes the sequence from class to class and often adds a fitness focus. Pattabhi Jois himself objected to the term.
Is power yoga good for beginners?
Only in a class labelled for beginners, or after a few weeks of basic postures. A standard power class moves fast, repeats many chaturangas and assumes you know the postures.
Is power yoga real yoga?
It uses real postures and a real breathing discipline, but it is a modern Western style and often leaves out the other limbs of yoga. Whether it becomes yoga depends on how you practise: with attention and restraint, or only for the workout.
Is power yoga the same as vinyasa?
Close. Power yoga is often described as a vigorous form of vinyasa; the term covers many strong flow classes rather than one defined method.
Sources
- Power Yoga, Wikipedia (Beryl Bender Birch 1995, Bryan Kest, Baron Baptiste, Pattabhi Jois's letter to Yoga Journal, 1995) checked October 16, 2026
- Ashtanga vinyasa yoga, Wikipedia (power yoga in the 1990s, Jois's objection) checked October 16, 2026
- Vinyasa, Wikipedia (power yoga among the flow styles descended from ashtanga) checked October 16, 2026
- Patañjali, Yogasūtra, Sanskrit text, sūtras 2.1 and 2.43 (GRETIL, University of Göttingen) checked October 16, 2026