MORE Community Classes + Meet our NEW teacher, Alexa!

We're offering another $5 Community Class on Sundays, 6 - 7:15pm, starting tonight!  Our community classes are a great way to get on the mat when you're on a budget.  Plus, any of the class passes can apply, too.  Visit the class schedule for all the class offerings.

And tonight's class is doubly special because one of our own Mighty Yogis will be teaching!  Alexa Class started as a Mighty student more than a year ago.  She just completed her 200-hr teacher training in Philadelphia last month, and we're thrilled she's re-joined the Mighty team as our newest instructor!  Join us in giving her a Mighty Welcome Back!  Meet Alexa below and join her on Sundays this spring!

MY:  How did you come to yoga? 

Alexa:  I came into yoga the first time by taking an open community-college Kundalini class.   It was out there, from my perspective, we were practicing an intense breathing exercise for about 30 min, and I was exhausted, so much so that I felt drugged.  I thought it was wild, and I wanted more of it.  I eventually poked around in many different styles of yoga, before finding a teacher and class that really spoke to my physical, psychological, and spiritual self.  This was a power vinyasa class led by a professor who was as informed about biology and science as she was about universal consciousness and prana. I took her class for the 4-plus years I was doing my biological dissertation work, going to every single class she offered (5 a week) and then seeking out other yoga classes (and some Pilates) on the side. I loved her for how well rounded she was, for her gift at teaching and for the way she carried herself--as someone who was aware, informed and conscious of all of life around her. I started making a deep internal transition into understanding that I was not there for the physical activity (though I loved this, too), as much as for the mental clarity, internal peace and mental quiet yoga brought to my being.  I was hooked! 

What do you like about Power Yoga?
Alexa:  I like that it brings you into a deep awareness of the fact that you are just like everyone else around you, but that you are also 100% yourself, with a unique story, perspective, and personal reason for coming into yoga. If you are open to the challenge, you can use the limbs of yoga to figure out who you are and be open to that, no matter where you are starting from.
 

How has your yoga changed since the first time you practiced?  

Alexa:  I have become very conscious of the power that pranayama, the life force and breath can have to keep you moving, feeling steady and grounded in your yoga practice and through your day.  Without breath none of us would be alive. It is such a critical thing to try and bring into our over-scheduled, busy lives.  I have also learned a lot more that yoga is entirely about knowing yourself.  Your mat really is like a mirror and it will reflect things you are working through very clearly if you let it.  I love this internal space--the time I spend working on finding self-peace is certainly reflected in how others relate to me.  Yoga just has an unstoppable power to bring consciousness into your life where it is lacking.  I really believe in it as a healing tool and a community-builder.  We need more of that than any of us realize in this capitalistic society we live in.
 

Why did you decide to teach yoga? 

Alexa:  I decided to teach yoga because yoga teachers have really been my support system through the some of the most challenging periods of my life.  I think I owe a lot of personal growth as well as my growing desire to give back to the larger community of life that I live in to the practice.  I have always wanted to “save the world” and have learned that each and every one of us have an aspect of this in us that is waiting to shine.  I think teaching yoga may be one of my prime ways of communicating what my mind-body-spirit knows better than my mind alone.
 

Any tips for someone new to yoga? 

Alexa:  Let it teach you something.  Whatever you may need to know—it is out there.  You have all the answers in you--you just have to be open enough to let them come.  If you are stressed or frustrated come in and let go.  You will not forget how that feels and if you are lucky that feeling might spread through you and heal the ‘avidyā’ (clouded consciousness) that you are working through.  Yoga has seven other limbs besides the physical asanas. Though the physical benefits are unparalleled, you will gain more than you can imagine from accepting the other aspects that reveal themselves along the way. Most of all, be conscious of your own body and aware that you make the decisions about what it will or will not do and for which reasons. Sometimes this is a really important thing to pay attention to in order to understand the way you think with more clarity.

What is your favorite pose(s)?  Why?

Alexa:  I love poses that combine ‘muscle intelligence’ with ‘pranayama’ (the life force, breath awareness) and balance.  Thus, poses like eagle (Garuḍāsana), bird of paradise (Svarga Dvijasana), forearm balance (Pincha Mayurasana) and compass pose (Parivrtta Surya Yantrasana) are poses I love as a challenging way to get out of my mind, free up my breath and focus deeply.  Let me also point out that I study birds, including the birds of paradise. Knowing that I am embodying their amazing grace in a pose is just super thrilling to me.

What do you like to do off the yoga mat?  
Alexa:  That is a big question!  Well, I love making art and finding myself in my art.  I spend a lot of time observing the world, whether it be through yoga, art, or biology.  Things I do whenever I can include, among many others: hiking, swimming, exploring caves and forests, surfing, scuba diving, paragliding, sailing, dancing, singing. I love watching life, including birds among other animals and plants of all kinds.  I love using my hands and feeling the earth.  I have always found great contentment in experiencing weather and the changing smells, sounds, and sights surrounding thunderstorms, eclipses, meteor showers etc.  I love reading a good book. I cook a lot, trying to stick to an informed, local/mindfully produced, mainly vegetarian diet. I love teaching, about anything related to seeing the world for what it is.  I also really enjoy talking to an audience about something I am passionate about and hearing global, diverse, perspectives on life. Traveling is a passion of mine because it gives grace and compassion. New experiences and perspectives provide a perfect opportunity to practice being more humble, forgiving, and peaceful, something I am continually working on.

What fuels you? 
Alexa:  I love being alive and experiencing it all as it comes.  I just want to grow, learn, share, and feel as much as I can!  Seeing people realize they are just like other people everywhere and seeing people realize that life in general should be honored for the energy it brings is such a wonderfully simple and beautiful thing to observe. The ‘life cycle’ and the idea of impermanence has fueled me since I was a toddler playing with insects I found near my hand-made thunder-storm mud-pool in Tucson, Arizona.