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9/10/2014

The next Yoga at the Glen will be held Friday, Sept. 12. Photo courtesy of Power Life Yoga

The next Yoga at the Glen will be held Friday, Sept. 12. Photo courtesy of Power Life Yoga

Have you heard the latest craze? It’s the new fab exercise sweeping the nation, and we have God to thank! Recent studies suggest that kneeling for long periods of time, followed by occasional standing and swaying, reduces your cholesterol count while boosting your immune system.

While the above may be utter hogwash, consider this: While yoga can provide benefits of physical fitness and reduced stress, it was actually designed as a system for attaining spiritual enlightenment.

“Yoga is one of the few true mind and body experiences,” says Katie Blakley, Community Coordinator and yoga instructor at Power Life.

“There are countless benefits to yoga. Some of the most known benefits of yoga are on the physical side including improving strength, balance, flexibility, core strength,” added owner Adam Geneser. “The physical side is only part of the benefits. Yoga helps improve mental well-being by creating a strong healthy mind, stress reduction, relaxation and improved sleep.”

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Even though yoga has grown immensely in popularity over the years, there are still many who buck the facts and make excuses for why they haven’t given it a shot.

“ ‘Im not flexible’ is something we hear a lot,” says Blakley. “But flexibility is a benefit of yoga and a reason you should try it out.”

This weekend is the perfect opportunity to try yoga out in a very open, welcoming environment:

Outside.

With rock n’ roll.

Taught by OUTLAWS.

The free class is held outside the West Glen Power Life Yoga and led by Outlaw founder, Justin Kaliszewski, and accompanied by the rock ’n roll talents of his father Ken Kaliszewski.

“Outlaw Yoga is a movement towards a new way of practicing…a new way of being,” says Kaliszewski. “Physically challenging and technically simple, Outlaw Yoga challenges you to make more than a habit of life, to connect to self and to purpose through intense physicality, to explore the power of presence in a contemporary, community setting — connecting to self, to others, and to your inner sense of service.”

Kaliszewski is a self-described reformed meathead and former cage fighter )who may appear more at home in a metal band than a yoga studio) and has taught yoga around the country for years. His class challenges participants to take a look at how they live their lives, empowers them to take ownership of the choices that have led them to where they are, and give them the tools to take action on and off the mat. The Outlaw Yoga movement is all about bringing “yoga to the people … young and old, short and tall, skinny and fat, veggie loving vegans and carnivorous couch potatoes, hardcore bikers and hard charging cyclists, gals and dudes, fighters and lovers, soldiers and tree huggers. Everyone!” CV

David Rowley is an Iowa native with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Iowa and a master’s in film journalism from the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

Yoga at the Glen
Friday, Sept. 12
Free all levels Outlaw Yoga class on the lawn at West Glen Town Center (right outside Power Life Yoga)
Mats, water and towels are provided in case beginners don’t have their own, but those who have their own should bring them along.
Music starts at 5:30 p.m. and yoga at 6 p.m., to be immediately followed by community time. Donations are encouraged by not required, and 100 percent of the proceeds go to the Hannah Geneser Foundation.

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