Conscious Choice Seattle: Living Large

October 2006 | Feature Story

Living Large

The Shakti West studio in Ballard is the city’s biggest space. An intimate look inside the 1,700 square feet

By Ritzy Ryciak

The first thing that you notice is the balmy heat. It is like stepping off an airplane into a hot and humid land.

It is a Sunday morning, and more than 50 bodies, dressed for stretching, have gathered at Shakti Vinyasa Yoga studio in Ballard within the butterscotch walls. Participants place their toes at the edge of their mats and hum three powerful Oms. The room begins to vibrate.

"Take it into downward facing dog,” says the woman standing in the front of the room. Clad in purple spandex and a green tank top, she is the instructor and guide for the next 90 minutes.

"Allow your spine to lengthen,” she says. “Breathe into each one of your cells and feel your body awaken."

Wake up, no sleepyheads here.

Shakti, which translates as “the power that pervades everything in life,” is a studio named in honor of the creative potential that already exists within all of us. Shakti Vinyasa Yoga East & West, with studios in Bellevue (east) and Ballard (west) are the only Baron Baptiste affiliate studios on the West Coast. What’s more, Shakti West is the largest yoga studio in Seattle measuring in at 1700-square-feet—up to 90 students can practice at one time.

Baptiste, one of the best-known yoga teachers in the United States, has practiced yoga since age 12. He is famous for teaching yoga to Hollywood stars and has trained professional football players as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles coaching staff. He is the creator of many how-to-practice videos and author of several books including, “My Daddy is a Pretzel,” a best-selling book about yoga for kids and their parents. Baptiste’s “Journey Into Power” book is the No. 1 selling yoga book in the U.S.

Finding the ‘flow’

Baptiste’s yoga style resonates with many people.

"When I found flow it was like coming home,” says Lisa Black, co-owner of Shakti with her husband Peter Avolio, describing the type of yoga offered at their studios. “The sequencing and postures feel like a long and powerful dance."

Black, a runner and serious athlete since childhood, came to yoga for injury relief and prevention. She appreciates its effect on reducing stress in her life while amplifying personal power.

“It is about raising your level of awareness and consciousness about yourself,” says Black, a yoga teacher for more than five years, “but also raising your potential."

Black remembers her first yoga class as a paradigm-shifting experience where she settled into her body, got out of her mind and more into her “heart space.” As an athlete she was used to challenging herself and pushing through the pain when it arose. With yoga, she learned to listen to the pain and practice ahisma—a Sanskrit word meaning to do
no harm—on her body and mind.

"Baron created a sequence that for me, unlocks my body in a way that makes sense,” says the energetic blonde with chiseled arm muscles to inspire any women to start a yoga practice.

Classes at the local Shakti centers feature both Baptiste power vinyasa yoga and shakti vinyasa yoga. The two styles link the breath with continuous, flowing movement. Four class levels are offered daily. Beginners who sign up for an initial eight classes frequently report deeper sleep, stronger focus, back pain relief and added strength and vitality. Black says some of her favorite feedback includes “getting in better touch with my body” (a plus for any of us, perhaps most especially women barraged by mainstream media sense of fashion and style) and “discovering energy known as a teenager.”

A good sweat

Back in the Sunday morning class, students are beginning to sweat. The temperature inside the studio is 88 degrees. For the past 20 minutes, the room has been filled with continual flowing motion. Within each 90-minute practice there are 53 postures and 11 sequences; each series builds upon the next.

Heat is one of the five pillars of Baptiste power vinyasa yoga, but it doesn’t need to be quite as hot as Bikram yoga (110 degrees). With Baptiste yoga, students build internal heat from the flowing movement, detoxify through sweat and breath and stretch more deeply.

"Feel something different,” says the instructor, who encourages individuals to push themselves to new levels when they are ready. “Surrender to yourself and trust that you are your best teacher."

While students reach their fingertips high into the sky, the instructor speaks of compassion.
"What an incredible thing to cultivate,” she muses.

While the classes are rigorous and challenging, one of the clearest messages that students receive is self-care. Push yourself, build your muscles, mind, and soul, but most importantly, listen to and respect your own personal needs.

"Let the postures do unto you,” explains Black, who says she believes our thoughts influence and affect our health. “If you come for the physical benefits and your mind is stimulated and your heart feels opened and expansive and your spirit is touched, you will want to come back and you will never tire from it."

And if you are practicing ahimsa, a powerful cornerstone in yoga, you are doing no harm to yourself in thought, word or deed.

"My hope is students have fun, feel inspired and empowered and remember what they learned in their practice so that they can integrate it into their lives,” says Black. “And that people wake up. The yoga practice is a way for people to care for themselves and to wake up out of numbness and into sensation."

Ritzy Ryciak is a regular contributor to Seattle Conscious Choice. She wrote about organic cotton and natural fibers in the September issue.

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