You Power Yoga

Casi Summers
Instructor

I came into yoga with mean thoughts towards down-ward facing dog, and left with gratitude for the entire practice. Yoga provided me a sense of freedom from the arthritis I had grown up with. Throughout my practice I have fallen in love with the graceful strength I have gained and continue to strive for both physically and mentally.

 

I received my 200-hour certification through Yoga Life in Norman, OK as a means to deepen my own understanding of yoga. After teaching my first class I knew I had found my passion! My goal is for yoga to aid in our everyday “human moments,” whether that be breathing through anxiety, waking up without an achy back, or simply living more active and healthy lifestyles. I firmly believe every class should include awareness of our amazing bodies, along with ear-to-ear smiles.

Yoga Forte at You Power Yoga

After my first class at You Power in July 2017, I was hooked on yoga. I completed my 200-hour teacher training in November of 2020 through You Power’s first teacher training program with Yoga Forte.

 

I had a total knee replacement and a complete reconstruction on the other knee, and I love finding ways to make poses accessible and beneficial for those who need variations.

 

I graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in elementary education and currently teaches journalism at Sequoyah Middle School. I'm married to Brian, and they have two kids, MeL and Kleet.

Margie Owen
RYT 200-hour, 405 Yoga, Oklahoma City

I started teaching group fitness by accident. The instructor didn’t show up and I was asked to teach. I enjoyed every minute and was hooked! I earned several exercise certifications including aqua, cycle, kickboxing, power pump, and Zumba. After a back injury in 2015, I began a true yoga practice, leaning where to place my hands, hips, chest, and gaze. I was in love! I earned my yoga certification in 2019.

For me, the best part of yoga is not just that it makes my back feel better, but that it’s a “complete” practice. It enhances my strength, flexibility, balance, and mental stillness all in one wonderful modality.

My goal is to help participants be at ease and to know that every class is 100% their own. I am here to offer suggestions and to encourage and support whatever you need – whether that’s to rest on your mat and connect to your breath or to push and challenge yourself, I hope to find a way to make that happen during my time with you.

I was a true beginner with no gymnastics experience when I took my first yoga class in 2001. My teachers taught me to approach the practice with tenacity and patience. (If you are a true beginner like I was, I SEE YOU!) Since then, I’ve explored a variety of yoga lineages, but I’m most drawn to the challenge of Baptiste power yoga. I completed my RYT 200-hour training from Better Together Yoga (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) in 2017 and taught a variety of classes at Santosha Hot Yoga, Kosha Yoga School, and Revolution Yoga and Cycle (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) until moving to Oklahoma in 2020. More recently, I trained to teach Yin yoga through 405 Yoga (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma). One of my goals is to achieve the RYT 500-hour certification.

My classes are focused on you, not me. They are accessible for different body types and experience levels because I use clear cues and inclusive pose variations. I juxtapose breath-guided moving meditation with still mindfulness so that you can develop powerful-peace to use both on and off the mat. In addition, as a molecular biologist and full-time science educator, I incorporate my expertise in teaching and the biology behind breathwork and neuroplasticity into my classes.

Yoga Forte at You Power Yoga

I tried out my first yoga class in college and took a few classes here and there for a few years. An avid runner and half marathon participant, yoga gave my body the gentle approach it needed after long hard runs. Yoga became more than that when I noticed my mind clearing and a feeling of connection between the physical body and the spiritual body with breath and meditative movement. Being on my mat feels like coming home every time I roll it out.

When You Power Yoga opened just a few miles down the road with gently heated classes I knew it would be a game changer. And a game changer it was, a lifestyle that I quickly adapted to and incorporated into my everyday. The meditation aspect of yoga was also a life changing experience and made the awareness of breath, body, and movement cement in every aspect of life. There was more awareness and thought in the little things that are done every day. A gentler approach to myself also resulted in a gentler approach to the people and situations alike I encounter each day. Yoga is a way of life for me now and I don't know where I would be if I hadn't found it. I call You Power Yoga my “home studio” but it really just feels like home.

I began doing yoga in community learning classes in Salina, Kansas in early 2000 and loved it so much I studied with Joseph and Lillian Le Page from Integrated Yoga Therapy and received my 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher designation in 2004. I also completed level II training with the Shambhava School of Yoga at Shoshoni Yoga Retreat Center. I taught in community learning classes and eventually co-owned Prairie Lotus Yoga in Salina, Kansas with my friend and business partner, Kate Williams.
I continued my yoga training with Inner Peace Yoga Therapy and received my 300-hour certificate in April 2016 and was blessed to learn from many teachers in the yoga therapy arena.

I also became interested in the work of Thomas Hannah on reawakening the mind's control of movement, flexibility and health with somatic yoga and studied with James Knight, who is a Certified Hannah Somatic Educator and yoga teacher. Today I am a faculty member for Gentle Somatic Yoga and teach workshops and Gentle Somatic Yoga practitioner trainings.

I continue to find the many facets of yoga helpful to experience the well-being that we all were meant to live. I invite you to experience the many blessing of yoga!

I will never forget my first yoga class – I was there for the workout! After the first several minutes, I discovered yoga wasn't what I had envisioned it to be AT ALL. I was a true beginner with no idea what a Chataranga was. My eyes were glued to the instructor. It was as if she could see it in my eyes and she had this magical way with words. Or perhaps she was just that good? The class was incredible. I walked away with a hunger for more. I began attending classes regularly and eventually tried all the other teachers at the studio. I attended different classes, sometimes multiple times a day.
I walked through the YPY studio door with a multitude of things on my plate, like much of the human species roaming this planet. I was in my mid 30s, carrying deep-rooted negative emotional trauma that began in my childhood and seemed to keep coming year after year. I spent my life in survival mode and then, once “recovered,” I was eager to help others heal through the lessons life taught me. But more challenging life experiences made me realize I needed to heal myself first.

Yoga was like a brand new, fully-loaded toolbox, and I was eager to keep dipping into it. I showed up in the beginning for a workout, but more and more I was drawn to the emotional benefits. The mat was a space held for healing myself instead of others for once in my life.

When YPY offered their 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training, I saw an opportunity to deepen my practice and, eventually, aid others on their road to physical and emotional healing and recovery. I graduated YTT March 2022. I got my Level One Reiki certification shortly after and am now on my way to becoming a certified Aerial Yoga instructor.

My classes focus on sensing breath, exploring movement and stillness, and discovering the relationship between body, mind, and spirit. I am dedicated to holding space for my students to practice mindful curiosity and to come alive through embodied practice. My are classes designed for you to explore and find a sense of grounding and presence in your own body.

I am endlessly grateful to all my teachers who have lit the way, and I'm honored to share this light with others. I will always be a student of the practice, and I'm excited to share, learn, and grow with you in class!

Instructor

Certification: Yoga Forte at You Power Yoga, Edmond, OK

 

I have been practicing yoga since 2014 and received my yoga teacher certification in March, 2022. Practicing yoga has brought many positive elements to my life as I balance career and family. I am married to Len and have three fabulous children (one who also practices with me and is a yoga teacher as well) and four even more fabulous grandchildren. Not to mention our sweet puppy, Cali (she fills our empty nest with joy). I love to travel, read, and spend time with my family.

Yoga has been so beneficial to the craziness of a stressful and demanding job. It was because I needed this sanctuary that my daughter introduced me to You Power Yoga. There I found not only peace and learning to live in and appreciate the moment; I also discovered new and wonderful friends.

I am currently certifying to teach Gentle Somatic Yoga as a compliment to Vinyasa. I would love to share my love of yoga and all its benefits with you!

 

Carol Ann Corrigan, RYT 200
Instructor
Certification: Yoga Forte at You Power Yoga, Edmond, OK

 

I’ve been an active exerciser for many years, but I did not enjoy group classes and preferred solo activities: jogging outdoors, power walking, and video workouts. After several foot surgeries I was unable to jog or walk without pain so I took a yoga class. I was very surprised that I was unable to do some of the poses and decided that this may be my new exercise. I was comfortable in the group yoga setting because we all do what we can and want to do.

 

I have practiced five to seven times a week, sometimes twice a day, for about eight years and decided that I might pass on the peace and joy that I derive from yoga studio classes by learning to instruct. Finishing the training March, 2022, I am enthusiastic about leading others. PEACE.

Stacey Young
Instructor
RYT 200 hour, YogaFaith
My yoga journey began in 2010. I had been an athlete all through school and had continued to run and work out as an adult, but I wasn't enjoying either of those things. I heard about, and tried out a yoga class near my home, and was amazed at how challenging it was on so many levels, and at the same time how peaceful it was. At first I was just determined to master the asanas, but as I practiced more and more, my focus began to shift.

I became conscious of the deep connection between the mind and the body. I began to be purposeful about listening to my body and my thoughts as I moved through each practice, and discovered that yoga was healing on every level – mind, body, and spirit. I wanted to share that with others, so I received my RYT-200 hour certification through YogaFaith in Tacoma, Washington. I have enjoyed every moment of teaching this wonderful and ancient practice, and I pray that every student who comes to class will be strengthened and refreshed in body, mind, and spirit.

 

Lauree Dash is proud to be a Certified Meditation Teacher with a specialty in Yoga Nidra, both the Satyananda format with Storytelling, as well as an Advanced Certification in the Integrative Amrit Method of practice. In addition, Lauree has studied Mindfulness and The Heart Practices through the UCLA Maps Program and Compassion through an additional Teacher Training taught by Heater Prete. She has her RYT 200-HR, from Soul Yoga’s Allison Candelaria and she is currently in a two-year Mindfulness Certification Program with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach through Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center.