Birmingham, AL

I came to yoga following years of dealing with chronic pain and fatigue. Yoga became my medicine and I decided pretty quickly I wanted to teach and train others. After teaching in the studio for several years, I began working with my son’s high school baseball team and I realized high school coaches and athletes want focused and productive strategies to maximize their abilities. I needed to give my students something more than just the basic everyday yoga flow. Enter Gwen Lawrence and Power Yoga for Sports. Gwen’s focus on the anatomy of the athlete, their sport, and their position is only part of the course material. Her ability to assess and correct imbalances to enable athletes to level up their performance makes her work and course material unique. Applying what I learned in my PYFS Teacher Training and my ten years of study under Gwen, I have built off-season, in-season, and year-long programs for youth and collegiate athletes. Gwen’s straightforward, no-nonsense approach gets to the point of the matter quickly and cuts through the fluff so my athletes trust they are getting exactly what they need in order to be the best they can be and not just going through the motions. Gwen continues to be a mentor and inspires and challenges me to be a better coach for my athletes, and a better communicator and partner with the teams’ coaches.

Athletes know practice and routine make them better, whether it is the extra miles, one more set in the weight room, or extra batting practice. Power Yoga for Sports integrates yoga into these routines in an efficient and effective way, as part of regular training and performance improvement. In addition to sport-specific poses and movements that balance strength with flexibility, PYFS incorporates breathing, focus, mental toughness, and balance that work holistically to help athletes reach a new level of excellence.