“Sometimes you have to look hard at a person, and remember he’s doing the best he can.” – Ethel Thayer, from On Golden Pond.

CorePower Yoga does just that.

In an industry that ranges from selflessness to navel-gazing, CorePower Yoga manages to span the whole range while delivering, class after class, a client experience like no other.

What do Jane Fonda and CorePower Yoga have in common?  A workout that is taking America by storm with the propitious mix of work, sweat, music and you-know-what appeal.

But more than just a workout, CorePower Yoga adds a sprinkling of yoga philosophy, a growing sense of community, and tops it with unbeatable customer experience in and out of the yoga room.  Teachers and studio managers are hired or contracted based on their teaching ability…but even more so based upon their attitude and ability to create the “CorePower Experience.” Students share with me again and again that they feel like they can come to class and be honored for where they are that day, in the moment—physically, mentally and spiritually.

This focus on individual attention can get lost in a teacher training with a 40-1 student-teacher ratio or at sign-in for a 50-person class, with one teacher hurrying behind the front desk or unable to get to every student in the room. Somehow, though the teachers and studio managers almost always remember to congratulate Jenny on the way out for coming into Crow for the first time, or check in on a regular student who looks discouraged.

And though customer service is a learned skill encouraged by CorePower corporate, the truth is that the CorePower teachers really do care. They care that you had a rough day, or that you are becoming more accepting of your body. They love that you brought your family in to join you for a yoga class, or just to introduce them to your yoga teacher. They look hard at each person and remember she’s doing the best she can.

And when they lay their head down on their pillow at night, sometimes tears come to their eyes remembering an experience with a student earlier in the day, and they look hard at themselves and remember they are doing the best they can.

Angela teaches in Boulder, Colorado at CorePower Yoga and leads workshops and retreats locally and internationally as a part of her company, Live Yoga.  She teaches challenging, healing, and heart-centered yoga classes with a healthy serving of fun. An engineer and a yoga teacher, Angela practices bringing happiness to others and aims to lead by example by laughing frequently, and meaning it!

Edits: Waylon Lewis, for elephantjournal.com.

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