wanting to share his personal experiences
of the practice with others, his accessible,
strength-based model combined with “a
lot of philosophy so people could become
present” was what jam-packed his classes,
at a time when yoga mostly conjured images
of mountaintop gurus in orange robes lost
in transcendental meditation. PLAY’s new
style of yoga - accessible, physical and
humble - tapped into the roots of today’s
global phenomenon: the desire for a serious
physical practice that relates to more than
just muscles and adrenaline, but contains
unifying messages steeped in everyday
human experience.
At Power Living itself, people are
paramount. Starting with Peak himself, the
company CEO but also its most senior
teacher. Yoga is the business and business
is the yoga. Amongst the Power Living crew,
there’s a strong recognition and respect for
that. The guy at the top knows what he’s
talking about; he knows his yoga asana
and he knows how to manage a business.
This trust has periodically allowed him the
time and space to pull back when needed
to develop his own path as yoga teacher
and address the real needs of the business.
We’re back to the CEO growing as a yoga
teacher and the yoga teacher growing as a
businessman.
Growing business
Then there are the teachers. A majority of
the PLAY studios are a direct result of senior
teachers wanting to tie themselves to the
brand more permanently, undertaking part
ownership of locations and communities
they have helped build. Of the many outside
investors interested in a piece of the cake,
Peak says: “It’s very tempting to say I’ll
take your million dollars and let’s go and
open multiple studios” but that’s not what
interests him, and new locations only open
up “with the right people”. Today, Power
Living counts nine owners; Peak owns 70%
of the bigger brand, which itself owns 60%
of all studios (except for Perth and Adelaide
which operate under license).
Power Living is now a multi-million dollar
business, but Peak still responds himself to
his Facebook messages and at every one
of the nine PLAY studios the walker-in is
treated like family. When asked why he
does it, he replies, unflinching: “To be of
service to something bigger than ourselves.
That’s what we always come back to at
Power Living”.
Tahereh Sariban is a yoga teacher and
freelance writer (taherehsariban.com)
FM