All yoga should have the same objective, which is basically wellness. Although wellness can be expressed in many ways using many terms. The word yoga literally translated into English means “yoke“ or “to yoke;“ now, you can translate yoke into join, union, harmonize or harness. I like the word harness, because harnessing connotes steering. It is the steering of oneself instead of being steered. Being steered by mental habit patterns that one is usually unaware they are partaking in.
Just because these are the literal translations and definitions does not mean that is the objective of the person, studio or lineage that is calling their practice yoga or Power Yoga. Some people’s objective could be flexibility, some may want beauty and some injury prevention, and I’m sure there may be many other objectives. Us westerners are certainly mutating this age-old practice to fit our agendas. This is not a criticism, just an observation of what is happening.