ABOUT APY
The Founder
Kurt Johnsen has spent a lifetime studying health and happiness. He is the founder of American Power Yoga is the official yoga instructor of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboy’s Cheerleaders. He created and hosted 40 episodes of the nationally televised Yoga for Life. His latest DVD, the Dallas Cowboy’s Cheerleader’s Body Slimming Yoga was awarded “Best Yoga for All Levels” in Fitness Magazine Feb 2010. He has over 7,500 teaching hours and has trained over 100 American Power Yoga instructors. He is a master (5th degree black belt) in Tibetan Kung Fu and is well versed in ju jitsu, tai chi, chi gung, herbology and acupuncture.
“How can I say that losing my mother was a terrible moment in my life when it was also the exact moment that I understood how to live?” When Kurt Johnsen, founder of America Power Yoga says this, I don’t know what to think. I don’t know where to look and I certainly don’t know what to say. In a simple sentence, a well- posed question, he has summed up the miraculous paradox of life. And Kurt is no stranger to paradox. He is a living example.
Kurt Johnsen has spent a lifetime studying health and happiness. He founder of American Power Yoga, host of Yoga for Life and is the official yoga instructor of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboy’s Cheerleaders. His latest DVD was awarded “Best Yoga for All Levels” in Fitness Magazine (Feb 2010) He has over 7,500 teaching hours and is a master of Tibetan Kung Fu and trained in ju jitsu, tai chi, herbology and acupuncture. He is a master (5th degree Black Belt) of the Lightning Fire Mountain System of Tibetan Kung Fu and continues to train to this day. He also trained in Lama Yoga, Tibetan Heart Yoga, Needle in the Cotton (Tibetan Tai Chi), Chi Gong, acupuncture, herbology, Brazilian Ju Jitsu, and Tai Chi Chuan. He was certified as a personal trainer by the Cooper Clinic and he is a former student of some of the most well recognized yoga masters in the world, including Manju Jois, Beryl Bender Birch, Sean Corne and his personal favorite, Bryan Kest.
Despite all of this knowledge and all of his expertise, he maintains a truly humble image. And it is this quality that makes me wonder, prods me to ask him where this balance comes from.
“My mother had a heart attack and drifted into a coma while in my arms. That was a pose and it was the first time my sister and I recognized exactly what it was,” Kurt says. It is at this point that I begin to understand the dichotomy of Kurt. It is at this point that I begin to comprehend Lao Tzu’s “Die without dying and you’ll endure forever.” It is at this point that Kurt Johnsen begins to immerge. For from the passing of his mother, Kurt understood the passion of living a life of connecting with others and accepting that which we do not think we can.
“After the heart attack,” he continues, “our Mom laid in the coma for a short time. My sister Jennifer needed to see her and say goodbye. She had never been comfortable in the starkness of a hospital and she wasn’t sure she could make it down the corridor. So, we walked hand in hand.
Jen was sheet white and looked faint with tear filled eyes. We stopped and faced each other. She had recently begun her yoga practice and there in the hallway of the hospital we discussed how to view this event as a pose and to use the breath work so she would be capable to deal with the situation. She did and it made it possible for the two of us to say goodbye to our Mom.”
And so, after years of training, teaching, and the loss of his mother, Kurt let his lifelong passion for personal exploration and entrepreneurial spirits lead him to the place he was meant to be. “I teamed up with Jen and created The Whole Life Health Center, where A State of Mind Power Yoga was offered,” Kurt says. As Kurt continued to blend his experiences, philosophy, and atmosphere, American Power Yoga (APY) evolved.
“The system of APY,” Kurt says, “is about strength. Not just physical strength, but inner strength; the strength to be resilient; the strength to practice mental and physical discipline; the strength to recognize one's weaknesses and accept them with compassion.”
This is a strength that Kurt learned through loss, and at the same time, it is a strength that continues to grow because of loss. “We encounter loss everyday and everyday,” Kurt continues “we must look past the fears that bind us and go on…”
And again, we return to the equanimity of Kurt Johnsen, a man who has touched thousands through his studios, television show, radio broadcast and teacher trainings. He is a musician, a singer, a surfer, and a writer. And although he is, indeed, all of this and much more, he is very apt to tell you that he is simply, a man who lost his mother and found his life.
