This story originally appeared in Mile High Sports Magazine. Read the full digital edition.

Yoga was supposed to be a supplement – a way to “cross-train” for dance, the discipline that had taken Melissa Loeffelholz through college and all over the country.

She was good at dance – great, in fact. As a ballerina, she’d earned honors at Texas Christian University and performed significant roles in cities all over America.

Yoga, she thought, could help even more. It could be a great way to stay in shape, stay flexible and strong.

After just a few classes, though, it was obvious that yoga was going to be much more. Each time she stepped off her mat, not only did she feel physically transformed, but she also felt a huge change in mood, attitude and mental state. Rather than just focusing on how her body was changing, this was a deeper dive into a transformation of her mind. Yoga allowed her the ability to pause and breathe – even in moments of challenge, chaos and struggle – and provided an opportunity to ground down into the present moment and be completely content with who she was and where life had taken her. These were lessons that could be applied on and off the mat, in or out of the studio.

All of these unexpected elements, she believed, were the ones that kept her coming back time and time again.

Of course, the workout was as billed. The physical benefits of the practice were incredible. Like dance, yoga provided an opportunity to move, sweat, twist, breathe, and surrender – all within a glorious, intensified 60-minute timeframe.

“That,” she says, “is unbeatable.”

Without even realizing it, yoga had become more than a way to cross-train. She wanted to share her experience with others, so she began training to become an instructor through CorePower Yoga’s Teacher Training program. Not only did she learn to teach traditional classes, but she fell in love with CorePower’s Sculpt class series as well; these incorporated the use of free weights for strength building and cardio, tacking on another layer and boosting metabolism and building lean muscle mass. Sculpt was more than just a change of pace; it improved her performance in other classes, too.

Since taking this leap, she’s become part of the CorePower “community” – an incredible world she’s come to love. She’s seen transformations similar to her own, students who have seen the benefits, others who have continued their own journey through yoga to become instructors as well.

“No matter the location, the teacher, the class, I can walk into a CPY studio and feel completely supported by those around me,” Melissa says. “I know I am going to have an amazing experience, on and off my mat.”