Former Summit County Council member Malena Stevens teaches alignment-focused hot power yoga at Park City Yoga Collective, emphasizing breath and body awareness. Photo: PC Yoga collective Photo: PC Yoga Collective

PARK CITY, Utah — After years of serving on the Summit County Council and in other local government capacities, Malena Stevens is contributing to the community in another way: leading yoga classes at PC Yoga Collective.

Stevens, who has spent her career in local government, first discovered yoga in college and practiced on and off for about 20 years. Although she enjoyed it, she often struggled to connect with the practice. “I had a hard time with it because, over time, I would start experiencing pain in my lower back or issues with my shoulders,” she explained. “These physical challenges made me shy away from yoga, but I would eventually return because I loved it.”

During her tenure on the Summit County Council, filled with significant projects and decisions, she gradually returned to the mat with friends. That’s when she found PC Yoga Collective.

“I had always wanted to receive my yoga teacher training certification,” Stevens said. “Training felt like a perfect opportunity for me to connect with my body and spirit so that I could strengthen myself and be present in my service to others.”

In the fall of 2023, she enrolled in teacher training at PC Yoga Collective with studio owner Jenn Solomon, intending only to deepen her practice, not to become a teacher. “It transformed my practice,” Stevens said. “Since completing the training and practicing at PC Yoga Collective, I no longer struggle with the same pain in my body that I did when I was younger. I now understand how poses should feel and how to adjust them if they don’t feel correct.”

This focus on alignment and adaptability shapes Stevens’ teaching style. “I give lots of cues, options, and verbal corrections to help students feel how a pose should feel good, so they don’t get stuck in the challenges I faced,” she said.

Learning to Be a Beginner Again

For someone accustomed to microphones, public comments, and packed agendas, stepping to the front of a yoga room was unexpectedly humbling. “I found it really interesting that teaching yoga felt vulnerable and scary to me,” Stevens admitted. “In public service, I was very comfortable. However, in yoga, I was clearly a beginner.”

Stevens articulated what many students feel but seldom voice: “It’s hard to be a beginner. You want to excel and find yourself on the other side, but the only way to improve is to push through the difficult initial stages.”

This understanding informs her approach to students who are anxious about attending their first class. “I can absolutely relate to those feelings of intimidation,” she said. “For me, it’s so hard to motivate myself to try something new, though once I’ve been somewhere a couple of times, I’ll go for years to come.”

Inside Malena’s Class: Breath, Options, and Longer Holds

At PC Yoga Collective, Stevens currently teaches a Hot Power class on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. Her classes focus on movements and shapes that support the body. “I incorporate a lot of twisting, which can neutralize the spine, and back bending, which opens the front line of our bodies,” she explained. “I design my classes to ensure that participants are moving all parts of their bodies.”

She pays particular attention to how people unknowingly hold tension. Recently, during Warrior I, she noticed students’ shoulders creeping up toward their ears. “I asked everyone to check if they were holding tension in their shoulders,” she said. “I encouraged them to see if they could find ease in the pose by relaxing their shoulders while still reaching their hands toward the ceiling. This helps people become more aware of different parts of their bodies. Often in life, we stop noticing our physical sensations.”

Breath plays a central role in her classes. “Connecting to our breath helps us remember that being alive is a gift,” she said. “Every breath is an opportunity to make a new decision and engage with those around us.”

“You deepen your breath; you calm your body,” she explained. “That’s a practice I often do with my child when he’s scared or hurt. We do deep breathing because we know it calms the nervous system.”

Stevens also encourages students to recognize their thoughts without becoming attached to them. “I have a lot of racing thoughts in my life. I can experience anxiety and rumination, just like everyone else,” she said. “Being able to notice those thoughts and say, ‘Okay, that thought is there, but it’s just a feeling, just a thought; that’s not actually who I am,’ has been a crucial practice for me and something I love to share with others.”

Why PC Yoga Collective Feels Different

For Stevens, the studio itself is an essential part of the practice. “I can’t say enough positive things about PC Yoga Collective,” she said. “It’s such a beautiful community and a stunning physical space. Whenever I walk into the studio, surrounded by plants, colors, and silence, my nervous system relaxes. I have a visceral reaction to entering that space because of how intentionally Jenn curated it over time.”

She also praises the teaching culture that Solomon has fostered. “The teachers at PC Yoga Collective truly teach from a place of love for learning and practicing,” she said. “They share their knowledge rather than imposing a hierarchical ‘I’m the teacher, you’re the student’ mentality. It feels like a shared learning experience.”

This shared learning, combined with a strong focus on alignment, helped Stevens transform her relationship with yoga — and it’s what she hopes to pass on.

From Public Hearings to Shared Practice

Stevens’ years in local government still influence how she perceives community within the studio walls. “We are all neighbors,” she said. “We’re all raising our kids together, shopping at the same grocery stores, and attending the same events.”

Teaching at PC Yoga Collective provides her a different way to engage with those she had previously seen only in council chambers. “I loved teaching while serving as an elected official because it allowed me to connect with community members who might have come to public hearings feeling angry or dissatisfied with my decisions,” she explained. “Being able to engage with them in a different environment made things feel less charged.”

On the mat, her goal isn’t to debate policy but to create a space where people can reconnect with themselves. “I may not be able to solve every community issue to everyone’s satisfaction,” she said. “But I can help each person connect a little more with themselves or at least create a container where they can do that.”

For Anyone Intimidated to Start

If you’re considering trying yoga in a community where performance can seem to be the norm, Stevens understands. “It’s a very welcoming community,” she said. “If you come in with no experience, that’s completely okay because the classes are instructed in a way that is accessible to everyone.”

Access is intentionally designed to be inclusive. “Jenn is incredibly generous. Classes are just $10,” Stevens said. “I don’t know of any other place where yoga classes are that affordable, making it a wonderful offering to ensure everyone can practice.”

Regarding the fear of “not being good enough,” she offers this reminder: “Part of what I love about yoga is that there’s really no concept of being the best. It’s all about balance, and that balance looks different for each person. Nobody else is really watching you; there’s no audience for a performance in yoga classes at PC Yoga Collective.”