One of the most powerful poses Beth Egbert teaches at Be Happy Yoga requires students to find an equilibrium between mind and body while holding still in a handstand.

Egbert, who has practiced yoga since 1974, started Be Happy Yoga in 2004 and originally taught in a home studio. Today she leads five weekly classes at Moksha Yoga and Pilates in Tamiro Plaza in downtown Georgetown.

“I like inversions because they help [students] let go of fear,” Egbert said about the upside-down pose. “It’s very exhilarating to get upside down.”

Egbert mixes traditional yoga with elements unique to her personality.

In addition to being a certified yoga instructor, Egbert works as an employee health nurse at St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center.

Classes begin with breathing exercises before moving into poses.

Egbert said she links poses into sequences that are almost like dances.

In yoga parlance, the style is called Vinyasa.

Egbert sets the intensity of classes based on how students feel when they arrive at the studio.

Some exercises encourage students to work as partners, which Egbert said helps build trust and a sense of community. Classes finish with
meditation.

Music drives classes, Egbert said, adding that she even likes to mix in songs from artists like the Beatles and Fleetwood Mac.

“I’m all over the place with music,” she said. “I’m very connected to rhythm, so I like to use music as a modality to help people open up.”

Egbert said she wants students to become the best versions of themselves and be able to be present and mindful in everyday life.

“It’s very important that we have a sense of unity, both within and without,” she said. “We need to be connected.”