Turning Up the Heat with Love Offensive Hot Power Yoga

A Providence yoga studio dispenses passion and Zen in equal amounts.

March 24, 2025

Edelinda Baptista,

Tara Morris of The Love Offensive Hot Power Yoga studio. Photograph courtesy of the Love Offensive/Aaron Santos.

The mind gets clouded with thousands of thoughts per day (up to 60,000, to be exact). From song lyrics to grocery lists, those badgering thoughts can start to feel heavy on the mind. Thankfully, one restorative activity can bring you momentary silence and focus: yoga.

Tara Morris of The Love Offensive aims to change lives for the better, one hot power yoga session at a time. Photograph courtesy of the Love Offensive/Aaron Santos.

With a touch of heat — about 106 degrees worth — The Love Offensive Hot Power Yoga studio in Providence aims to strengthen the bodies and minds of those who enter.

Those who practice at The Love Offensive are people who want to “be the best version of themselves, want to know the difference between hard work and suffering, and want to practice gratitude in their healthy, strong body,” says owner Tara Morris.

For Morris, hot power yoga is life-affirming. The physical and emotional release requires all your effort and attention, she says.

“It’s not difficult in any kind of threatening way, it’s just north of your comfort zone,” she says. “The process of concentrating on what you’re doing frees your mind from worry. Your mind can only do one thing at a time, so when you give it a challenge, you’re fully engaged in that challenge and not ruminating in your thoughts.”

The yoga instructor, entrepreneur and photographer has managed to take her three passions — yoga, photography and travel — and combine it into a single career. In fact, as you first walk into the studio, to your right are photos taken during Morris’ twenty-plus years of travel and adventures.

Photograph courtesy of the Love Offensive/Aaron Santos.

The Love Offensive also offers classes in vinyasa, Bikram-based and restorative yoga, in addition to yin and slow flow and strength classes.

A sold-out class is about twenty-seven people, so reserve your spot: Yoga classes sell out quickly. Make sure to bring a water bottle, a towel and a change of clothes. On the second floor, students can help themselves to free espresso, tea, soda water, a shower or a dip in a cold-plunge tub. The former live-work space has plenty of room for people to linger and chat post-yoga session.

Beside leading community-building yoga classes in Providence, Morris also hosts yoga and photography workshops around the world under the retreat arm of the yoga studio, Destination Love Offensive.

The Massachusetts native spent her twenties in Seattle, where she acquired a nutrition degree from Bastyr University. She fell in love with a power yoga class and continued attending classes at Baptiste Power Yoga in Boston when she returned home.

Photograph courtesy of the Love Offensive/Aaron Santos.

As she watched her mother battle Parkinson’s Disease for nearly three decades, Morris developed a deep sense of gratitude and a now-or-never attitude. When her mother passed away in September 2020, Morris found the strength to turn her dream of owning a yoga studio into reality.

Photograph courtesy of the Love Offensive/Aaron Santos.

“The reason I teach yoga, and why I teach with the passion I do, is in honor of my mom,” she says.

From December 2020 to February 2021, she drove cross country from Boston to Austin, Texas, visiting different yoga studios for inspiration. Once back home, Morris quit her yoga teaching job and raised $85,000 between a GoFundMe fundraiser and a private donation. With the help of her yoga community, she established The Love Offensive Hot Power Yoga in November 2021.

After class, students often go up to Morris to share that her class was electrifying and uplifting, making her even more grateful to have a career that changes people for the better.

“We’re connecting on such a human level here. I’m saying things that are honest and difficult to admit,” she says. “We all wish we didn’t say things that we did. We all act irritable and indulge in the worst-case scenario, that’s what the mind does. If I admit it first, then maybe people won’t feel so alone.”

Stay tuned on social media for more information about Morris’ upcoming book, The Love Offensive, as well as class schedules and descriptions. theloveoffensive.com, taramorrisimages.com

Take the Plunge

Photograph via Getty Images/KlUbovy.

Getting cold feet from the cold plunge? There are several benefits to entering a tub filled with forty-five-degree water for a minute or two. Accomplishing this freezing feat ties in with the ethos of The Love Offensive’s studio: learning how to do hard things without suffering. It’s uncomfortable, sure, but it’s not dangerous or painful.

“As you literally plunge yourself into it, you’re learning breathing techniques and ninja-level thought control to calm yourself down,” says Morris. “That skill is one of the most useful skills in the world — to know that you are the one that’s answering your own helpline, to truly have deep confidence in your own ability to soothe yourself.”

Taking a dip in the cold plunge aids in recovery, mental clarity and increases your metabolism, she says.

Once you submerge your body in the water, all you can do in that moment is breathe. “It’s almost like a forced meditation,” she says. “You’ve put yourself in a spot where, unless you control your mind, you will jump out. The fact that you learn about yourself to sit there and be your own hand at the shore is incredibly beneficial to your own confidence and trust in yourself.”