YOGA
The gym seems anathema to many yogis - the
entire context is foreign
to the way we believe
“yoga” should be. It also
feels off-limits to many
women, who see it as a
testosterone-dominated
space. The first time I
worked out without my
trainer, I felt like a fish out
of water - but it was liberating to realize that (just
like in a yoga class) nobody was paying attention to me, because they
were all working on their
own thing.
exercise, but being injured in my normal practice through what is commonly taught as proper
alignment showed me
that we cannot take
for granted what we
are told. Shaking up my
routine by learning to lift
heavy weight has transformed my practice.
Learning how to stretch
beyond typical poses has
helped me to become
stronger, more flexible,
and more aware of alignment than I have ever
been.
When I finally did go
back to practice, it was
with a whole new appreciation and understanding of the alignment of
many standing poses. I
began to see that the
imbalances in my own
body were reflected in
many of my students’
bodies. My biggest challenge was to learn that
some of my worst imbalances were from only
doing some yoga asanas
and no other exercise.
We love to imagine that
yoga is the be-all and
end-all when it comes to
This is not simply a revelation because it has
helped me move my
practice forward. Learning about the imbalances in my body has given
me the chance to learn
how to better protect my
students and their bodies. Accessing places in
my hips that were so tight
that they were invisible
in my consciousness has
expanded my awareness
of my body, my abilities,
and my limitations. Learning to make my practice
safer means it is more
sustainable, so I can con-
tinue to practice without
chronic-use injuries.
Being forced through
injury to change my own
practice was a blessing
in disguise. It made me
break down the habits
that I had fallen into that
allowed me to go into
autopilot during my practices and come back to
the moment-to-moment
that is the most vital aspect. Changing my attitudes and habits towards
“non-yoga