Why Yoga Students Must Embrace Weight Lifting
benefits of weights for longevity and healthy aging
What does it mean to embrace something? Embrace is my word for 2024 and I’m ready to embrace writing on this blog more consistently. Not frequently, but more consistently. 😉 To embrace something is an act of accepting or supporting something willingly or enthusiastically. Today, my invitation for you is to embrace that yoga is not a complete workout for your physical wellness. I invite you to embrace that yoga’s primary focus is not to make you physically strong and as a physical practice it has many flaws that can lead to injury.
It may seem counterintuitive
I wasn’t always on board with yoga and weights being a viable combo. When I first came to yoga I was excited about the possibility of it being a complete exercise program. I hated going to the gym and lifting weights. I struggled with being consistent and often injured myself by pushing too hard. Yoga on the other hand was fun, exciting and left me feeling great everytime! The combination of strength and flexibility with mindfulness and breath felt so amazing I said I’d never go back to weights again. I could choose Power yoga if I wanted something vigorous or restorative or yin if I needed something more restful. On the surface it seemed to have everything I needed.
When I tried to go back to the gym and combine weights with yoga I felt restricted in my practice. Lifting weights made me stiffer and tighter than I already was and I would end up hurting my shoulder or my neck from the extra strain. I didn’t think to consider that perhaps I was lifting in a way that wasn’t considered good form or proper technique. I didn’t consider that being tight wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I created a blanket mindset that weights weren’t working for me and it wasn’t a fit with yoga. Yoga had everything I needed to build strength, be flexible and feel good mentally.
lifting HELPS build muscle and increase bone density
Thankfully I had some friends that knew this thought process wasn’t going to get me very far. Two of my closest friends from high school were on the path to being an Athletic Therapist and a Physiotherapist. I am extremely grateful for these two individuals and the impact that’ve had on my physical health. I learned from both of them that after the age of 30 muscle mass deteriorates at a rate faster than body weight exercises can build. It was at the age of 30 when I also signed up for my yoga teacher training and I decided I wanted to have a long term view of this practice. I wanted to be able to play with grandkids one day and tie my own shoes when I’m 75.
Understanding that weight training can help maintain and build muscle in a way that yoga can’t was an important realization for my purpose of practicing and teaching yoga. It allows us to train specific muscle groups to enhance overall strength in a way that improves our physical yoga practice. For example, strengthening your back body with exercises like rows and pull downs can help improve your chaturanga dandasana and better support your shoulders while reducing the risk of injury.
Strengthening your back body with exercises like rows and pull downs can help improve your chaturanga dandasana and better support your shoulders while reducing the risk of injury.
Resistance training also helps support bone density which is a benefit that we cannot recreate in the yoga room. Unless we bring weights into the yoga room but then is it really yoga? I don’t believe that’s the answer.
Instead what if we allow yoga to be yoga and weights to be weights? The marriage between the two can be a beautiful practice that cultivates muscle integrity, prevents imbalances, reduces the risk of injuries and provides a solid foundation for reducing the risk of osteoporosis.
EmpoweRS your mind - the yoga mindset
When I was first learning about yoga and trying to add in weights I didn’t have the right mindset and that’s where the conflict happened. I wasn’t equipped with the right knowledge and tools to workout in a way that supported my body best. I wasn’t aware or mindful of how to best use weight lifting to support yoga. And so naturally the two clashed. I’d lift too heavy and get too sore or have minor aches and pains that made my downward dogs that much harder.
I had to learn and accept two things:
It’s okay to be tight - tightness isn’t always a bad thing. Tight muscles also give us the power we need to push off whether we are athletes looking to jump higher or run faster or everyday humans needing to walk up flights of stairs. Tightness gives you strength. Being too flexible can be just as harmful as being too stiff. Yoga is about balance after all.
Understand that the primary benefit of yoga is not physical wellness. The body is used simply as a tool towards awareness and meditation. At its core, yoga is a philosophy in which to live by. Perhaps something to dive into for a future blog post. 😉
What if I brought the patience, focus and mindfulness of yoga into the weight room? How would that change my approach and how would it make me feel? This was the beginning of my understanding of yoga as an off the mat practice.
It’s never too late to start
At the end of the day the research is out there for you to find and discover the benefits of moderate weight training on aging and longevity. If you’ve been to my classes I often speak about taking the yoga practice beyond the class room and into your daily life. This is one way to do it while adding some major benefits to your physical wellness. I encourage you to embrace this journey as a part of your holistic wellness and approach it with an open mind.
For me, this journey hasn’t come solo. I’ve had support from osteopaths, physiotherapists, personal trainers and group fitness instructors over the course of 14 years in the yoga industry as a student and a teacher. I’ve learned things from different people and from all the different aches, pains and injuries in my own body over the years. I encourage you to be curious about what this journey could look like for you and wholeheartedly embrace it.
The journey to blend yoga and weights requires a deeper understanding of the benefits each of these practices can offer on their own. If we bring the yoga mindset - meditation and focus - into the weight room there’s an opportunity to create a symbiotic relationship that caters to the diverse needs of the human body.
Embracing the idea of building strength has allowed me to find a deeper, more comprehensive path to wellness - one that extends beyond the mat into the realms of a beautifully balanced practice for years to come. I hope it can do the same for you.
Thank you for reading and good luck on your journey!
Namaste 🙏🏽
P.S Have thoughts? Comment below. I’d love to know if you have a practice, want to start a practice or have learned some things along the way.