Why I Keep Yoga & Strength Practice Separate
Thank you to those who joined me for the Build Strength for Yoga and Beyond workshop recently.
One of the themes that kept coming up was the relationship between yoga and strength training.
Q: Are they the same thing?
Q: Should we try to build strength through yoga?
Q: Or should we keep them separate?
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I've been reflecting on this, and the older I get, the clearer I become about the value of knowing what practice I'm actually doing.
Yoga practice
When I come to my yoga mat, I'm usually looking for something quite specific. I want to slow down. I want to feel what's happening inside myself. I want my nervous system to settle. I want to breathe, notice, and pay attention.
Yoga encourages a kind of inward listening. It develops interoception - the ability to sense what's happening within the body. It invites us into a quieter, more reflective state. After yoga, I feel almost trancey, calmer, softer and quieter inside. It's a beautiful feeling.
Strength training creates a very different experience.
When I'm pressing against resistance and working on building my strength, I feel focused, precise and engaged. My attention is often directed outward. I'm thinking about technique, load, progression and effort. There's an element of challenge and even a little competitiveness - not with other people, but with myself.
It makes me happy to notice my increasing strength, control and capacity. And at the end of a strength session, I rarely feel sleepy or serene. More often I feel energised, stimulated and sometimes downright giggly.
Both states are valuable
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But there's sometimes a sense that yoga should be a complete answer - the only exercise we need. My feeling is that it isn't enough on its own.
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During the recent workshop, Building Strength for Yoga & Beyond, we explored some of the biomechanical gaps that can develop when yoga is our only form of movement, and looked at some simple ways to support our bodies as we grow older.
It's taken me a while, but now I understand that separating my yoga practice from my strength work has been incredibly freeing.
It allows me to dive deep into meditation, feeling and being when I practise yoga, whilst also giving space to explore the other side of myself through strength training - and to meet the very real physical needs I have as I age.
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I've realised I love both practices. But I've also realised that I don't need either of them to do everything.
In fact, I think the problem arises when we expect one practice to do the job of the other.
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Yoga and strength training are trying to create different adaptations in body and mind. They overlap, of course, but they're speaking different languages.
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Strength training asks: Strength training asks: "Can you do a little more than before?"
Yoga asks: "Can you notice what's happening right now?"
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Both questions matter.
For many of us, particularly in our forties, fifties, sixties and beyond, the combination can be incredibly powerful.
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Strength helps us maintain muscle, bone health, resilience and confidence. Yoga helps us cultivate awareness, balance, recovery and a sense of ease.
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Rather than asking one practice to do everything, perhaps we can allow each to offer its own gifts.
Let yoga be yoga.
Let strength training be strength training.
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And enjoy what happens when the two support one another.
Recording Available
PS: If you weren't able to join us live, the recording of Build Strength for Yoga and Beyond is still available to purchase £25. I suspect this conversation will only become more relevant as we continue to rethink what healthy ageing looks like.
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We explored the key biomechanical gaps that yoga doesn't always address, why strength becomes increasingly important as we age, and some simple, practical ways to begin.
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Just email us if you’d like the details on how to book - admin@catherineannisyoga.co.uk
I look forward to seeing you soon.
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