My doctor scrutinized the looping family history I’d hastily filled out in the waiting room. I was there, ostensibly, to check my thyroid levels, but as we talked about my sore wrists and creaky joints, it sparked something else in her mind.
“Your family has some issues with bone density on both sides…. You do yoga almost every day? You should think about adding strength training instead. Find a balance between them.”
The comment floated into my mind and lodged itself somewhere. Something to think about another day – until a friend invited me to the grand opening of a new gym she joined for weight lifting, and it dislodged and flitted around my brain.
I didn’t really have an interest in getting stronger, per se. I guard a super cringe memory of telling my high school gym teacher I didn’t want to use weights bigger than the 5lbs; I didn’t want to get “muscley” (despite the fact that those half-assed reps were as likely to buff me up as drivers ed was to turn me into a Formula One driver). In the early 2000s, I just wanted to “tone,” a nebulous goal gleaned from reading Cosmo and Self magazine pieces. In 2005, we were all “toning up for summer” or “uncovering muscle tone” or just talking about tone without any real idea of what it was – just that every fit starlet had it.
Nearly 20 years later, my knowledge of strength training hasn’t improved. I signed up for the grand opening purely as a favor and for the promise of coffee afterward. And the suggestion from my doctor, though it still hadn’t quite landed, played a factor.
Study Thy Self, Discover the Divine (Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras 11.44)
Svadhyaya, the fourth Niyama from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, encourages us to examine our habits and thought processes. This self-reflection helps us see the patterns in our own behavior and thinking – both constructive and destructive. And in my mind, I needed to deconstruct a lot of misconceptions about strength training.
I saw lifting weights and yoga as complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Yoga is introspective, a practice asking practitioners to look inward and push through ego. Weightlifting was full of people standing in front of mirrors, watching themselves pump up their arms and inflate their egos.
But I had this mental doctor’s note on my mind, and I knew my preconceptions about strength training were unfair and inaccurate. So I gave it a try.
And guess what? I love it. My yoga practice feels more inspired and natural than ever before.
Pushing Through Preconceptions
Dr. Hannah Strom, PT, DPT, RYT-500 is the owner and founder of Awake Pelvic Health & Wellness, a pelvic floor physical therapy clinic based in Woodbury, Minnesota. From her perspective, alternating a yoga practice with weightlifting sessions creates innate benefits.
“In strength training, we’re creating neural adaptations, connections between nerves and muscles, while yoga brings flexibility and strength. You need both across disciplines,” she notes. “You won’t prevent osteoporosis with just yoga. You need strength training, too.”
Recognizing what our body needs from a holistic viewpoint takes skill in and of itself. So does stepping out of our comfort zone to try something new. In my own mind, I still need to be cognizant of when I’m expressing some kind of bias as a result of my own making (or from early 2000s Cosmopolitan magazine articles).
As the saying goes, “where attention goes, energy flows” – and many of us keep an ongoing practice of Saucha in our mind. It’s especially relevant when we’re moving into new things that aren’t immediately comfortable.
“Learning how your body moves can be a completely new skill,” Dr. Strom said of introducing a new practice, whether it’s yoga or weightlifting. “Learn to be okay with confusion. Things will feel awkward at first. Your body is developing new proprioception and movement patterns.”
As a yoga student and instructor, I know I’m not immune to falling into familiar patterns. And I’m always discovering new areas of discomfort and bias, which I find a little exciting, as weird as that might sound. There’s always room to learn and grow. And then, balance.
Meghan Hatalla is a body-positive Minnesota yoga instructor and life design writer.
