My Practice Sucks, and I Couldn’t Be Happier
Greetings to everyone from the back of the room, where I practice yoga these days.
In truth, I’ve never been a front row person, but now even more so. Where I once had a full Hanumanasana, today I am nearly a foot off the ground. Where I once was able to bring my foot to my head in Half Pigeon, today a strap helps me bring it in from the Netherlands.
You would think after practicing nearly 30 years that I would have made better progress moving forward, not going backward. But something has impeded the journey: my strength.
And I couldn’t be happier.
Listen up: Whatever age you are, you need muscles. Muscles, ligaments, and tendons are made of similar matter: connective tissue. A scientist might find a small differential between the tissue of a muscle fiber and that of a ligament. One is denser. BUT IS THE SAME STUFF.
About 10 years ago I began to notice a number of advanced yoga practitioners getting hip replacements, repairing labrum tears, and replacing torn ligaments. Egads! I had thought that yoga, and yoga alone, would give me a safe and healthy longevity.
But it turns out, we might have been over-stretching and under-strengthening. Unless you practice yoga with a lot of strength added to your stretch, you might be under-muscled.
The muscles of our body keep us strong, help us balance and stabilize, fire our metabolism and protect our joints. As we age, male and female hormones wane and it becomes harder to maintain strength. So we have to ramp up our workouts. Waaaaaaay up.
My new muscles have enabled me to ride my horse without back pain, to maintain weight, and to minimize joint pain – which is something with arthritis.
It is NOT true that with added strength you will lose flexibility. No ma’am or sir. That is 100% myth. But it IS true that if you focus more on weight-lifting and less on your flexibility that you will lose it. That is my predicament. When I added strength-based workouts to my already crowded schedule, I might have dropped several yoga practices.
We have choices. I could pursue the glory of a full Hanumanasana. Or I could follow the path of contentment, santosha, and be happy with the way things are.
I have so many ways to spend my time – family, dog, horse, work, writing, learning, teaching, growing and yes, yoga and exercise – that it feels counter-productive not to seek balance. These days I practice for a few hours a week and accept what is. I’m happy to be on my mat even if it’s a struggle, and always in the back of the room.
Michelle Marchildon is the Yogi Muse. She is an award-winning writer, the author of four books on yoga and life, and teaches mobility and movement in Denver, Colorado.