Beyond the mat: 5 new reasons to take yoga (stretching & relaxing not included)

“Yoga!?” I exclaimed incredulously. “No way. I’d be bored out of my mind. I need something faster paced.”

That is what I told my friend when she encouraged me to come take her yoga class about 5 years ago.
At the time, we were fitness instructors at a 5 star spa in Las Vegas and I taught Spin, Bootcamp, kickboxing, Body Pump, and any other class you could think of – except for yoga.

Yoga, I had ignorantly and incorrectly assumed, was a snore-fest that was mainly for people that didn’t actually want to work hard.

“I think you’d be surprised Jen,” she replied. “Your mind and body could probably really use it…and it’s not as easy as you’d think.”  

Reluctantly I walked into the yoga studio, grabbed a mat and set it up – where else – facing the mirror.

“No, we don’t face the mirror. Turn your mat towards the wall.” 

What? Don’t face the mirror? How else am I going to see what I’m doing and, if I’m being brutally honest, stare at myself? I turned my mat to face the bare wall and we began.

I remember trembling and sweating profusely as I tried to hold the elementary poses she cued during that 45 minute class. Me, the self proclaimed Fitness Queen was unable to hold a static lunge for 5 breaths. I kept losing my balance and my heart was obnoxiously pounding at what I was certain was an audible level to fellow participants. By the time class was over I flopped down to my mat in a sweaty heap and immediately fell asleep during Savasana (the final meditation). Oops.

When class was over I told her, “That was HARD!!” She just smiled at me.

The short and skinny? That class led me to another, which led to another, which led to a full blown obsession with yoga over the next 5 years.

My newfound passion led me to yoga certifications, reading The Yoga Sutras by Patanjali, quizzing my yogi friends non-stop about different styles of yoga, learning as many Sanskrit words as I could (and tattooing one of them on my arm), teaching 6 classes per week and taking an additional 5 classes on my own at the delicious studio in Las Vegas which quickly became my sanctuary and place of refuge.

I filled a notebook full of cues I had picked up from other instructors along with different flows and poses all drawn out with stick figures. I loved to teach yoga each morning and couldn’t wait for my own practice at the studio in the evenings.

I had never spent so much time in my own head as I did those few years and at the risk of sounding like a total quack, yoga ended up changing my life. Groundbreaking moments during all of this careful introspection oozed over into my personal life and permanently altered my path.

Since I obviously feel very passionately about its benefit, I’d like to give you some other incentives to try yoga that are different than the typical you-need-to-stretch-and-decrease-stress argument.

Life is not a competition. This may sound like I’m stating the obvious but this was a relatively new concept for me not too long ago. You see, I am naturally competitive and have been since I was young. I remember racing to be the first one done with my assignments, to get the ball at recess first, and to be first in every line we ever formed. This mindset stuck with me on into adulthood and carried over into my fitness life as well. As silly as it sounds now when I revisit it, I always wanted to lift the most weight, use the most resistance in Spin, and work harder than anybody else in kickboxing.

That mindset worked for awhile but eventually always trying to push myself to my absolute breaking point to impress others… well, broke me.

One of the core principles of yoga is to let go of your ego. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Our ego is typically what drives us to attempt ridiculous feats of strength when we know damn well that our body isn’t ready for it. Ego is what pushes us to run that extra mile when that little voice inside of our head warns us that our knees just don’t feel quite right today but we ignore it and end up injured. Yoga reminds us to let go of our ego, listen to our body, and ignore what everybody else is doing. After all, our fitness journey isn’t for anybody else but ourselves, right? Right!

Neither of my two favorite yoga studios (Yoga Sanctuary in Vegas and Centered City in Salt Lake City) have mirrors in their studios. Nothing will teach a person proprioception quite like deliberate movement without a mirror.

You know what is even better than the benefit of enhanced proprioception? Not being able to narcissistically stare at yourself in the mirror (guilty as charged) or having the ability to criticize your reflection (also guilty) during your workout, neither of which are fruitful and both of which are huge distractions.

The mirror is not only unnecessary, but it can be a hindrance; no mirror means…

Almost every instructor I’ve ever taken from, and something I also tell my students, is that there is no room for judgment in yoga… or anywhere else, for that matter.

This means that not only are you are not allowed to judge anybody else in that room but you also aren’t allowed to judge yourself.

It doesn’t matter what your neighbor is doing, what your ego wants you to do, what your body did yesterday, or even what it may do tomorrow – it’s about what is best for it, you and only you, right now in this moment.

How wonderful would it be if we could carry that thought process over into other aspects of our life? Doing what is best for us and resisting the urge to compare ourselves to others? Blissful!

For years I was a go-go kinda gal. Not the kind of girl that wears furry knee high boots and pasties while dancing on a table, but rather the kind that couldn’t ever slow down.

I operated on the sole belief that more was always better. More kickboxing, more running, more lifting, more, more, more, go, go, go. I was such a busy little bee that I never slowed down enough to turn my awareness inward.

When I started practicing yoga – closing my eyes, listening to my breath, moving slowly but with intention – I noticed I was chronically exhausted, sore, and stressed out.

I never had a chance to notice those things before because I continuously buried all of my internal chaos with more activity.

Food for thought: when is the last time you allowed yourself silence, listening to and focusing on only your breath for an extended period of time? (And no, sleeping doesn’t count.) This silence and internal focus will bring all sorts of things to the surface. You may become aware that your body is exhausted, you’re emotionally drained, your joints are sore, and/or your mind is cluttered – all factors which can be quite detrimental to our health, but how can you fix it if you aren’t even aware that those things are going on?

Yoga is wonderful at uncovering what is going on at a deeper level.

Up until a few years ago I thought listening to your body was for sissies and real champs always push through – push through the pain, the fatigue, and the injuries. You’re taking a day off from training? Pffft. What a nancypants… right? Au contraire!

Yoga has taught me that you don’t always have to go balls-out. Although my favorite styles of yoga are Ashtanga and other aggressive Power Flow types of classes, there are times when that isn’t what my body needs and now I’m quick to take a Restorative class or a Level 1 class when I need it.

You will get much more benefit out of listening to your body and bringing it down a notch when need be than you would if you continued to force it.

So there you have it. 5 different reasons to take yoga that aren’t the ol’ “stretch and relax”rigmarole. Don’t get me wrong, stretching can be great and relaxing is always wonderful but there is so much more to yoga than that.

I’d like to encourage you to take some yoga – there are a ton of different styles all with varying intensity so try a few to find one that works best for your body and personality.

Indulge and go to a specialized yoga studio – not the gym! For the most part (and there are exceptions) the instructors are much more educated and knowledgeable and can give you the personal attention that you’ll need.

Confused on the different styles of yoga? Check out my post, “You Can’t Be Good at Yoga, and Other Things You Need to Know Before Starting to Practice” that will help guide you and give you some basic info that you need in order to get started.