By Bernie Clark, December 20, 2021
As the Bible says, “Man cannot live on yin alone!” Well, maybe that is not an exact quote, it may have referred to bread, and I am pretty sure it applies to women as well, but the point is valid none-the-less. Living a healthy life requires a balance between both yin and yang forms of exercise and yoga.
Strength, endurance and mobility
There are many ways we can map or model the world and there are many ways we can envision how to stay healthy. The value in these models arises not by being accurate and detailed, but by being useful. They work. Once such model is the view that physical health has three interrelated dimensions: strength, endurance and mobility. This is not the only way to model our wellbeing, but it works for many people. Within these three dimensions are a balance of yin and yang. Unfortunately, traditional yoga classes do not always offer the best route to finding this balance.
The three dimensions of physical health of strength, endurance and mobility are intuitively easy to comprehend, but their importance is worth restating. What is challenging is to find ways to incorporate these into a yoga practice.
You can’t go wrong by getting strong [1]
Strength, of course, is the ability to create and withstand great stresses. There are many ways we can exhibit strength: through shouldering trauma and carrying on, thus psychological strength, to physical prowess and the ability to move heavy objects, thus physical strength. The average yoga student has no interest in setting Olympic weightlifting records, or sculpting an Apollonian or Athenian physique, but many do want to optimize health. It has been known for many decades that strength building helps to slow down and even temporarily reverse the ravages of aging, prevents injuries and builds systemic health. The process of recovery from a bout of weight training creates chemical messengers that stimulate growth in organs and other tissues far away from the muscles used.[2]
The challenge for students is to do this during a yoga practice. In a yoga class, the only weight we are leveraging is the weight of our own body. For the lower body, this is not enough challenge and yet for our upper body it is often too much. For beginners, plank poses, push-ups, handstands and other arm balancing postures can be effective strength building practices. But, at some point a plateau is reached and you will have maximized how strong you can get from your yoga asana practice alone. At that point, getting off the mat may be required.[3]
Yoga is not what you do, but how you do what you do
Swinging kettle bells, lifting dumbbells, working out on equipment or simply pulling yourself up on a bar at a playground are the next steps. You may have to go to a gym or fitness centre, or invest a few hundred dollars and bring this equipment home. But, lifting weights can still be yoga! To quote Brian Kest, “Yoga is not what you do, yoga is how you do what you do.” Weightlifting can be part of your yoga practice! I know because it is part of mine. You do not have to give up your strong asanas: I still love push-ups, handstands and arm balances but I also have weights at home which I incorporate into my asana practice at least twice a week. Even when my practice includes weight training, it always begins with centering and an opening meditation and finishes with cooling down postures and shavasana. There is no reason that resistance training cannot be done within a yoga framework and with both intention and attention.
Endurance is endearing
Similar to research that describes the systemic benefits of resistance training, especially as we get older, there is ample evidence for building aerobic capacity as well. From controlling blood pressure and blood sugar to improving your brains and bones, exercising the heart and lungs on a regular basis is a boon to regaining and maintaining optimal health.[4] Beginners to a flow, power or Ashtanga yoga class will quickly find their hearts pumping nicely. But, once again, a plateau may be reached where the practice that was once challenging no longer creates the same elevated heart rate.
Personally, I found Ashtanga Yoga classes always got me sweating nicely, but after the first few months my heart rate never reached aerobic levels. I was never out of breath like I was when playing sports like ice hockey or even tennis. As I hit my 50’s, my body could not keep up with the rigors of a daily Ashtanga practice; I needed a new way to maintain my aerobic conditioning. I took up running sprints outdoors with fast walking in between, or quickly climbing my stairs indoors when the weather was not compelling.[5] Jumping or skipping rope can also elevate your heart rate.
As with resistance training, aerobic training can be included as part of your yoga practice. A couple of times a week, after opening meditation and a warming flow, I do my endurance practice while incorporating both intention and attention. (It is all yoga!) Afterwards, I complete my yoga session with several yin yoga postures to help stretch out the areas that became tight from running.[6]
Mobility is a combination of strength, flexibility and coordination
Mobility is the third dimension of physical health but it is a composite ability that requires sufficient flexibility along with strength and coordination. My yin yoga practice is excellent for maintaining flexibility, especially in the spine and hips. Strength is developed through the resistance training described above. Coordination comes from moving and balancing. Walking is a great, basic coordination practice, but I also add balancing challenges every day, both during my yoga practice as well as throughout the day.[7] For added fun, I like to juggle.
A great way to monitor your mobility is the Sit/Rise Test.[8] How easily can you stand up from sitting on the floor and descend once again to sitting? If you need to use your hands to get up and down, your mobility is starting to become limited. Getting up and down from the floor requires good flexibility in the hips, spine and legs as well as strength in the legs and your core. Coordination is also important. One way to develop these three abilities is to sit on the floor more! When watching T.V., sit on the floor. When working on your computer, put your laptop on a coffee table or even more challenging, on the floor! You don’t have to go overboard; just 5 to 10 minutes a day is good enough to start. To quote the singer James Brown, “You gotta get down, if you want to get up!”[9]
Yin yoga is great! I love it. There is no better way, in my mind, to develop flexibility. But you cannot live on yin alone. Yang is also great. Learn to love it too. Develop strength and work your heart as well. With balance comes health.
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[1] I first heard this phrase from physical therapist Adam Meakins, the co-host of the NAF Physio Podcast.
[2] “Moreover, resistance training can be beneficial in the prevention and management of other chronic conditions, eg, low back pain, osteoporosis, obesity and weight control, sarcopenia (ie, a loss of skeletal muscle mass that may accompany aging), diabetes mellitus, susceptibility to falls, and impaired physical function in frail and elderly persons, as well as in the prevention of and rehabilitation from orthopedic injuries.” Pollock ML, Vincent KR. Resistance training for health. The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Research Digest. December 1996; Series 2, No. 8
[3] Kathryn Bruni-Young is one yoga teacher with many suggestions on how to focus on strength building through yoga. Check out her Mindful Strength podcast for inspiration. This particular episode discusses building strength at any age.
[4] There hardly seems to be any need to cite sources for these claims, as the scientific literature is replete with examples. But, for those who want to start down this trail, I suggest “Aerobic exercise: Top 10 reasons to get physical” by the Mayo Clinic.
[5] Today my sports still help me to work up a sweat but now it is mostly through playing pickle ball a couple of times a week. Walking a golf course once a week does not build aerobic endurance but it is great for coordination and systemic health.
[6] I know many yin yoga teachers believe that we should not do yin yoga after yang exercise, but I beg to differ. I personally do not feel hot and loose after running but rather much tighter. Yin yoga postures, such as Caterpillar and Saddle, are wonderful for releasing the tension in my hamstrings and quads, while marinating in a lovely, long-held reclining twist just before shavasana helps to calm my heart.
[7] For balancing during my yoga practice, I usually begin each session with some time in Tree Pose, then Warrior 3, Half Moon and a standing splits position with both hands holding the standing leg’s ankle. I am not suggesting this is appropriate for you, but it works for me. During the day, whenever I find myself standing in a line or at night when I am brushing my teeth, I will subtly stand on one foot…with my eyes closed. No one ever notices, until I fall over.
[8] This is described in detail in this Newsletter article.
[9] What? He never said that? Well, he should have.