Balanced Practice

It is kind of funny to me that I have started a journey on a path towards a mindful yoga practice. This is funny because most of my health related mentors have all been anti-yoga in their teachings and beliefs. Ideas that yoga creates hyper mobility in our joints or that yoga creates unbalanced bodies to the ignorant belief that yoga is a practice for wimps are all too common. Luckily I am humble enough to take all advice and beliefs with a grain of salt as they say. What I am learning from my new beginnings on my yogic journey is something that I have already been aware of for a long, long time. That is... LIFE; and also in my eternal health related quest IS ALL ABOUT BALANCE. Without balance in all aspects of our lives there may be health, happiness and even prosperity but in the long run an unbalanced life will only lead to unhealthiness, unhappiness and even poverty. Simply put... TOO MUCH OR NOT ENOUGH OF A GOOD THING WILL EVENTUALLY LEAD TO NEGATIVE OUTCOMES.

So it is with exercise and yoga alike. Too much exercise actually weakens the body not strengthens it. Too much yoga will lead to an unbalanced and hypermobil body. Too many vegetables or not enough clean meat, too much yin and not enough yang all lead to a state of unbalanced flow of energy/chi in our bodies and minds. Luckily any unbalanced exercise/yoga practice can easily be remedied with the correct ATTENTION to our INTENTIONS. Becoming mindful of our daily yoga/exercise practices is the first step to bringing balance into our health related goals. So to get the most benefit from yoga or from strength exercises just incorporate a sensible amount of both into your health practice and you will enjoy a strong, supple, toned and flexible mind and body.

The benefits of strength training are well documented and too numerous to name in this dialogue. But building muscle, stimulating bone growth and encouraging fluid circulation in the body are just a few of these. And when I say strength training I do not just mean lifting weights. Activities such as walking, cycling, yard work and rock climbing can all be considered strength training. As long as we get our heart rate up and push and pull with our muscles we are getting strength enhancing benefits.

The benefits of a yoga practice are also well documented. Increased flexibility, improved balance and stability and even spiritual gains are all beautiful outcomes from a balanced practice. Combine these yogic benefits with the strength practice benefits and you have the recipe for a long and healthy life. The one thing that I will concede about the yoga practice is a LACK OF PULL RELATED MOVEMENTS though. There are plenty of push movements and isometric poses but very few movements that require us to pull which will definitely cause postural imbalances. We get the same result when we focus too much on building our chest muscles with too much bench press in the gym. That being said this is hardly a reason to knock yoga as a practice. Instead a fine balance can be had by incorporating pull movements such as a CABLE SQUAT PULL or a DECLINE PULL UP with your non yogic body strengthening practices.

So yin and yang, night and day and strength training and yoga practice can all be considered as complementary opposites. But we need to have the sun in order to have the moon so that our mother earth can be healthy and vital. And in the same light we can incorporate a mindful and balanced yoga practice with a sensible exercise program that includes pull movements in order to bring health and vitality into our minds and bodies. Combine these with a CLEAN DIET and add CONSISTENCY to the practice and you will have THE KEY to happiness, vitality and health! Namaste!

Credit: master-of-tarot.blogspot.com