Episode 19: Why Looking at Yoga as Fitness Can Ruin Your Practice

Ok ok. That might sound a little extreme. "Ruin" is strong. But I didn't know I felt as strongly about this until Jake and I had a conversation about the general view on fitness. People want crazy, high intensity workouts where they push themselves to the max, physically, but they don't want to sit with their thoughts, experience that type of discomfort, or exist in silence. The truth is, a yoga practice is challenging in more ways than one. But it is rewarding and healing in just as many, if not more, ways.

Yoga is more than physical fitness. It is a practice for overall wellness, encompassing all the systems in your body, as well as mental, emotional, and spiritual health, as well as physical. But when you look at yoga as just a fitness class, you miss out on so much. And when you miss out on that much, you don't have as much reason to be invested, and it's easier to let it slip out of your life, just like that other gym membership you barely use (no shade on the dormant gym membership; I do it, too). When you see yoga as a full body, mind, and soul experience, you're more likely to stick with it. And then you're more likely to experience that profound, beautiful healing that I keep talking about!

In the episode, I go in depth on the stressors of society, and how your yoga practice combats it. I also talk about the mentality behind fitness versus wellness, and how it all relates back to your relationship with God. There are so many layers to a topic like this! Click here to give it a listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Below is the full transcript of the episode:

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Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in today. I’ll start off today with a little story. The other day, Jake and I were driving to Lowe’s, because we’re doing this giant old house renovation, which means we basically live at hardware and home improvement stores now, and we were chatting about our gym routines and classes and stuff of that nature. And we started talking about how, at Jake’s gym, they are going to be offering a six-week series of yoga classes. And in our conversation, we started talking about how so many yoga teachers want to teach and people want to take yoga, but it often seems like they don’t want to pay for it. So we were thinking about why that might be the case, and we linked it back to our societal expectations for what “fitness” classes should be. You know, a lot of people want a back breaking workout that is super challenging, leaves you sweaty and out of breath, but is fast paced and physically difficult above all else. They want to feel the workout immediately, and they don’t want to have to sit in their discomfort, they want to move through it quickly and keep their mind occupied while they’re doing it with loud music and someone yelling motivational things at them.

When you think of a yoga class, is that what you think of? Probably not. So I said, well sure, but yoga isn’t really fitness. Becoming physically fit is a byproduct of yoga. That was kind of like a light bulb moment for me, so I want to dive into that mindset a bit more today, and talk about why looking at yoga as fitness and fitness only will hinder your practice and your overall outlook on yoga as a whole.

But before we get too far into it, let’s pray.

Lord, thank you for providing the space for me today to talk about something that is so important to me. Thank you for giving me this platform to share my knowledge, and hopefully inspire others. Help me to speak the words that need to be heard, and help us all to keep an open mind and heart to hear what you have to say. Amen.

So you might be thinking, ok Emma, what do you mean yoga isn’t fitness? I’m moving my body around, sometimes it’s a hot class and I sweat a lot, that sounds like fitness to me. Ok, sure. There is certainly a fitness component to a yoga class, especially one that is quick moving and dynamic. I’ve taken my fair share of super challenging yoga classes where I leave sweating bullets and I wake up sore the next day. And don’t get me wrong, I love that! And yes, sometimes I go to a specific yoga class because I want deep stretches and to move my body in that way because I do want to challenge myself. And I relish in the soreness and the sweatiness and I feel great afterwards! So I’m not sitting here saying that yoga cannot function as a form of fitness, because it totally can. But what I’m getting at here is that when you look at yoga SOLELY for it’s physical benefits, then you lose sight of everything that the practice can truly bring you, and when you lose sight of that, it will be like any other fitness routine that was strong for a few weeks or months and then falls to the wayside when you get bored.

Practicing yoga isn’t an instant-gratification situation. When you practice yoga, you play the long game. So yes, you will probably feel amazing after the class. You might leave the room feeling really clear headed, calm, maybe energized. But those feelings are fleeting. The true transformations that come through yoga are bigger than how your body changes. As I’ve talked about before and will continue to preach, yoga can bring you profound healing and really change your whole life. So when you approach is as fitness-only, you really are cheating yourself out of a beautiful experience.

Maybe you’re feeling a different perspective, that yoga isn’t approachable to you because you aren’t as flexible, or you struggle to calm your mind. But in that case, I encourage you think about the first time you stepped foot in a gym and struggled to run more than a few minutes on the treadmill, or lifting was really difficult. Nothing is easy at first, but you get better with consistency and practice. You have to start somewhere! I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, yoga is truly for everybody. Anyone can start a yoga practice right now, right where you’re at.

The goals of the physical practice of yoga are to keep the body healthy and give us the endurance to sit and meditate for long periods of time. We need to keep the body healthy for so many reasons, but what I want to focus on now is how many systems and how much energy is housed in our bodies. For example, your digestive and nervous systems all channel a ton of energy every single day just to keep us going. They convert our food into fuel and are constantly evaluating the world around us to protect us. If we don’t take care of these systems and this energy, our bodies will fail, and that’s when we get injured and sick. That doesn’t make for a very fulfilling life.

That is also why there are so many different varieties of yoga and different lineages. They all serve different purposes. So yes, there are super active, challenging classes where we sweat and release toxins and build muscle and get stronger. Proper exercise is one of the core principles of yoga! But there are also slow classes that are calm and gooey and stretchy and sometimes even purposefully giving no effort, and that serves a different side of our lives and our energy and systems. It balances our mind, gives the body intentional rest, and serves recovery of both our body and mind. But they are all valuable and one is not inherently better than the other.

So when you look at yoga as purely a form of fitness, you will be missing out on a whole side of yoga that is there to keep you healthy! Or you may not even try it because you see the slow class and don’t even see the value, when it is very much there.

We don’t practice yoga to achieve a certain look or muscular body type. We practice for wellness. And that is the difference. Yoga is a practice of wellness, not fitness. Like I said before, being physically fit is a byproduct of yoga.

Ok, so what does wellness even mean? For me, wellness is an all-encompassing term. It includes my fitness level, sure. But even that is up for interpretation. Like, when I think about being fit, I do think about the aesthetic to an extent. But I think more about how I feel, especially when doing my favorite activities. For example, if I go on a hike, and for context, I typically like a 4 to 5 mile hike with some elevation, so when I go on a hike, if I’m feeling winded or tired after mile 1, or I’m having an especially hard time with the terrain, that’s a sign for me that my fitness level isn’t as high as I want it to be. But for you, it may be the time it takes you to run a mile, or how easy or difficult it is to pick up your children. Everyone’s life is unique, which means your fitness needs are unique. What is true for us all, though, is that when we are healthier, it is easier to do the physical things we love to do, and our bodies will last longer. Yoga asana is a great way to keep the body physically healthy. But! There is more to it than that when it comes to yoga and wellness.

Wellness is about more than physical fitness. It’s about keeping all the systems within the body functioning well. Like your digestive system, lymphatic system, nervous system, etc. And then there’s mental, emotional, and spiritual health. There is so much involved in our overall health and wellness. So when I think wellness, alongside my physical fitness, there’s the food I put into my body, which you could call your “diet”, though many people have a strong aversion to that word. So you can think of it how it works for you. I like the word nourish, but I’ve also heard a lot of people use the phrase “fuel your body”, which I think brings about a cool image. Like, if you think about the amount of actual fuel, or nutrients, that a donut gives you versus a snack of carrots and peanut butter, for me at least, there’s a huge difference in that imagery.

Now, I’m not a nutritionist or a dietician, so you need to figure out what works best for you, but I will say that the yogic diet is typically extremely low in processed foods, if not completely eliminated, alcohol-free, and vegetarian. What I have come to realize and learn in my journey with food, different bodies react differently to different diets and lifestyles with food, so listen to your body as you try things, and notice what makes you feel best. But I think we can all agree, avoiding processed foods and sugar is always good for you! I can dive deeper into the yogic and Ayurvedic diet on another episode, but for now, I will leave that topic there.

When it comes to all those other things I mentioned with wellness. Nervous system, digestion, emotional and mental health, all these things are so well supported by a well-rounded yoga practice. Science proves to us that meditation and yoga help our nervous system move out of that fight-or-flight mode and into a calmer state, which helps us to let go of stressors, and be generally healthier people. Stress is such a common thing we find in our daily lives. We stress about our finances, we stress about how much time we have, we stress in our commutes on the highway, we yell at people in our cars, we stress about how other people perceive us, we stress about work, etc etc etc. There are a thousand stressors that we come across every single day. These stressors keep our bodies in a fight-or-flight mode, which I’m sure you’ve heard of. Without getting too deep into it, fight-or-flight was super important and necessary back before society evolved, when humans had natural predators and needed to be on high alert to stay alive. We’re talking literal life and death situations. Being in that state takes a toll on the body and a lot of energy. Plus, it’s not meant to be a state that we live in constantly. It’s meant to bring a quick response you can make the decision to help you survive in the moment.

Today, we find ourselves, neurologically and physically, coming into the same state that you would if you were face to face with a hungry lion. Instead there’s no lion, just a mountain of paperwork. While it may feel like that in the moment, that paperwork will not grow fangs and claws and kill you. On top of it, we stay in that state practically constantly! Why?? Why give that much energy to something that is not actually a threat? There are so many reasons. I could talk for a long time on just that question. So I’ll just say this. We’ve more or less been conditioned that way. And I don’t say that to be a downer and get us all depressed about the state of society. But it’s important to be aware of it so that we can make changes in our own lives to combat it. Because the good news is, it doesn’t have to be like that. We have tools at our disposal to help us head and live fuller lives. So, like I said, yoga and meditation are proven to be some of those tools that can get us out of fight-or-flight, but also teach us how to recognize when it comes around, and do what we need to do to stay chill.

Really, this fight-or-flight, stressy, high-tension high-pressure life that a lot of us are living, that is what is contributing to the decline of most of those other wellness factors that I mentioned. So what it really when comes down when I talk about wellness and yoga, is realizing how much yoga is going to benefit you outside of just making you physically stronger. The practice, when done consistently and with intention, positively affects all aspects of your wellness. If you were to just study the poses, you would see how each one has so many different benefits. The best example I can think of off the top of my head is twists. Twisting poses encourage healthy digestion, because they sort of massage your organs and keep things moving. But they also support spinal health. Each pose has it’s unique benefits, and that’s why you feel so good after taking a yoga class, even if you didn’t necessarily get super sweaty. You are nurturing your WHOLE body, not just those exterior muscles.

So let’s bring this back around to my main point: When you think of yoga as JUST a part of your fitness routine, you’re really missing out on so much of what yoga has to offer you. And the dangerous part of that is that is could quickly lose its sparkly attraction and become another gym membership that you quit after only a few months or even weeks. But like I said, practicing yoga is playing the long game. You may feel that quick burst of dopamine and adrenaline after each class, but it’s with consistency that you will find the long-lasting, truly healing affects of the practice. Mentally, if you go into knowing that the good stuff is yet to come, that this practice is about more than just going to a power class once or twice a week, you’re more likely to stick with it and get invested, which is when you see the real changes. And trust me, it is so freeing and amazing and really actually life-changing.

I will leave you with one last thing here. I talk a lot about how my yoga practice led to my healing. I believe that God led me to yoga because he knew it would help me heal. And I believe that the power of yoga lies in how it changes your attention. When you practice yoga, you learn to peel away the fight-or-flight, the stress, and the distractions of the material world. You learn to be quiet. And when you learn to be quiet, you tune into God. God is literally always speaking to us. But sometimes it’s hard to hear him over all the noise. When you get quiet and tune into God, you hear what he’s saying to you and you are able to discern your path much more clearly. And when you are on the path, you find all those things that are just waiting for you, those deepest desires that you have that are also desiring you. Maybe that’s a partner or a dream job or just knowing what the heck it is you’re doing here! It’s amazing stuff, but it’s really all about how these tools help us be healthy, and to hear God.

I really hope this has been an inspiring message for you today. I hope that it has sparked something in you to maybe try something new or get back to something you’ve let fall away. Or maybe encourage you to keep doing what you’re doing! Whatever the case may be, I hope you found some good here today. Remember to take a moment to pull out your journal, and write down your thoughts and reflections and see what comes out! Maybe reach out to a friend and chat through your thoughts. And then maybe go take a yoga class together :)

Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Wild Daughter podcast! If you haven’t yet, hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode. If you loved this one and it spoke to you, take a screenshot and post it on your Instagram stories and tag me @wilddaughteryoga. I’d love to see who’s out there listening! And don’t forget to follow me for more inspiration, yoga flows and tips, and of course a few photos of my doggos. Want more? Head to wilddaughteryoga.com where you can join my email list, download freebies, and check out my blog for show notes and other fun stuff. See you next time yogis! Amen, and Namaste.