Why I Started Practicing Yoga for Strength

If you’re like me, you’re extremely intimidated by the words “yoga for strength” or “power flow” in the titles of yoga YouTube videos. Any phrase that conjures images of beads of sweat dripping onto my living room floor is enough to keep me scrolling—and eventually result in me practicing one of my safe-zone videos that include the words “gentle,” “slow,” or “bedtime.”

It’s not that these slower-paced yoga classes don’t challenge me. As someone with a lower back and hamstrings that chronically feel about as stretchy as old rubber bands most days, it’s not always easy to settle into stretches. Not to mention the challenge of sitting quietly with myself instead of running on autopilot rather than addressing my thoughts/feelings/inner world.

In my 20s, I was game to take on any yoga class and be perfectly fine when, five minutes in, I was sweating from places on my body I didn’t realize had pores (looking at you, hot yoga). But now, in a new decade of my life, I feel like I have completely lost the motivation to press into Downward-Facing Dog more than twice per class or lower into Chaturanga at all. Why would I struggle when I could lie down with the lights off in Reclining Bound Angle, surrounded by props and covered up to my eyeballs by a thick blanket?!

Something happened recently that changed all of that.

Recently, I noticed a restlessness in my body. Whether it was due to anxious thoughts, the stagnant feeling in my limbs from desk-dwelling, or my third (*ahem* fourth) cup of coffee of the day, I felt swirls of rampant energy in my stomach. It was a powerful force that felt like rushing water searching my body for a place to escape. Even the thought of employing any of my go-strategies for coping with inner turmoil—putting on some chill music, having a good cry, or moving through gentle stretches—wasn’t sufficient. Suddenly I wanted to do something absurd—like come into Plank—just to feel an energetic release.

So I searched for the opposite of what I usually do: YouTube yoga practices for full-body strength. As I moved through Sun Salutations for the first time in forever and attempted some kind of Tabletop push-up thingy with one knee lifted off the mat that left me breathless, I couldn’t help but be reminded of what I loved about physical intensity in my 20s—the feeling of trying and seeing what my body can do. Whether I could actually do a movement was never the point. It’s the striving that made me feel so alive.

Yes, I sweat bullets on my living room floor. But I relished the post-yoga glow, and felt some of my anxiety lift. Besides, now I have more than a few ways to address inner discomfort when I feel it.