After nearly 20 years of yoga and 12 years of weight training, I’ve learned how & why these practices are so complementary. 1️⃣ Enhance mind <> muscle connection: With experience and injury, I learned it’s easy to hurt yourself lifting weights if you have no body awareness. You have to slow down and pay attention to the region of your body that is doing the work in order to protect & balance effort in adjacent areas. This conditioned my mind to be hyper aware of where the sensation lies in my body when I practice āsana (yoga forms). 2️⃣ Prep for load-bearing postures: An “impressive” physique ≠ true strength. I used to struggle to hold downward dog for five whole breaths or transition from cobra pose to upward facing dog because I was overusing my joints and neglecting core muscles. By training larger muscle groups, these postures became manageable as I used my body efficiently.3️⃣ Practice controlled breathing: If you lift, you’ve likely heard about when to inhale vs. exhale. There’s a science to how it engages your muscles to assist the movement safely. As I progressively overload during training, I have to use highly focused breathing to contract involved muscles. This helps my prānāyāma (breathwork) practice so I can control the awareness of breath and direct it to different regions of my body.4️⃣ Train bandhas: Bandhas are a yogic technique of “sealing” energy in regions of the body (such as the cervical spine, lower abdomen etc) in order to execute a posture effectively. When you lift heavy, you have to lock certain muscle groups in place to protect your spine, joints, or other sensitive areas. This translates effortlessly to āsana and makes it much easier to engage bandhas.5️⃣ Build stamina: Teaching yoga online is WORK. It takes a lot of endurance and advanced breath control to do the whole sequence while instructing. Everything I listed above serves to maintain my energy and stamina throughout class.Like/Comment/Save/Share 💕Join patreon.com/divyabala 💪🏾#fitness #fitspo #yoga #yogainspo #lifting #weighttraining #squats #gymspo #gym #workout #girlswholift #yogateacher #wellness #gymtok #gymgirl #fittok #fitgirl #fitlife #SplashSummerVibe