Fitness and Yoga Posts: Leaving you feeling inspired or inadequate?

“You don’t need to do handstands or arm balances or fancy poses at all to be an excellent yoga student or teacher.” –Alexandra Crow

This quote really resonated with me.

In the days of social media so often we equate our self-worth with what we think we should be able to do in yoga or whatever sport or discipline we practice.

Do you ever find yourself scrolling through IG or Tik Tok and looking at the amount of weight someone can lift? Or maybe it’s the cool and crazy yoga poses that some yogis can do?  I know I am guilty. Oftentimes instead of feeling inspired, I feel unworthy as a strength coach and yoga teacher. And I am sure that many students must feel the same way.

Sometimes we need a little reminder that we are worthy and don’t need “fixing”.  As my yoga teacher recently said to me, “We work with what we have in the present. That’s the beauty of the practice.” ❤️

Strength training and yoga are not supposed to make us suffer and feel inadequate but instead lift us up in both body and mind allowing everyone to improve at their own pace. No matter where we are in our fitness journey we are always improving.  It doesn’t have to be cranking out 10 pull ups or doing a yoga pose where we are all knotted up, it can simply be maintaining our strength or noticing how our body reacts to a pose on a certain day.

Just last week, I was confronted with a yoga pose where I had great difficulty with the bind. Instead of feeling inadequate, my take away was that I probably need to incorporate more twists and thoracic rotation into my yoga practice (*hint, hint…this will probably be next month’s theme for my classes).

These days (and maybe I can thank my age) my focus is on what I can do rather than what I cannot.  I honor and celebrate my body and its abilities. There are so many ways to modify, restore, rehab, continue progress and feel good and uplifted!

Have you ever struggled with feeling less than because of something you cannot do in your yoga or strength training practice? I would love to hear your thoughts!