This article was first published by YogaJournal.com.
I’m dripping with sweat. But I can’t reach for my towel because I’m currently holding 15 pound dumbbells in my hands during a High Lunge. “Stay low,” the instructor reminds us. “Thirty seconds to go. Connect to your breath. Remember your breath.”
Expletives fill my head. These lunges will, inexplicably, be the death of me. I’m going to die in a CorePower yoga studio. I’m already reconsidering my decision to attend this Strength X class.
To humor myself, I do it. I take a measured breath, returning to the long inhalations and exhalations that exist exclusively in my restorative yoga class. Something settles. My heart rate calms. My body eases up—and the weights don’t feel quite as torturous. What is happening?
I practice yoga on a regular basis. I try—and often fail—to meditate. I work out several times a week. Although I love a sweat-dripping hot yoga class, my asana practice and my workouts are separate. When I’m doing high-intensity interval training (HIIT), sprinting on a spin bike, or throwing around heavy weights, I want to tune…
