 Me, working on "Monkey God" this morning in the studio. I recently realized that I practice this pose because it makes me feel young. It's just fun! And, as a more advanced hip opener, it is definitely part of me finding that blissed out zone in my own practice. It’s possible to get what feels like an absolutely amazing workout from certain types of yoga. These types of yoga emphasize strength, balance and the movement (or “flow”) between postures. The Power Yoga taught at Every. Body. Studio is this type of yoga.
However, there is a fundamental difference between yoga and “working out.” This is why we are a “fitness AND yoga” studio. It’s important to recognize and understand the distinction between “fitness” and “yoga.” While both our fitness and our Power Yoga classes usually produce sweating, heavy breathing, an elevated heart rate, and eventual muscle fatigue, our Power Yoga classes do that “extra” thing that all yoga classes do as well. What’s that yoga thing? Yoga — EVERY kind of yoga — seeks to unify body and mind through the breath. So whether you’re doing slow, quiet restorative yoga or flowing quickly through sun salutations to the upbeat music of a lovingly-curated playlist (lol! I take GREAT care with my playlists!), the goal of yoga is to “yoke” — to join your body and mind through the breath. Thus, there is a meditative element to yoga that is not emphasized (or may not even be present at all) in other fitness classes. Also, yoga opens all the energetic pathways in your body. This isn’t some woo-woo, crunchy, hippie-tastic metaphysical belief — yoga actually, anatomically opens PHYSICAL pathways for blood, oxygen and lymph to flow more freely through the body. How does it do this? All those crazy postures — moving your spine in every direction it’s capable of moving, lengthening limbs and opening up joints in ways that just don’t happen in our normal, everyday, screen-infested, mostly-seated, driving-everywhere-we-need-to-go lives. So, between the meditative element and the energetic pathways opening up inside of you, a yoga class usually leaves you feeling very relaxed and at the same time, energized. A lot of times you can even feel slightly euphoric. This is commonly called feeling “blissed out” or finding that “yoga bliss.” This makes a yoga class just as good for your mind and emotional state as it is for your body. Many people think they hate yoga because they simply haven’t found the type of yoga that works for them. If you find yourself in this boat, I would urge you to keep seeking. There are so many different types of yoga, it’s just impossible that there isn’t ONE that will work for you. And in your seeking, it is probably easiest to start with the speed at which you’d like to move in a yoga class. If you’ve mostly taken slow-moving restorative yoga classes and did not enjoy them, try a Power Yoga class (at Every. Body. Studio! heehee). If you’ve only tried fast-moving yoga classes and did not enjoy them, try a restorative, gentle, or yin yoga class. Within this rough difference of speed, there are also hundreds of variations so just keep trying things out. At Every. Body. we truly believe that ALL YOGA IS GOOD YOGA. When you find YOUR yoga, your yoga bliss won’t be far behind! May you love yourself. May you respect your body. May you be grateful. May you be free. And, May you find YOUR yoga! xo-JodiAnn
0 Comments
 If you are working out ONLY to lose weight, what do you think is going to happen once the weight is lost? OR... what will happen if you don’t actually experience any weight loss from working out?
In her BRILLIANT book No Sweat, Michelle Segar explains that the only real reason anyone sticks with exercise is because they ENJOY it and they enjoy how it makes them feel IN THE MOMENT. In other words, you can white knuckle your way through workouts that feel like punishment to you for a period of time but you will not — statistically speaking — stick with those workouts for very long. Segar explains that many people begin exercise regimens because they want “better health” but that goal is too vague and too far off in the future to make exercise stick. Humans are pleasure-seeking animals. If we don’t WANT to do something, eventually we will do whatever we can to stop doing it. Weight loss is not a good reason to move your body. Concentrating on the way we feel when we move our bodies is key to creating consistency in movement. If your body FEELS better and your mind feels more relaxed and clearer after your workout, as it should, THIS is a good reason to workout. THIS is the Why that will keep you coming back for more day after day after day. And it is only in consistency that we create "health." So, if it feels good, do it. And if your workouts feel more like punishment, I would urge you to STOP immediately... read Segar’s book and/or take stock of what kind of movement your body would actually enjoy. EVERYONE’s body WANTS SOME kind of movement. Find the movement that you enjoy and that consistently keeps you coming back for more! May you love yourself. May you respect your body. May you be grateful. May you be free. And may you find joyful movement! xo -JodiAnn I’ve lost more than thirty pounds three times in my adult life. Each time I’ve lost that weight, every single ounce has come back, with interest. If fat were money, the Diets I have religiously followed would’ve been an amazing investment.
The truth is, it’s not THAT hard to lose weight. You just have to learn the tricks of deprivation. In any given month, any number of women’s magazines have many of these tricks outlined for the whole world to see: Drink a glass of water before every meal. Stop eating at 5pm every night. Drink hot water with lemon & cayenne pepper for breakfast (note: not WITH breakfast). Eat an apple before you go out for dinner. If you’re going to drink alcohol, only drink vodka with no-calorie mixers. Measure everything you eat. Track everything you eat. Avoid dairy. Avoid grains. Avoid every kind of meat but the occasional turkey and fish. Eat clean. Eat vegan. Eat Keto. Eat paleo. Eat nuts & avocadoes but, for goodness sake, not too much! Drink a protein shake every day! Follow — to a T— a meal plan someone else (preferably who appears on TV) has created for you. The list goes on and on... we have more tricks for deprivation and weight loss than we do for raising our children. We have more tricks for deprivation and weight loss than we have for anything else. No, friends, it’s not hard to lose weight if you can get yourself into a mindset that is based on the fundamental truth that thin bodies are the exact same thing as healthy bodies. If you can get yourself into a mindset that considers weight loss noble, hunger honorable, a thin body the absolute epitome of human achievement. If you can shame yourself for being "disgusting" every time you long for the taste of chocolate or tell yourself you’re a "pig" every time you want that comforting dish your mother used to make that’s just loaded with grain and dairy and fat and calories. If you can believe that losing weight — as much weight as possible — will keep your husband from cheating on you or your teenaged kids from being embarrassed of you or your boss from being angry with you or your friends from ostracizing you... and on and on... it is NOT hard to lose weight. What’s hard is not gaining weight back. This is true for many reasons but a mindset of fear and shame and deprivation and disgust with our own bodies (the same mindset that got us to lose the weight in the first place) is definitely one of those reasons. I have been MUCH smaller than I am right now. In fact, I’ll tell you a secret...sh! You ready? Come closer! Okay... I used to be a size 6! And even more of a secret...sh! Sh! Don’t tell, okay? I am currently a size 14! Oh my god! The shame of it all! The horror! How do I show my face in public... or for that matter...my fat ass!?! I’ll tell you how. After the third time that I lost all that weight and it started to slowly creep back, I developed a frightening eating disorder and an anxious/depressed mental illness that I could not shake without the help of several trained professionals who basically taught me that by weight cycling (that’s what losing more than 20 pounds then gaining back is called) over and over throughout my life, I had done far more harm to my health than I would’ve if I had just allowed my body to be the size it wanted to be my whole life. They also taught me that, like most women in this country, I had been living in an insane system of deprivation and body-hatred and fatphobia my entire life. Slowly, these people helped put me back together and find a new, much happier reality. Here’s part of that reality: weight loss is NOT a health goal. Weight loss is a body modification/ physical appearance goal. Weight loss is no more FOR YOUR HEALTH than getting a tattoo is for your health. If weight loss is your goal, fine. If you want a tattoo, fine. Your body. Your business. But you have been SERIOUSLY duped by diet culture if you believe (as of course most of you do because this is still the rhetoric we are fed by most mainstream health professionals) that losing weight — in and of itself & by any means necessary — will make you a healthier person. It. Will. Not. Here's another part of that reality: I, personally, am a MUCH healthier person now than I was when I was much thinner. Period. Creating a “healthier” body, by most sane people’s definitions, can SOMETIMES have a side effect of weight loss. But sometimes, it doesn’t. Sometimes that woman whose a size 14 or a size 28 actually has better blood pressure readings, can lift more in a back squat, can run farther and faster than that size 2 or size 4 woman can. You can’t tell how “healthy” someone is by looking at them. You sure as hell cant tell how “healthy” someone is or how long they’re going to live by how skinny or fat they are. Weight cycling is one of the most damaging things that can happen to our heart. Losing and gaining large amounts of weight over and over again is NOT a good goal and it is certainly not a “health” goal since it takes years off your life expectancy. This is why, as a personal trainer, fitness instructor and yoga teacher, I will never encourage a client to make weight loss a goal. Perhaps it will be a side effect of their training. Perhaps. But perhaps not. I am not interested in maintaining a status quo that continues to lead women to insanity. I am interested in loving, respecting and liberating my own body. I am interested in helping other women do the same. In order to do that, we have to let shame, fear, fatphobia and body-hatred go, and accept ourselves exactly as we are in this moment. This isn’t for everyone because it is revolutionary. This isn’t for everyone because it requires much harder work than engaging in the tricks of deprivation for the rest of your life. But if you’re ready to learn an entirely new reality in which it IS possible for you to be free from diet culture, I’m your trainer — at a size 14 & with no tricks up my sleeve. I will do far more than help you lose weight [rolls eyes]. If you are ready, I will help you change your mindset and your life! May you love yourself. May you respect your body. May you be grateful. May you be free. xo -JodiAnn |
JodiAnn Stevensonis an NSCA-Certified Personal Trainer; an ACE-Certified Group Fitness Instructor; a certified Yoga Teacher; a Certified Intuitive Eating Professional; and a degree-holding Health, Fitness Specialist. She lives in Frankfort, Michigan and owns Every. Body. Fitness and Yoga Studio. Archives
January 2025
Categories |
RSS Feed