Hey, I’m curious how everyone else works yoga into their fitness regime. I have been doing yoga on and off for several years but am now just making it more of a priority. I have been doing it daily for a while now, adding in running a couple days a week as well as a couple days of High Intensity Interval Training. (I’ve dropped strength training with heavy weights) I find that yoga loosens me up, but my other workouts just tighten me back up again. I am not sure I can ever do “just yoga” since i’m am afraid of loosing muscle and endurance. I’m trying to find the right balance! 
I’d love to hear about how anyone else prioritizes their fitness.
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For me it’s always been about well being, and I’ve required a balance of activities that challenge endurance, strength, speed, flexibility and balance. It can be hard to find the right balance, but over time I have been able to feel the effects that each kind of exercise has on my body and mind and I plan accordingly.
With kids and work it can be difficult to do everything I would like to, so I generally do a little bit of everything, or more if I can fit it in. Exercise and yoga make me feel so alive and healthy that it would be hard to imagine my life without them.
I guess to answer your question, I go with what feels right.
Yoga is my primary fitness regime. I lost more than 30 pounds in the last year just from yoga and mindfully eating; I occasionally added in walking or a fun 10 minute kickboxing or zumba routine here and there (i.e., once every few weeks or so).
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Similar to you, I found that I was practicing yoga on & off for years while other pursuits (i.e. 5-a-side football etc) took priority. As I’ve got older, I’ve realised that doing sports such as football more often than not resulted in more getting injured, and that impacted on my ability to do other things. So, I ended up dropping the football, and focusing on yoga, cycling, swimming, country walks with dogs. It was a conscious effort to prioritise yoga, which I now practice most mornings pre-work and lunchtime studio classes when I have time. I also cycle to work so that gives me my daily cardio fix. It works well for me as I find the yoga complements the cycling, swimming, walks etc. When I don’t practice, boy do I feel my energy levels drop, shoulders tighten etc, so I soon get back onto the mat!
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Thanks! I agree, finding time to fit everything in can be challenging sometimes! I have to learn to put less pressure on myself, and do want feels right that particular day. I find yoga is putting me in the right head space to be able to accept that not everyday needs to be a big sweatfest! Now that I am over 40, I am finding my priorities are changing
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I love yoga but my primary training is (BJJ) Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Yoga really compliments BJJ as you find yourself in many unorthodox positions. My only problem is I do so much Jiu-jitsu that my time for yoga is a lot less so I therefore incorporate it into my warm-up / post training stretching. Yoga has also been my lifeline when coming back from injury and in the past 3 years I’ve had a lot of them. Perhaps it’s because I do so much or perhaps it’s because I’m getting older but even though I know yoga is more gentle and forgiving on my aging / injury riddled body I just can’t bring myself to drop BJJ. If I ever did though yoga would be my immediate go to. It’s awesome and I really love how you guys present it on this site.
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I swim, run, bike, and do olympic weightlifting, so for me yoga is a daily necessity to balance that out (especially helpful with shoulders and hips) - otherwise I just get injured, in my experience.
@karenluhning I can definitely relate to the feeling that “other workouts just tighten me back up again”… I’m currently running on DYWM intermediate videos (and back to beginner after heavy squat sessions when I just crave a slower, gentler practice) and would love to progress to advanced, but making real progress in terms of flexibility really is a challenge with a heavy workout routine.
In that sense, I’d really love to see slower-paced, really flexibility-focused intermediate videos (I think Satiyah would be great at doing that, she’s one of my favourite teachers!) aimed at intermediate yogi-athletes that have plenty of a strength base (I could chaturanga all day long ) but need to develop flexibility. Because I often find myself going back and forth between fast-paced, intermediate videos that I enjoy more as a practice, and David’s beginner shoulders or hips videos when I want to work on something specific.
I currently aim to do yoga daily but often manages only 4-5 times/week, looking forward to the November challenge, and to Fiji’s chakra series to try and gain more consistency!
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Hi there, I just quit the gym 2 months ago, not long after I found DYWM. I don’t think I realised how much stress it was causing. having to arrive an hour early for a class so you could find a car park. lining up waiting to use gym equipment… I don’t regret leaving.
I was doing a yoga type class at the gym as well as weights. I dropped everything and just did yoga. Now I feel so much more balanced and in control. I m beginning to cycle again and cross county walking.
You have to find your own balance. If it feels good, It probably is.
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