by Catherine Guthrie photography by David Martinez
YOUR 6-WEEK YOGA GUIDE TO BUILD STRENGTH YOGAJOURNAL.COM 13
Yoga creates fi tness, there’s no doubt
about it—even if yogis themselves sometimes
quibble over the semantics. One yogi argues
that a fi tness-oriented approach undermines
yoga’s spiritual foundations. Another counters
that physical practice is a must for excavating
yoga’s deeper treasures. So who’s right?
They both are, says Sage Rountree, a yoga
teacher and endurance-sports coach in Cha-
pel Hill, North Carolina, and the author of
The Athlete’s Guide to Yoga. “In truth, yoga
practitioners need to forge the middle path
between spiritual practice and exercise,” she
says. “Otherwise you’ll miss out on getting ev-
erything yoga has to offer.”
Cyndi Lee, founder of the now-closed OM
Yoga Center in New York, and a fi t yogi herself,
agrees. “A purist might say that you shouldn’t
put too much emphasis on the body, but ignor-
ing it doesn’t make sense, either,” she says. “You
can’t get enlightened outside of your body.”To embrace fi tness as the fi rst step toward
fi nding the middle path, consider expanding
your defi nition of fi tness, Rountree suggests.
The American College of Sports Medicine
will tell you that fi tness consists of four ele-
ments: muscular fi tness, fl exibility, cardiovas-
cular fi tness, and respiratory ability. But those
hard-edged parameters can rub against yoga’s
spiritual and philosophical moorings like ill-
fi tting shoes on sensitive feet. “Another way to
think about fi tness in yoga is as the practice
of coping with incrementally greater stressors,
both physical and mental,” Rountree says. “At
the end of the day, the ability to handle those
stressors with fi nesse, instead of freaking out
and going into fi ght-or-fl ight mode, is fi tness.”
Yoga delivers on all of these fronts—and
on many others, too. Would you like a hit of
serenity, better brain power, stronger bones,
and reduced hypertension? See the sidebars
on the next pages for more on these benefi ts.FEEL YOUR BEST
How the practice of yoga promotes fi tness of body, mind, and spirit