Why I'm sometimes defensive of my arms. AKA first world problems part 872.

I have big arms. Muscly arms. "Manly arms", I've heard, which chaps my ass. I've had people comment on my arms…..a lot. This isn't a complaint, so much as it is a social commentary.

Just like when I (or any woman) was pregnant and her belly became public commentary, a woman with muscles in her arms somehow becomes touch worthy. I have strangers touch my arms. I'm a 39 year old woman. People are not allowed to touch my body unless I give them permission.

I realize that this post is probably going to make people either roll their eyes or outright criticize me. That is annoying. I like my arms, just like I hope that you like yours. However, I hope that people don't touch your arms, or your face, or your legs, or any other part of you, without your permission.

People act shocked when they find that I don't lift weights. Yoga requires me to lift my body weight, over and over and over again. My body is heavy! My body is my weights.

Despite the obvious benefits such as building muscular strength, promoting muscle tone, fat loss, improved metabolism, and bone density, many of us equate “strength training” with toilsome weight machines, dumbbells, or resistance cords. Yet if you’ve ever had sore muscles after a yoga session, you may have wondered if you can just do yoga instead. [1]
Many yoga practitioners look toned as if they go to the gym and lift weights. And the truth is, they do: their own body weight. Quite simply, yoga poses require positions and orientations that engage our muscles. [2]
Original yoga from the East doesn’t emphasize how yoga can sculpt one’s body, but they were all about the mind-body connection. This is how much of the West has evolved it to its own purposes. Originall yoga was a way of life and being, rather than a way to look better in clothes. Nonetheless, when I look at the typical “yoga-crafted body,” I can’t help but admire their physique.“Yoga can be just as effective as weights when it comes to building a stronger, more impressive physique,” says Nicholas DiNubile, M.D. Yet experts agree that whether yoga can be your sole form of strength training depends on your goals. [3]
“If all you’re looking to do is build muscle, weight training is the more practical approach,” advises DiNubile. In fact, the American Council on Exercise defines strength training as “exercising with progressively heavier resistance for the purpose of strengthening the muscular skeletal system.” [4]
“Progressively heavier resistance,” meaning your muscles and bones must be overloaded to keep developing. With weight training, your muscles adapt to the resistance and get stronger, that weight no longer being a challenge. Now you have to add more weight to achieve results.
Many believe that yoga, however, is a more balanced approach to strength training. For one, it conditions your body to perform things you do every day: walking, sitting, bending, lifting. Your body moves in the way it was designed to move. [5]
Yoga also tones both large and small muscles all over your body, in balance with one another, while weight training isolates one muscle group at a time—like the back and forth of a bicep curl. [6]
More technically, yoga relies on eccentric contraction, where the muscle stretches as it contracts, giving it a sleek, elongated look. Weight training relies on the opposite principle of concentric contraction, where the muscle gets smaller as it contracts. Muscle fibers heal close together, with a compact, bulging appearance. [7]
Finally, yoga increases muscle endurance since you typically hold a given pose and repeat it several times during a workout. [8]
Read more at http://www.mindfulmuscle.com/yoga-mindful-strength-training/#WWWHcTFvyt0czhb5.99

Yoga builds strength. Yoga builds muscle. Pay attention to proper form and alignment, and you will not injure yourself (I cringe every single time I walk past a body pump class and see people using TERRIBLE form and tearing up their rotater cuffs.)

I'm settling into a much calmer week after I teach twice today. I play tomorrow morning, Nate is traveling after being home a lot, the kids have a meet on Thursday, and I need to start getting it going with this nutrition gig. I'm giddy with excitement over a workshop that I'm going to on the 18th.

We are honored to invite Certified Jivamukti Yoga Instructor Beth Filla back to Artisan for this very special workshop-- a blend of creative asana, chanting and meditation.
Our bodies and minds hold all of our karmas-- lasting remnants of thoughts, words and actions. How many of these involve self-doubt? Indecision? Feelings of victimization or a sense that you missed out on something due to you? The practices of yoga help us bring these to the surface so we can open them up, air them out, and feel more and more like our higher Selves. In this Jivamukti Yoga workshop, expect vigorous asana, lots of chanting, meditation, and psoas muscle opening to help you move from ego-based doubt to powerful Self expression.

How fantastic does that sound? Sue and I are going together. Giddy, I say :)

The holiday weekend was wonderful. Swim team is already starting to wrap up, which I just can't believe. I'm in the women's club championship ~ second flight. That starts next week, I believe, the brackets just came out. I have my second match that I advanced to in the club match play championship on the 22nd. We have the member member tournament on the 15th and 17th, its a two day event. I play tomorrow. Lots of golf. REALLY looking forward to heading down to the beach on the 28th for 2 long, luxurious weeks of true R&R, There is a yoga studio there that I love, and plan to take advantage of. Beach yoga, yes please.  Morning runs, late evenings on the beach, and pure relaxation. Now that the kids are older and easy it is going to be our best year yet at the beach, and I can't wait.

Has anyone ever practiced Jivamukti yoga? Thoughts?

Does anyone else use yoga as their strength training?

Does anyone else have secondhand embarrassment (like I do) at me taking selfies of my arms? I cringe…………but at the same time I AM trying to make a point. Yoga is not just a practice of relaxation. Yoga can make you very, very strong. The other point is that it is rude and unkind to touch other peoples bodies without their permission. Always. Please, even if you mean it in a kind way, don't touch people or make assumptions about their bodies because of how their bodies look ~ be it thin, not thin, skinny, or muscly.

Thanks. PSA for the day over.

Peace.