After 18 years of regularly practicing yoga, I’m giving it up. Yoga gave me many benefits. It transformed me from “The Tin Man”. It calmed my mind. It helped me develop a more rounded fitness routine. It taught me to reflexively use breathing to deal with fear and stress.
I use what I’ve learned from yoga every day.
So why am I quitting? I’m at the point in my life where I need to be more flexible with my fitness routines. With yoga, I practiced a series of specific postures every day. After years of developing workout programs, I have come to realize that most of what I practice in yoga is replicated elsewhere through my functional training, mobility work and movement practice,
I imagine I could have learned these same yoga lessons if i’d been trained in jiu jitsu, gymnastics, dance, martial arts and other disciplines. Humans movement is not limited to any specific domain.
For a long time I enjoyed yoga. For now, at least, it’s time for me to move on.
Namaste.