Yoga and biking are the best tools I use to feel alive and healthy and more appreciative of life. Here's what I have to say if you ever wonder whether one is better than the other.
With a consistent yoga practice, your body gets stronger, strong enough to lift its own weight. You become flexible. You grow muscles in every area of the body.
With regular biking, your legs get stronger. The grip and hand control get better. You develop endurance to pedal for hours.
Yoga teaches you to breathe where you are. Biking teaches you to look at what's in front of you and move forward.
Took this photo from my morning ride. The sun was up high and the heat coursed through my thin, white shirt!
Yoga brings a student into consciousness. Biking improves reflexes, making you more adaptive wherever you are.
Yoga looks into the self, the body, the emotions that rise when doing the poses, the discomforts and difficulties. Biking is a chance to see and appreciate what's outside of our bodies, outside of what we're used to.
Both involve balance, focus, and awareness.
A rainy morning ride.
One is not better than the other.
Yoga and biking uplift us, put us in a good mood, get our blood pumping, and strengthen us.
The body is a well-developed machine made of bones and muscles and fluids that work together. The more we take care of it, build it up, the more it gives to us in return.
What I learned from years of being active is that movement causes a fundamental shift. It made me realize what my tiny frame - and everybody else's - can do. It's remarkable how much our bodies can take, accepting what our limits are, and working around those strengths and restrictions.
Whatever activity or tool or craft that gives you these benefits and advantages, I hope you find the time - or make time - even just for 15 minutes a day, to get up and do it.
Movement makes life fuller; it makes us work and love better.