I Want To Be Strong - Part 4

“I want to be Strong” 

“I want to feel Strong”

I’ve heard this said so many times. I’ve said it myself. I’ve had interesting conversations about Strength and what it really means. And Strength is a key component of my Wellness.

This is the fourth part in a mini series of blogs about Strength. 

You can read Part 1, where I share some of the science behind why Strength is important. 

In Part 2, where I explore how Yoga can help us build strength. 

And in Part 3, I shared my personal Why behind the statements; ‘I want to be Strong. I want to feel Strong’.

In I Want To Be Strong - Part 4 I’ll be talking about emotional and mental strength and how they are intricately connected to physical strength.

And if you’re wondering why you should carry on reading…

Then the real purpose of this mini series of blogs about Strength is to help us keep showing up on our mats for our Yoga practice and to practise with intention. Some days we need to tap into the Why, to help us get on our mats to practise. And Strength is a key part of it.

I’ve focused on physical strength so far. And yes it’s great to be able to move, to do things we want to do, to feel that sensation of strength in the body, and all the myriad of health benefits of physical strength. But it’s the emotional and mental strength that are absolutely the key to me. 

So you may ask why I have spent so long talking about physical strength…. Good question! 

Physical Strength, Mental Strength, Emotional Strength - they are all connected. I don’t think I can really have any one without the others. 

A good friend said to me, when she feels physically strong she feels she can take on life’s challenges. 

That’s so true. 

When I feel physically strong, I feel mentally strong, I feel emotionally strong. 

When I feel mentally strong, I feel emotionally strong, I feel physically strong. 

When I feel emotionally strong, I feel physically strong, I feel mentally strong. 

You get the point!

Say you’ve just had some bad news, or gone through a break up, which in most cases impacts our emotional strength. There’s that feeling of being emotionally spent. We then often find other situations mentally challenging, or stressful, our mental strength decreases. Then we feel that physically drained, exhausted, and weak feeling kicks in too. 

Let’s say there’s no bad news or break up. But instead you have the flu or a bad cold, your body is fighting it off, your body shifts to support your immune system, so you don’t have as much energy for physical strength. I bet you then snap at your nearest and dearest, you just can’t handle the mental and emotional load you normally can. 

Or in this last example, you’re in a high stress situation at work, it’s been going on for a while, you are feeling mentally drained. You feel like the slightest thing will cause you to burst into tears, you feel emotionally fragile.  Your physical strength drops, it’s no longer as easy to walk up a hill let alone get to your favourite yoga class. 

Now there’s a lot of chicken and egg here! It’s not about getting your physical strength sorted and then working on the others. It’s a little bit of one, a little bit of another, building strength across all three.

My Yoga practice helps me build that physical strength, but it also helps me build my mental strength and my emotional strength. 

So yes, improving bone health, joint support, loving the feeling of strength in my body, and physically being able to do what I want in life. All great. Yep sign me up for that. 

But my real Why behind ‘I want to be Strong’. ‘I want to feel Strong’. 

That keeps me on my mat, that keeps me making the effort to build Strength. It's to find that balance, that feeling of physical strength, the feeling of mental strength, the feeling of emotional strength.

I hope this mini-series I Want To Be Strong has helped trigger your own thoughts and experiences about what ‘I want to be Strong’, ‘I want to feel Strong’, means to you.

I’d love to hear from you, hear your voice, what does feeling strong mean to you?

Please do get in touch and connect with me on socials to share.