When Effort Has Meaning, Stress Becomes Strength

A yogic reflection on meaningful effort

As my students know, I don’t have a yoga ‘guru’. I don’t rigidly follow an asana practice as taught in classical texts. That choice doesn’t come from rebellion or rejection. And I deeply respect traditional teaching. However, I am naturally inclined to question everything… I can’t help it!

What I question is the blind adherence to a physical practice shaped by men living in a very different world, different bodies, daily rhythms, and responsibilities while most of the people I teach today are women living 21st-century lives: sitting a lot, experiencing menopausal symptoms, noticing the impact of past habits (like wearing tight shoes or high heels!) Without disrespect, I’m not sure classical yogis could relate to that…

This is why I believe that we should adapt our Yoga physical practice to our own body, to our own lifestyle while keeping the essence of the practice. If it means that you skip the Wheel pose because your wrists hurt, you lean slightly forward in your Triangle to avoid pain in your hip or you do the headstand on a feet up bench because of neck issues, I think it is ok.

Ancient Wisdom for a Modern Mind

When it comes to the mind, however, the story changes. Here, what the yogis discovered through deep introspection is still highly valid today!

Long before psychology or brain imaging, they observed the same patterns we still struggle with today: doubt, fear, attachment, restlessness, the feeling of being torn between what we should do and what feels possible.

This is where the Bhagavad Gita for instance comes in. The Gita (as it is often referred to) is a short philosophical dialogue set on a battlefield (a metaphor for inner conflict), where a warrior named Arjuna freezes before action, overwhelmed by doubt, fear, and meaninglessness. His teacher, Krishna, doesn’t remove the difficulty; he helps Arjuna understand why he acts.

In many ways, it’s still a very useful manual for moments when life asks something of us and we’re not sure we want, or are able, to give it.

Effort, Meaning, and Where I Am Now

I regularly ‘pick up’ the Gita again. It feels especially relevant this January. This month marks five years since I began teaching yoga online on Zoom. Five years of experimenting, adapting, questioning. Now the doubts arise: is it worth it? Should I rather stop and do something that requires less effort?
Alongside that, there’s my book project: so slow and demanding, and raising the same questions. Same for my running program: Why am I doing this? Am I putting myself under unnecessary stress?

Should I keep going? What is all this effort for? These are Arjuna’s questions too in the Gita. And what I keep returning to, both in the Gita and in the teachings of classical yoga, is this simple truth:

When effort has meaning, stress becomes strength.

Yoga doesn’t promise a life without pressure. Neither does the Gita. What they offer instead is guidance. When effort is driven by fear, comparison, or the need to prove something, stress depletes us.

But when effort is in line with our values, when it expresses something we beliebe in, then effort/stress strengthens us. It becomes something we can grow through rather than collapse under.

The body still works hard. The mind still wavers. But we’re growing stronger, steadier.

In 2026…

In 2026, as the new year begins, I’m not trying to solve everything. I’m not making huge resolutions. Instead, when I feel under pressure, I’ll remind myself to ask these questions:

• Is this effort in line with what matters to me?

• Does it help me grow, even in tiny weeny ways?

• Can I continue even if there is no guarantee of the outcome?

If the answer is yes, then perhaps the effort already has enough meaning.

And that, for me, is yoga: not the pursuit of perfect forms or outcomes, but the commitment to keep showing up with compassion and purpose.

Thank you for being here, reading. I hope this year brings you challenges that strengthen rather than deplete you, and efforts that feel worth making.

With love,