I've been busy preparing for November's classes in the Online Studio, and one of our focus postures is Splits.

Now, I've been practicing Splits for YEARS. I know the posture. I know the drills. And I have a pretty good understanding of the strength and mobility required to get into them.

But that doesn't mean I've run out of things to learn.

So, as I've been putting together the November playlist, I've been looking for fresh ways to approach hip mobility and build the strength that supports it.

The other day, I found myself on my hands and knees in Tabletop, playing around with a resistance band to add more resistance to my leg lifts and challenge my hamstrings in a different way.

Nothing particularly fancy. Just me, a resistance band, and a little curiosity.

A few days later, I sat down to do my weekly personal Splits work.

And wouldn't you know it?

I moved right into my Splits with an ease I haven't experienced in a while.

Now, I'm not suggesting one afternoon with a resistance band magically transformed my Splits. But it certainly got my attention.

 And it got me thinking.

I've been practicing yoga for more than 20 years, but I haven't been practicing the same yoga for 20 years.

My understanding has changed. My approach has changed. And the things I'm interested in exploring continue to change.

Which makes me wonder...

Are you celebrating 20 years of yoga, or have you been repeating the same year 20 times?

Think about how many times you've moved through a familiar sequence, settled into postures you know well, and finished class feeling pretty darn good.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Some days, that's exactly what we need.

But what happens when that becomes your entire practice?

You know what to expect. You know which postures you enjoy. You know which ones you tend to avoid. And you've probably developed a few habits along the way that you haven't questioned in years.

At some point, it's worth asking yourself:

Am I still learning something here?

Because familiarity and understanding aren't necessarily the same thing.

You might have been practicing Crow Pose for 15 years, but have you ever explored how your shoulder position changes your ability to lift? Have you considered whether your hip flexor strength might be limiting what you can do in certain postures?

Or have you simply accepted that this is what your Crow Pose looks like?

That's where things get interesting.

Your body has changed. Has your approach to yoga changed with it?

One of the things I love about working with women in midlife is that we're bringing decades of experience to our mats.

We've lived in our bodies long enough to recognize what feels good, what doesn't, and what deserves a little more attention.

But here's something else I've noticed.

Sometimes all those years of experience can make us a little too comfortable with what we think we know.

We decide we're naturally flexible or naturally strong. We label certain postures as easy and others as difficult. We develop explanations for why our bodies can do some things and can't do others.

And eventually, we stop questioning those explanations.

Maybe you've spent years stretching your hamstrings, only to discover that strengthening your hip flexors changes the way you experience a forward fold.

Maybe you've always considered yourself flexible, but you've never explored how much of that range of motion you can actively control.

Maybe there's a posture you've written off as something your body simply doesn't do.

What if you haven't reached your limit? What if you just haven't explored another way to get there?

This is one of the reasons I teach yoga the way I do.

I want my students to understand why we're doing what we're doing. I want them to recognize how strength, mobility, balance, and coordination work together. And I want them to take that knowledge into their own practice.

Because once you understand how something works, you have so many more possibilities to explore.

And sometimes, those possibilities begin with something as simple as a resistance band and a little experimentation.

Progress doesn't always look like a new posture.

Before you think I'm suggesting that every woman needs to be working toward Handstand or some elaborate arm balance, hear me out.

Progress can look like finally understanding how to engage a muscle you've never paid much attention to.

It can look like discovering a new approach to a posture you've practiced a thousand times.

It can look like developing enough strength to move into and out of a position with more control.

And yes, sometimes it looks like lifting your feet off the floor for the first time in a posture you thought you'd never be able to do.

I happen to LOVE those moments.

But what excites me most isn't necessarily the finished posture.

It's everything my students discover about themselves along the way.

The moment something clicks. The laughter when an experiment goes completely sideways. The realization that something they thought was impossible might actually be within reach.

And sometimes, it's the realization that they've been approaching something the same way for years when there were a dozen other ways to explore it.

That's the good stuff.

And I don't believe any of that has an expiration date.

What if your best years of yoga are still ahead of you?

I'll be 50 in a few months.

And after more than 20 years on my mat, I can tell you that I'm far more interested in what I have left to learn than in what I already know.

I have postures I'm still working toward. Movements I'm still figuring out. Questions I'm still asking.

And I hope that never changes.

I have absolutely no interest in spending the next 20 years repeating everything I've done for the last 20.

I want to keep exploring. I want to keep getting stronger. I want to discover things I didn't even know were possible for me.

And I want the same for the women who practice with me.

Because I think there's something pretty wonderful about being a woman in midlife who can look at a practice she's loved for decades and still get excited about what comes next.

We don't need to recreate the yoga practice we had at 25.

We get to build the one we want at 50, 60, 70, and beyond.

And with everything we know now, imagine what that practice could become.

So here's something I'd love for you to consider the next time you step onto your mat:

When was the last time you learned something about your yoga practice that genuinely surprised you?

And if you can't remember, maybe it's time to get a little curious again.

Pick a posture you know well. Something you've practiced hundreds of times. Instead of moving through it the way you always have, ask yourself what else there might be to discover.

Maybe it's a different muscle engagement, or  a new way to build strength. Maybe it's a question you've never thought to ask.

Give yourself permission to experiment.

Because after all these years, I'm convinced of one thing.

The most exciting part of having a yoga practice isn't how much you've already accomplished. It's realizing how much more there is to discover.

And I, for one, can't wait to see what's next.

Ready to discover what's next in your practice?

Inside Tori G. Yoga Online Studio, we approach yoga a little differently.

Each month, we focus on specific postures and spend time exploring the strength, mobility, and skills that help us understand them more deeply. We build on what we've learned, experiment with different approaches, and connect the dots between postures.

It's progressive yoga designed for women who already love their practice and are excited to see where it can take them.

Join us live or follow the monthly playlist on demand, at your own pace.

You've already put years into your yoga practice. Let's see what those years can become.

Explore Tori G. Yoga Online Studio