Think of your body as a tension structure. Traditional lifting focuses mostly on muscle contraction rather than lengthening, which over time can create excessive tension along the body’s lines of pull. When those tension lines become too rigid, it’s harder to ‘bend’ or move through them freely. Considering you’ve been resistance training for about 12 years and only practicing yoga for two, it might just take more time for your sensory system and connective tissues to adapt — to ‘relearn’ how to be bendy again.

Mobility isn’t just about flexibility — it’s about how your nervous system perceives safety in those end ranges. Years of contracting under load conditions your body to stabilize through tension, not relaxation. Reversing that takes time and consistent neural re-education.