Yoga Sculpt. Running Yoga. Bootylicious Yoga. These days, many yoga classes offer more than just classic yoga poses like downward-facing dog, handstand, and Warrior II. You can now lift weights or pull on resistance bands or squeeze out a dozen burpees … all while standing on a 68-by-24-inch yoga sticky mat.

But if you really want to change things up, instead of turning your yoga into a really good workout, why not make your workouts more like yoga. This will give you all the cardio-boosting and muscle-strengthening that you’ve come to expect from exercise, with the stress relieving, system balancing, and mind focusing benefits of yoga.

Turning exercise into yoga is a lot easier than it seems, and can even be done by people who’ve never taken a yoga class before. The secret lies in focusing on the three components of yoga — the body, breath, and mind.

Body: stable and comfortable

According to the classic text the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, yoga postures (asana) should be done in a way that is stable (sthira) and comfortable (sukha). This comes from sutra 2.46, which is known by many people who practice yoga regularly, especially yoga teachers.

You can probably already imagine what a yoga pose that isn’t stable and comfortable looks like, especially if you are new to yoga. You might feel like you have to strain to get into a pose, with your legs shaking and your lower back screaming at you. Or you might be wishing the teacher would count faster so you can come out of the pose that you’re holding.

While Patañjali was concerned mainly with yoga, you can also apply the concepts of sthira and sukha to your workouts. Whether you are doing circuit training or prepping for a marathon, every aspect of your workout should be stable and comfortable. This doesn’t mean, however, that there can’t be intensity in your workouts (or in your yoga practice).

But you should approach your workouts in a way that helps you maintain stability and comfort, even when you are working hard. This might mean increasing the intensity slowly to give your body time to adapt. Or arranging your training so it progresses in a logical, step-wise fashion. Or making sure you warm up before pushing hard during your workout.

Breath: long and smooth

In the Yoga Sūtras, Patañjali also talks about what the breath should be like during yoga practice — long and smooth. This is from sutra 2.50. Again, it is probably easy to imagine what the breath looks like when it is not long and smooth. You might be gasping for air just to get enough oxygen; or your breath will start and stop, either in the middle or at the end.

Now think about how you breathe when you work out. How often is your breath long and smooth? Do you hold your breath when lifting a heavy load? Can you sprint without gasping for air?

As with sthira and sukha, trying to keep your breath long and smooth during exercise doesn’t mean you can’t work out hard. It just means that you need to train smart and give your lungs time to adapt to increases in exercise volume or intensity.

I like to think of the breath as a tachometer on a car dashboard, which measures the rotation of the engine’s crankshaft. The goal is to keep the speed of the engine (your breath) at the same rate throughout your workout — with the added goal of not having any knocking (aka choppy breathing) in the engine.

Mind: stable attention

While many people are familiar with yoga poses, traditional yoga is actually a lot more than just physical postures. It encompasses a broad range of other techniques such as breathing exercises, meditation and mindfulness practices, and yoga philosophy and psychology.

The goal of all of these techniques is to help you intentionally direct your mind and keep it there. This stable attention — which is a form of meditation — is really what yoga is all about. In fact, when we talk about someone being in a state of yoga, it means they have stable attention. There are many benefits to meditation, including relieving stress, anxiety, pain, and depression.

One way to develop this type of stable attention is by attending a yoga class that includes not just the physical postures, but also breathing exercises, meditation, and other aspects of yoga. But you can also practice being mindful throughout your day. While being mindful is not easy, every time you bring your attention back to the present moment, you get a little bit better at it.

Now think about what happens to your attention during your workouts. Where does your mind go while you are exercising? Are you watching television while running on a treadmill? Or checking your text messages in between each set? Or are you just running through your to-do list or thinking about the fight that you had with your friend on the way to the gym?

Next time you exercise, try setting aside all of your usual distractions — your smartphone, the television on the treadmill, your chatty friend — and focus on the sensations in your body and mind. Notice your breath as you lift weights or run up a hill. Notice how it feels when you increase the load during a bench press. Watch as thoughts bubble up in your mind … and then let them float away.

Everything can be yoga, including your workouts

Every experience you have in life has an effect on the state of your system, from the food that you eat, to the friends you spend time with, to how you choose to exercise. These experiences can either bring you closer to a state of yoga — stable attention — or move you further away.

While some things that happen are out of your control, you can choose to have certain experiences that help you focus more. You could think of yoga as a series of intentionally engineered experiences. You can also bring that same mindset to your workouts.

The more you do this, the easier it becomes to maintain stable attention. Over time, this has other effects on your system. A directable mind is a sign of being in balance. And when you are in balance, things that used to bother you — such as illness, doubt, not getting what you want, and even growing older — are no longer obstacles.

Stable attention also helps you see the world more clearly, rather than just seeing what you project onto it based on your past patterns. As a result, you will make decisions based on what really is. These decisions will also be more in tune with your authentic self.

All from making your workouts more like yoga.