Run Yoga Run

MYTH:  “Yoga is for flexible people.  And since I can’t bend like a pretzel I guess that leaves me out.”  In fact, tight, inflexible runners and ‘wanna be’ runners stand to gain the most from many of the classical Hatha yoga postures.  Although one might think yoga and running are diabolically opposed to one another on the exercise spectrum, the two make an excellent marriage of strength and flexibility.

Yoga’s internal focus will draw your attention to what is going on with your body rather than be externally focused on winning or finishing the race.  Runners, and any athlete for that matter, benefit greatly from practicing yoga by building and balancing strength, increasing range of motion, and training the body and mind to work synergistically. 

Run Yoga Run is designed from my own experience as a runner and years of practicing yoga. Each week the focus is designed as mini-workshop – working progressively to create greater function in the body from the shoulders and hips to the knees and SI Joints all the while learning to let go of needing to ‘get somewhere’!  Yoga is not intended to replace your usual physical training but rather complement it. Improvement comes with time, patience and practice. 

Classes are small (maximum 8 students), enabling a free-flow discussion about function, form and alignment.  To benefit from the experience, practicing at home is expected.  At the end of the 10-week series, you will have learned a yoga sequence that will serve you wherever you are in your athletic endeavours. 

Yoga has been lauded by not only runners but athletes around the globe including golfers, cyclists, hockey players, and swimmers, to name a few.  These are some of the key benefits for athletes who practice yoga:

• Improved range of motion and muscle tone
• Increased flexibility, strength and stamina
• Reduced stress and tension
• Able to ‘lean in’ to challenges with greater ease
• An ability to stay focused and balanced
• To become more relaxed and refreshed