Going the Distance- yoga & running
Yoga is about more than breathing, stretching, and relaxing. Yoga can make your body and core help correct pre-existing imbalances in your body. This translates to fewer injuries and faster, more consistent running.
Yoga provides a useful time-out from the more faced paced, intensely competitive world of athletics. A consistent yoga practice can offer profound benefits such as increased body awareness, strength, flexibility, mobility, reduced stress, increased endurance, and an ability to synchronize movement with breath, all things important to athletes. Yoga is all about being present in the moment and listening to signals and cues from your body. It’s about letting go of the distractions outside yourself and really tuning in, connecting, and focusing your attention inward, and on your breath. When you're conscious of your breath it allows your body to breathe better. Conscious breathing helps you to pay attention to the quality of your breath, observe, and even manipulate your breathing during physical activities. Therefore it can help increase endurance through better breathing. Yoga is an opportunity for self-discovery and the nice thing is, that often what we will learn about ourselves on the mat can translate off the mat too
Athletes involved in sports built on the efficiency of repetitive movements such as running have even more to gain from yoga. Repetitive motions can reinforce existing imbalances in the body, making the body tighter or under developed in certain areas while others may be looser or overdeveloped. Many runners find that as their mileage increases or when workouts become more intense, they become tighter. But having a consistent yoga practice can help you maximize your athletic potential and be the best runner you can be.
Take it from me. People always ask me how I continue to compete in longer endurance events whether running, cycling, swimming, and my answer is because of yoga. Yoga has helped me in countless ways over the years, both physically and mentally. It’s even helped my asthma. No one wants to get hurt; injuries are not only painful, but can sideline you for months. I couldn’t even imagine what I would do with myself if I couldn’t workout. Therefore, it’s important we remember to be smart and train smart. Smart training can help make sure that injuries don’t stand in the way of your training. Therefore, spending some time on your yoga mat might be your best bet and just what the doctor ordered, it certainly has been for me. Practicing yoga asanas (poses) can help keep muscles limber and yoga’s emphasis on mindfulness can bring about increased focus and awareness. So why not practice? Today is a great time to start- no time like the present as I like to say!
When you're ready and the time is right for you to start, let me know. I am here to help!
