Runnersworld Shops are busy preparing to re-open from 15th June, within new health guidelines, issued by Government. Gary and I do not anticipate we will be able to re-open treatment room before 4th July 2020, however we are of course preparing ourselves and will update you as soon as we know when we can re-open the treatment room and what guidelines we will be adhering to.
This week I thought i'd share with you my experience of yoga and running.
Yoga is an ancient practice that has evolved over thousands of years. The essence of yoga is to help the practitioner (yogi) to appreciate how their physical body, mental state, emotional state and breath interact with each other to affect our Prana (energy), manipulating any one of these will impact another.
Yoga consists of a series of ethics, cleansing practices, meditation practices, breathing techniques and postures. The postures can be practiced alone or sequenced together. There is usually a strong emphasis on exploring breath in and between each posture.
Like anything the benefits are best realised with a consistent practice and a period of rest/recovery between each practice.
As a yogi and athlete I experience first hand the following benefits from my yoga practice:
The meditation and breathing practices help me to find focus & calmness, which is especially useful at competitions, when I’m surrounded by athletes with soaring adrenaline levels creating nervous tension in the call room!
The Breathing practices, alongside my athletics training have helped me to improve my lung capacity (as an ex-smoker I had a weak peak flow, at one point when I was running marathons it was only 300 and with a high pollen count one summer, I struggled to the point that I resorted to my GP who prescribed ventolin, currently my peak flow is 420 and I haven’t needed ventolin since that one bad summer). Breathing techniques also help me to calm my nervous system down after a hard training rep, ready for the next one and each winter I find breathing in the cold winter air a little less challenging – I don’t anticipate it will or ever should be easy!!
The postures (Asana), help me to build and maintain strength, flexibility, balance and control during movements - I can now stabilize one area of my body whilst moving another better than I could before a regular yoga practice (disassociation). Movement and focus on how my body is moving is an ongoing practice.
I incorporate yoga postures into my track warm up – particularly in winter time, where I find a couple of sun salutations really help me to warm my body up. I use gentle poses such as legs up the wall, child’s pose, reclining twist and knees to chest to help me settle my nervous system and recover between training sessions.
I currently have two classes dedicated to runners (although open to all people), where I design my class with a runner’s body in mind. There is a focus on breath, awareness of posture and movement and a sequence of postures that may help to strengthen muscles in the upper body, hips and legs as well as mobilizing soft tissues around hips, shoulders and ankles. I finish the practice with a guided relaxation of 7-10 mins, which is quite often hard to get accustomed to when you’re active, however, taking some time to practice tools which help the body settle into its rest, recovery and reset mode (parasympathetic nervous system), is well worth the effort to the point, that over time you may even look forward to that bit where you’d normally be rolling your mat up and legging it out of class!
Yoga is not about pain, when you are practicing you are looking to build awareness of your breath, your body, how each shape feels – there may be some low level discomfort as your body gets used to creating new shapes, however you should be able to maintain a slow, steady inhale and exhale – if your breath speeds up your body (nervous system) is telling you that it needs to back off the intensity. The more you practice the longer you will be able to remain in a posture.
It is best to seek guidance from a teacher when you start out, particularly if it is a completely new movement for you or you have been sedentary for a while. If you have any underlying mental or physical health conditions you should seek guidance from your medical practitioner before commencing.
If you'd like to know more about my classes then drop me a line.
sd@runnersworld.ltd.uk