My Favorite Yoga Poses for Runners
I started practicing yoga regularly almost one year ago. Before then I would occasionally do 20 minutes of yoga here and there, but in June of last year I went to an outdoor yoga class held by the Breathing Room yoga studio and since then I’ve been a firm believer in the good yoga does for our body and mind.
Not only do I leave class feeling calm and peaceful, my whole body feels the effects. My muscles always feel nice and stretched out after a good class, I love it. It makes me feel powerful! I also really like that there are so many different types of yoga! The studios I go to have such a great selection of classes, whether you want to stretch and meditate or do a vigorous workout! Since practicing regularly, I’ve discovered some of my favorite yoga poses, specifically the poses I find help my body recover from running the most. Yoga is such a great form of cross training for athletes.
Obviously, I’m not certified in yoga instruction and my poses aren’t perfect, but here are my interpretations. This is also my first test with my camera’s self-timer! Note: If you are new to yoga check out this sanskrit glossary. Here are my favorite poses:
Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I) and Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II)
Warrior poses are great for opening the hips and strengthening the quads.
Anjaneyasana or Low Lunge
A great runner’s stretch! My doctor actually told me to do a variation of this stretch every day for my hip injury. Yes, that’s my cat getting in on the action!
Adho Mukha Svanasana or Downward-Facing Dog
Down dog is great for stretching the hamstrings, which are usually so tight from running!
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana or Pigeon
I love Pigeon, it really stretches the hips out, which is one of my problem areas.
My favorite types of yoga so far have been vinyasa flow and ashtanga!
Vinyasa
Yogajournal.com says, vinyasas are “progressive sequences that unfold with an inherent harmony and intelligence…In the yoga world the most common understanding of vinyasa is as a flowing sequence of specific asanas coordinated with the movements of the breath. “
Ashtanga
According to yogajournal.com, Ashtanga is “intensely physical and athletic. Ashtanga yogis practice a prescribed set of asanas, channel energy through the body using bandhas (locks), and concentrate on singular points using drishti(gaze) in asanas.”
I hope to continue practicing yoga for a very, very long time! I love it. Do you practice? If so, what is your favorite form of yoga?
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7 Comments
derryX
This is awesome! I thought you were joking about the timed images.
I’d never be able to do yoga. Mentally, I’m programmed to cardio + weights and nothing’s gonna convince me otherwise for me. It makes no sense but I think id hurt. myself doing yoga. Haha I’m a clutz
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Jen
Haha, my boyfriend is opposed to doing yoga too–I think its a guy thing!
I figured my post would be better if the pictures were of me, and not some image I got off of google image search (that was my first thought)!
Kelly
I love yoga!
I’ve started doing Yin yoga a lot more. Yin takes some of the traditional poses but you hold them for 3-5 minutes at a time. It takes a bit to get used to, but it reeeeealy helps stretch!
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Liz
I think I need to pull open this post after work today and do these — I know yoga is so good for me, but I never put aside the time to do it. Need to remember it’s worth it in the long run… anyway, thanks for the little tutorial!
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KB @ Home-Baked Happiness
Oh god, not the pigeon! 🙂 I did that pose once in a class, and I almost couldn’t get back out of it. I really need to get into another class, though — I really enjoyed it.
Sam
I try to do Yoga at least once a week. I’m hoping after grad school is over to spend more time mastering it and the goal is to do it twice a week. I love it for all the reason you have mentions and have done Kirpalu and Vinyasa Yoga.
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