Yoga made me a better runner…Running made me a better yogi
I love yoga with a passion. I also love to run, with a passion! Over the years I have dedicated significant amounts of time to both yoga and running and it has become glaringly evident to me that these two activities, which at first glance may be perceived as completely contrary, are in fact 100% mutually supportive and beneficial!
Here are five ways that I have found yoga and running to not just support one another, but also to contribute to enhancing my abilities in each one.
- Injury prevention — Running is very impactful and our quads and hamstrings can get very tight both immediately after a run as well as over the long term for frequent runners. Continually stressing tight muscles can lead to injury. A regular yoga practice is an excellent strategy to ease the tension of tight muscles, improve muscle length and tone to complement the strength and power developed through running. Yoga also helps us to maintain mobility and stability within the joints which helps support running and of course our stability in powerful yoga poses such as balances and those Warrior lunges.
- Breathing — It sounds silly perhaps but yoga teaches you how to breathe, and how to breathe in an efficient way so that you can actually breathe through some level of discomfort or challenge. Yoga reminds us that we can focus on our breath, even while doing something active or challenging such as running, to make it a type of moving meditation. This technique of meditative but also uber efficient breathing in tune with your body’s motion is how runners get into “the zone” and are able to seemingly just keep on keeping on through a tough run. Yoga can teach you how to really focus the breath through challenge so that the body is functioning efficiently and you are able to continue the activity.
- Overcoming Challenge — Many folks with a regular yoga practice have quite possibly encountered a challenging pose and thought there was no earthly way they could do it. But with regular practice and good guidance one day they may find themselves able to do that once unattainable pose. With yet more time and practice you may become fluent in that pose. While yoga is not about conquering poses we can certainly learn to meet ourselves where we are at in our practice, keep trying with no attachment to the outcome and eventually find that we are indeed capable of things we once thought were impossible. Translated to running, whether our goal is to run faster/longer/more regularly etc, yoga teaches us that we just need to make a start, practice consistently and be honest about our progress.
- Balance — Running is of course a great cardio workout but we know we’re meant to also work on whole body muscle tone and strength building for an overall balanced level of physical health. A very fitness oriented style of yoga such as power/vinyasa/fit yoga, certainly offers a toning workout as we maintain challenging poses and ‘all guns are firing’ to support us is this type of physically intense class. Of course the meditative effects of the yoga movements and our breathing, plus the treat of relaxation at the end of a yoga session, are just the mental health benefits we need to balance the physical intensity of our running and active yoga practices.
- Recovery — The body does need rest to actually reap the benefits of the physical and mental activities that we do. Muscles need a chance to recover and the slower, more nurturing segments of our yoga practice encourages the muscles to let go of tension and metabolic waste while holding on to the positive effects of our work. A regular yoga practice also helps us establish good sleep patters and other healthy habits. I’ve seen time and again new students start a yoga practice, soon they begin to feel that bursting-with-health feeling and they want to add other healthy habits to their lifestyles in order to enhance that feeling. In short order I see new students eating more healthily and committing themselves to getting more sleep. All of these are elements of a yogic lifestyle which help the body recover from running or other physically intense activity while retaining all of the healthy benefits.
So as contrary as they may seem running and yoga offer an abundance of health benefits which are mutually supportive and beneficial. I appreciate both acticvities equally and am grateful that together they conspire to do great things for my health!