Strength - Inner and Outer ~ The Yoga Post and all about being a Poser

So in my last post I was talking about the strength needed for endurance running. The basis of getting good at running is to run more, its that simple. But putting down all that mileage takes a toll on  your body if you're not physically able to meet its demand and I wasn't, plain and simple. So I needed to get strong...and my buddy Osty helped me find the way.

I'm lucky that my place of employment has a gym and offers the gym members various health and fitness programs. One of them is Yoga, which Osty, one of the most competitive and informed athletes I know, was talking to me about joining yoga to help with our running last year. He read how a lot of elite athletes used yoga to help strengthen and develop the core area of the body namely the quads, hamstrings and hip-flexors which can help runners run efficiently and injury-free. So we signed up and after a couple of introductory classes we were hooked and integrated the practice into our training.

From Wikipedia; Yoga is the physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India with a view to attain a state of permanent peace of mind in order to experience one's true self. 

Our Yogini, Andrea Robin, has been doing yoga for over 10 years and teaching for the past 4. She's Iyengar certified but from what she's taught us in class the past 2 years, is a combination of styles from many of the disciplines. She always comes in with a theme, using keywords like grounded, lightness, openness, breath and we follow along with poses along the theme. Her belief is to do things that are safe and doable for everyone as we're all not human pretzels. She also has this voice, which I call 'song of the universe' as it's pretty harmonic in guiding us to our poses.

We almost always start the class with Sukhasana or Easy Pose, which is basically just sitting on your 'sit' bones, with your legs crossed, eyes closed, back erect with a tall spine, breathing lightly (always mindful of breath) and your hands on your knees with palms facing up. Then we bring our hands together in Anjali Mudra, with thumbs pressed against the heart and then Andrea begins by saying a small offering to the universe and opens the practice with one Om. I don't say it out loud as I actually much like to hear the class chant it, as it reminds me of a time when I used to sit in Buddhist temples and listen to the Nichiren monks chant followed by a bell. (Which is something I do during the class chanting Om, while in Anjali Mudra, I'd clap my two index fingers together as the sound of Om is dying to indicate the bell tone.) This is the one time when I close my eyes, I see no mental pictures flash before me, and probably the closest I feel to that 'nothingness' state.

So after a year and a half of doing yoga, I've started to understand certain sequences and poses that are really beneficial for myself as a runner and also as an athlete. The poses I do, I normally hold for 5 breaths as I learned that breathing in a posture is part of the posture itself, much like the rhythm of running and breathing. Now I only do yoga once a week and it's that class I use and note down as part of my weekly workout regimen. It's part of my calisthenics training as most of the time, after class, I'm pretty invigorated, but I also know I got in a good workout, especially when Osty wants to get spiteful and asks if we can do core workout. Damn, a lot of the core specific poses in Yoga are very challenging, and you really can feel it.

Salute to the Sun - Pre Run

Before I go out running and sometimes in general, as a morning workout routine, I do a Sun Salutation sequence that helps me warm up, stretch and prepare my body before I head out to run. The other reason I do this is, it relaxes the mind, as you have to be mindful of breath and how you hold each pose, borders on the level of meditation. The real name is Suriya Namaskara B or Sun Salutation B which is a sequence of asanas or body poses.

*Note the second pose Utkatasana (chair pose), in the diagram above, I stick my ass out literally almost in a sitting position. As you'll see in the video below. This I find helps me stretch out my hamstrings and strengthen my glutes which is part of that kinetic chain I keep harping about. All apologies to my Yogini Andrea as I'm not holding the positions for the proper length of time (5-8 breaths) and we typically do 3-4 sets. The video below shows you one set:

The other sequence I like to do is a Moksha practice and it's position 3 in a series of 26 postures. It's called Utkatasana B in Sanskrit and is known as 'awkward pose' in English. But it can also be called holy crap my thighs, calves, and achilles are burning pose. But I love it because, this requires laser focus and this posture is designed to help warm up your quadriceps, hamstrings, knees, calves and ankles. Once again, apologies to Andrea as I took liberties from what she taught me and freestyled it a little. I hold each pose for about 3-5 breaths to complete the sequence and I do this two times. This is really challenging and great for my core strength and balance.

Post Run

After a run there are 2 main poses I like to do as a cool down. I notice a lot of the people in the running club do this, and thats the Pigeon Pose which is a hip opener pose, which stretches the hip rotators (the buttocks area) and the hip flexors (the long muscles that run along the front of your thighs and pelvis). I hold the position for about 5 breaths while sitting tall and then I lean forward and hold for another 5 and switch to the other leg.

Pigeon Pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana)

The other pose I do is Hero Pose (Virasana) or Seiza in Japanese. Starting on your knees, sit back on your heels with the tops of your feet flat on the floor and hold for 5 to 8 deep breaths. This will help stretch out the anterior muscles of your feet. I then curl my feet under using the balls of my feet to sit on and hold that pose for 5 to 8 breaths. I find this pose helps the plantar fascia and helps relieve shin splints. It's very uncomfortable holding this pose, but with practice I can hold it for longer periods and this helps in focus on that 'one-point' in the mind.

Hero Pose (Virasana)

There have been many a times where I've put in personal requests a couple of hours before class, asking if we can work on Illiotibial Band (ITBand) pains, shin splints, or anything to help relieve pains from running and she's always obliged and integrated that into the class. Although I'm sure the class is becoming aware that when we pull out the yoga straps to do the ITBand stretch (which is blissfully painful), it's because some idiot runner is whining about how he hurt himself again. Yep...I can feel those dirty looks coming my way.

Yoga is so relaxing, but it can also be a full body workout. I find that my core is getting stronger and as you practice more and more and become mindful of breath, you start to develop that state of nothingness where you're able to drown out a lot of the noise from daily life.

My next Strength post will deal with my calisthenics workout.