About 2 1/2 years ago, I joined a gym that had yoga classes included with access to treadmills, weights and other exercise classes. I'd never tried yoga before other than occasional DVD's, but thought the advertised "Hot Yoga" sounded like a good way to improve my running with some flexibility and balance work. Since I'm over 40 and run in the dark, the balance work seemed critical to safely running. Little did I know, that I'd really get attached to my yoga classes and stick with them faithfully even after the gym closed and I had to switch to a studio with classes only and give up treadmill access. Laura is our instructor at Barre Bodies. She speaks calmly and positively throughout the whole class. Along with encouraging all the participants physically, she reminds us to use the class time for ourselves and to think about what we are doing rather than what we have to do later. One of her mantras that I use often at home is, "Don't judge it; just notice it." Boy, there are a lot of things going on in the world that are much less bothersome to notice but not give any time or energy to--think presidential election 2016! We use this idea at yoga for everything from negative thoughts to noticing if one hamstring is tighter than the other. When they call yoga a practice, they mean to practice everything! Another of Laura's mantras that I use in my running is "Your body is strong; it's your mind that wants to quit." That one can get me another mile up the road when the going gets tough. Last spring, I saw an ad in a quilting magazine for some super cute fabric: The fabric is called Yoga is for Everyone. I love the farm animals in their yoga poses. Half Moon is one of my personal favorite poses and the rooster is doing a great job on it :-) When I think of what I want to make from it, I will order some to sew at our next Quilt Camp weekend!
Yoga has been a great addition to my running program. In addition to the flexibility and balance work I was seeking, I have gained strength and the ability to focus mentally on the present. If you'd like to try yoga and there isn't any classes near you, I also like the Yoga Studio app on my iPad. It has a similar style of slow poses and calm speech as I get at my class. Stephanie encouraged everyone to consider signing up to run with us at Green Lake in July. She and I will be running as a team in the family competition as well as our individual age groups, which she did point out would be separate due to the fact that I am now 45! B and I ran this race last year and found it to be well organized and a beautiful course. The only piece of advice I'd have is to decide and sign up by early June if possible. We signed up during race week last year and I wasn't able to get my preferred shirt size...D wears mine, so not a huge deal, but if the shirts are super cute, you'll want yours to fit! Hope to see you all there...be sure to let us know in the comments if you will be coming so we can look for you!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMissee and Stephanie are two Minnesota sisters and moms who love to run. We are not experts in running, parenting or anything else, but we do have years of experiences that may be helpful or entertaining to others. Archives
May 2020
Categories |