When I go home to see family, I admit I don't keep up with my regular workout routine. I don't come home as often as I'd like so when I do, I'd rather spend time visiting with family then working out. The other week when I went home, my mom asked me to take a yoga class with her. She had never took one before either but wanted to try something different than her daily boot camp classes. Now we've both heard many good things about yoga and how it may improve your running by the way you breathe and our posture so we thought we would give it a try.
We arrived at the yoga studio with our mats ready to go. There was a lot more people there then what we thought, many their first time as well. The class was Basic Yoga. Now I never tried yoga in the past, because I feel like when I work out I want to be breathing heavy and sweating, not breathing in and relaxing. But I was excited to try something new.
We started with finding our "center" and staying grounded by making sure both our feet were evenly distributed on the mat. The instructor told us that people tend to not distribute their weight evenly when they are doing daily activities such as waiting in line at the grocery store or brushing their teeth. They tend to roll on their outside or inside of their foot and that may cause hip or back problems with time. Your feet are the foundation of everything you do. If you do not have a good foundation, that's when one may become out of alignment.
We did some basic yoga moves such as child's pose, downward dog, warrior, plank, and cobra. I didn't think they were very hard (maybe because they were basic). However in some moves we would raise a hand or leg and try to keep our balance, which was a bit more challenging. Having never taken a yoga class before I never knew what the block was for. It is to assist you in certain moves if you cannot reach the mat with you hand, you place your hand on the block to keep your balance.
Overall the class went well, but I didn't feel like I worked up a sweat and burned a ton of calories. So never taking a yoga class before, I had an idea in my head how it would be, and I was pretty much spot on. Now I know why I have never have taken one before now. However, I did feel more flexible afterwards and the stretching felt good, because I never do that after my runs (which I know I should). It is a nice change to your daily routine, however I would do this on a rest day, and not replace it with a workout. Me personally, when I workout, I want to get my heart rate up and sweat. I need to keep moving. I am way to antsy to stay in one spot and relax by taking deep breathes.
Have you ever taken a yoga class? What are your feelings on it? Do you feel like it has helped you with your running?
~L
