Yoga is great y’all. And yoga is for everyone! While for many yoga is primarily an exercise routine I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that there is a deep and rich cultural history to yoga that extends far beyond our contemporary practical purposes and understanding. But this is not a history of yoga article, this is a “what yoga can do for you as a runner and how you can incorporate it into your life” article (title pending). 

At the core of yoga is a tenet that one can and should be in tune with their body. Or put another way; one should be able to consciously experience every part of their body. Think about how often during the day we just put our bodies on autopilot without really being aware of the movement of our limbs. Even as I’m writing this I notice that I’m unconsciously hunching over and sitting poorly at my desk. Well yoga is here to help address that through intentional and conscious stretches and exercises. 

Yoga is particularly beneficial to runners because most, if not all, of the poses and flows (series of connected poses) are compound in nature; meaning that they incorporate multiple muscle groups at once. This is helpful to us because it builds muscle stability and prevents us from over developing some muscles while neglecting others which can set you up for injury. Yoga also strengthens and stretches muscles, increasing flexibility and working out tension so it fits in wonderfully with your recovery. And when done with intent, i.e. slowly, consciously, and with focus; it can help relax the mind and slow down those racing thoughts and anxieties. 

But like any activity, it takes time. Fortunately if you have even just 15 minutes to spare, you can perform a beneficial yoga routine. Truth be told, even spending 5 minutes stretching, slowing down, and focusing on your body and breath is helpful to your mental health, but to gain more benefits to flexibility and injury prevention you do have to put in more time. Sadly we haven’t mastered time travel yet so the only way for us to have time is to make it. 

My recommendation is to fit a full yoga routine (15+ minutes) in on your typical recovery days at points where you would want to wind down or “get your head on right” e.g. first thing in the morning, on your lunch break, after work, before bed, or if you have an easy run you could incorporate yoga into your cool down since you should be stretching anyway. Or if you want to reduce one potentially bad habit while building a better one, pop down into pose whenever you feel the urge to scroll through your phone (your brain and mental health will thank you). Whenever you manage to squeeze some yoga in be mindful of the following guidance

• Be mindful and intentional: one of the benefits of yoga is that you are focusing on you, your body, and your mind. This all goes out the window if you are focusing on other things and not giving your movements your full attention. I know from experience that on demand focus is difficult especially when your mind is in a constant state of racing, however, it helps to start each routine, even the short ones, by counting deep breaths in for 10 counts and deep breaths out for 10 counts. It can act as a fire break for your thoughts and help refocus you. Remember if you’re going to do yoga, DO yoga.
• Breathe: Deep intentional breaths the entire time, don’t hold back your stomach, let it expand naturally. And when you exhale don’t be polite about it, let it out no matter how it sounds (but slowly). 10 breaths (10 in and 10 out) is a typical amount of time to hold a pose
• Move to stretch, not to pain: Go into every position slowly and to the point where you feel a stretch but it is not painful. Your body knows the difference between outright pain and discomfort. Flexibility is not easy and takes work, so go easy on yourself if you cannot go very deep into a pose, that is the reason you are doing it in the first place, to get better. 

You can do it! I won’t bog you down with a bunch of resources but know that you can essentially go to YouTube and search for yoga that fits any demographic and skill level i.e. I looked up “Yoga for inflexible men over 30” (which is me) and got a ton of videos. And to show that you can do yoga anywhere at any time even if you aren’t very flexy, here are some good yoga poses for runners that I did in my office at work. I included the names so you can look them up for full descriptions and form. Go for it team!