Lovely yoga class tonight from our wonderful teacher FF. I've been paying a lot of attention to my legs lately. Stretching. Strengthening. Rolling. Running. So it was the oddest experience to be in Mountain Pose, and suddenly be really aware of my legs. I think I could have stood there quite happily for much longer, feeling the interplay of the muscles as they settled down.
Later on in the class we were in a hamstring stretch and I could tell the left ham is way, WAY tighter than the right, but the right quads and ITB are the tight ones. Let's not even talk about my low back, which I think is the real root of the problem. I'm seriously thinking of going back for more of the IMS.
The rest of the class was a nice flow of poses that I really enjoyed, and seemed to do me good. Part way through I was trying to have quiet hysterics as she talked about the groin stretch that was happening. She was talking about feeling what our bodies were capable of and honoring that. We shouldn't be saying to ourselves "our groins are inferior" because someone else can do the stretch better or deeper or whatever. There is no someone else in yoga practice. There is just us. I knew instantly what the blog title would be tonight. For the record, my groins are better than they once were, and not as good as they've been.
It used to be I hated tree pose. But now it's relaxing and enjoyable. I could have done that much longer tonight as well. Somehow, when I'm downstairs doing stuff, I forget some of these great poses. I should make a list and post it near my mat downstairs.
Scurrying around getting ready to run after work tomorrow. It should be nice. Can't waste it. The weekend is supposed to be crappy rainy weather again. At least it's not calling for snow. Our backyard work may be delayed more.
Do you balance your running with yoga? What are your best and least liked poses?
I tried a few drop-in free classes from that omega store with the fancy clothes. I bought a mat and yoga clothes from their clearance rack. Then I started running and had no time for yoga. I have trouble staying focussed on what I'm supposed to do when I'm by myself so enjoyed the led classes. Now with running, I have moved from religiously stretching after ever run to dynamically warming up before my run and foam rolling when I'm tight. I'm lazy. My favourite pose is the sleeping pretzel pose. ;) Zzzzz....
ReplyDeleteThe person that teaches the local Chi Running is big on running easy enough that you don't need to stretch after. Or anything, other than have a snack. Maybe it's all mental, but I like a good stretch after running.
DeleteYes, an interesting title, Keith ;) I took yoga years ago and had a love/hate relationship with it. Today, I will do some sun salutations, but that's about it (I love the flow of sun salutation). My favorite position is the one we used to do at the very end of yoga practice, Savasana (corpse pose) - so relaxing and meditative and always, always sure to put someone to sleep...and that person would always snore!!
ReplyDeleteThe corpse pose used to be my favourite, but I find that it hurts my tailbone a little, and I'm using two mats. The poses I like most are Tree and Pigeon. Another one that most people like is Child pose, and I can't stand it at all. Won't do it at all.
DeleteI have not had time for yoga lately, I love yoga though and really wish I could fit it in... maybe after this marathon when my mileage drops a bit. I really find it helps keep my hips open and flexible and balances so well with running.
ReplyDeleteAlso - because I enjoy your blog and keeping up with your training, I've nominated you for a Leibster award... if you want to play along, the details are on this post on my blog: http://terryruns.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/leibster-award/
I'm glad you enjoy my blog and thank you so much for saying so! I like doing the Leibster thing.
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