Body, Mind & Yoga
“I’ve finally come to accept that I need a little yoga in my life,” says one of my regular spin class attendees. She was always the athletic type playing tennis, running, taking fitness classes, stopping in between everything to do some push ups, always on the go. Not to mention that she’s always traveling for her job as a flight attendant. She builds muscle easily and likes to stay active but in time she lost a lot of flexibility and her back started to bother her. She always thought of yoga as too slow but has now incorporated yoga into her regular fitness routine and feels better for it.
Many folks are put off by yoga’s less athletic reputation to other forms of exercise (although they should go to an ashtanga class before adopting that point of view) and I’m the last person that would tell anyone to only do yoga. I see yoga as a way to balance your workouts and open your body and breath up to 1) participate in an activity that you never thought you’d be able to do, like running, or 2) to enhance your ability in your current sport. Cross training with yoga will stretch the muscles your sport tightens and keep you active on your days off to avoid overuse muscle injuries.
No one explains this better than John Douillard in his book Body, Mind and Sport. It was the book that inspired me to get back into yoga while I was running and eventually led me to become a yoga instructor and I can’t recommend it enough. He explains that there is an athlete in all of us and are naturally gifted in certain sports depending on our body and mental type, which he goes into in detail. Douillard also encourages yoga as cross training and to use the Ujjayi breathing during all exercise (which is contradictory to what most would suggest yet I’ve tried it and it works beautifully).
If you currently find yourself unsatisfied or bored in your workouts, then try mixing it up with some yoga. If you’re unsatisfied with your current yoga classes, try a different style or a different instructor. Or if you’re like the super fit flight attendant and you’re worried that yoga is not your speed, think of it as a day off from your regular routine to find the balance in your body. Your muscles will thank you.