Yoga for Runners
Saturdays, May 1, 8, 15 and 22
4:30pm-6pm
$10 drop-in

Yoga offers a variety of general health benefits and can provide both short and long-term results for the runner. This yoga class is geared toward long-distance runners looking to both compliment and supplement their current training. A yoga practice that is well integrated into training can potentially improve performance.

While the organic effects of yoga show up over time, in the short term, Yoga can optimize a runner’s ability to perform by bringing the body into structural alignment and balance. A body in balance is more efficient and thus stronger and faster. Because Yoga addresses every system of the body, it optimizes respiration, which in turn helps the body continually adapt to more and more physical demand. The more adaptive the body is, the more smoothly one performs any given sport or activity. In the long-term, Yoga is looking to fine tune the whole instrument, providing sustainability for the body in any application.

Like any sport-specific training, running alone overworks certain parts of the body and leaves others completely ignored. Because long-distance running emphasizes feet, ankles, knees, hips and shoulders, bodily imbalances occur that can lead to injury or overuse syndromes such as -- shin splints, shortened hamstrings, tight hips, rounded shoulders, shortened pecs, compressed low back, sore feet, aching knees, and underdeveloped core muscles. Focusing on the muscles that support all the joints in the legs and pelvis and incorporating a yoga practice to address hip flexors, hamstrings, and shoulders can start to bring the body into balance. Developing core musculature and waking up postural muscles can help ensure that the arms and legs are stabilized and properly working from the source of power in the body. In addition to increasing flexibility and strengthening the body, yoga also provides built in restoration to release tension from connective tissue, rest large muscle groups, and soothe the nervous system.

A dedicated practitioner, Josh’s foray into yoga was the result of a laundry list of injuries, minimal flexibility and peer pressure. Over time, he began to find relief from said injuries and achieved hamstrings of unprecedented length. But the most profound discovery was finding that the asanas, quite literally, worked from the inside out, quieting a mind with no off switch and instilling levels of patience and compassion heretofore unseen. His classes merge Vinyasa sequencing with focused attention on the power of the breath and structural alignment while maintaining a light touch and an eye for the absurd. Josh completed the Yoga Loft’s Teacher Training/Advanced Studies program in 2008 and has apprenticed extensively with Geoffrey Roniger. His aim in this class is to integrate those core principal(s) of balance and apply it to a runner’s paradigm thus elevating their ingrained body and breath awareness and utilizing the practical application of yoga towards increased performance, faster recovery time and, ultimately, longevity.