Hey, everyone! I'm at an all-day training session today, which meant sub plans yesterday! For those of you who aren't teachers, planning for a sub can be very stressful, especially for a classroom-control-freak like me. Good thing I had yoga class to look forward to yesterday evening!
If you've been reading in the last month, you know I've started going to yoga once a week. I'm loving the practice and starting to learn more about the poses! I wanted to share my five favorite yoga poses that have really helped me feel great, despite all this half marathon training.
1. Pigeon Pose-this provides an AMAZING stretch to the hip and thigh. I've been able to get to the more-advanced Mermaid pose lately, too!
2. Warrior II-not only is this a great pose for your legs, but I just feel so powerful throughout my entire body in Warrior II. It also reminds me of the Sex and the City episode where Samantha tries to get with her yoga instructor, which always makes me smirk a bit in class.
3. Tree Pose-my balance is NOT GOOD, but Tree Pose is a balance pose that I can actually do. Not only can I do the pose, I've been able to make progress with it over the weeks! My foot is up higher on my leg, and I can actually look up and maintain the pose.
4. Boat Pose-I cannot achieve full boat pose, but I love challenging myself in this pose! My core always winds up shaking, and I love that feeling. I know that I'm getting stronger in that area, and that's what I want!
5. Happy Baby-I'm sorry, but how can you not smile a little bit and enjoy the Happy Baby pose? It's a pretty relaxing pose with some great groin and hip area stretches. Perfect for me as a runner!
And a bonus #6....Savasana (Corpse Pose) otherwise known as
5 minutes of complete relaxation-what a great way to end the yoga practice by quieting the body and mind. I feel so incredibly refreshed at the end of the practice thanks to savasana! Plus, I've been known to take a mini-nap during this time :) What can I say? I guess I reach full relaxation!
I still consider myself a beginner in the yoga area, but I've already noticed improvements in my flexibility and balance. I also know that my legs appreciate it after putting them through lots of runs!
Question for you: Do you do yoga? If so, what's your favorite pose?
Yaay! I love yoga (and some of those poses are some of my favorites too!) I really think it helps in all aspects of fitness. We just do it once a week too, and I know if we did it more often we'd see more benefits, but Andrew used to get upper back/neck pain periodically (like once a month for a couple days), and in the 6 months we've been doing yoga, that's totally gone away!
ReplyDeleteIt still surprises me that he's doing yoga, but I'm glad it's benefitting him! Let's see if I can get Joe to start going with me...:)
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