Yoga is the difference between me cursing an entire bloodline or breezing through the day positively like a summer sky scattered with clouds on a bit of a breeze (representing daily hiccups) whilst being able to actually manage them like a fairly balanced person.

That’s a pretty significant difference, isn’t it?  ‘It can do all that!’ I hear you cry.  Yes, it can.  For me anyway.  As you can see from these photos I tend to do yoga anywhere I can whatever I’m wearing!

It’s a moment of me time. So long as my surroundings allow I can turn the few feet around me into a sacred space in my mind.  In a crowded house this can be quite tricky and the noise of other people filter through.  Life goes on around the sacred space.  However, for that moment of me time it is of no consequence accept for when one of the cats slink in to bother you during baby cobra.  When you juggle a 9 year old, a full time job, studying, writing, and training for a marathon me time can be quite hard to come by.

Awareness about the body increases as your breath into areas and postures creating feeling to alleviate muscles exhausted from running.  Stretching is so important to maintain healthy muscles.  This aids the warm up or cool down  process and improves flexibility.  Core strength, little thought of when running, gets a good workout with familiar postures like plank.  Because yoga is about flow it doesn’t just focus on one part of the body.

It invites you to pay good mind to your whole body.  For a runner this is quite significant.    Apparently it’s quite easy for us motivated individuals to ignore a niggle and gain an injury due to over training.  When we stretch and pay attention we can sensibly establish the severity of a muscle because we are using the muscle in a different way that isn’t quite so repetitive.  It’s like a highlighter on areas that need rest and recovery.

Take time to appreciate your body because you don’t just run with your legs – you run with your mind and with your soul.  If your mind and your soul power on faster than your body can catch up harmony can fall apart leaving you burning the candle at both ends at dangerous levels.

Never tried yoga and not sure where to start?  Used to do it but fallen off   I’ve recently been working my way through Adriene’s videos on You Tube which can be found here.  It’s a great place to start, so get stretching!

Happy stretching,

Eleanor.