Runner’s Yoga – Official Blog

Get tired sometimes of the relentless messages advocating exercise and diet? How about checking out an art gallery or museum to enjoy better health?

Seems that folks who visit art galleries, museums, and the theatre on a regular basis (In particular, men.) seem to enjoy better health and are more satisfied with life.

Read more about it here.

(Then do your Runner’s Yoga and run to a museum )

Yoga: A Fitness Fad or Spiritual Path?

Approximately 15 million Americans practice yoga on a regular basis. But for many, its primary benefit is as a fitness/stretching routine.

Now a group of Indian-Americans has started a campaign called “Take Back Yoga,” in an effort to help American yoga practitioners become more aware of yoga’s spiritual side.

It’s a campaign that is getting some strong reactions from figures across the full spectrum of spiritual pursuits. Deepak Chopra, for example, has dismissed the campaign as “Hindu nationalism.” While Baptist ministers suggest that Christians who practice yoga are imperiling their souls.

Read more here.

Is A Dog Better Than A Treadmill?

An article in the NY Times suggests that owning a dog may be healthier for you than owning a treadmill. Turns out that people with dogs are more active than those without. And that older folks are more likely to go walking with their dog than with a human. Better listeners, I guess.

Read more here.

Do Naps Make You Smarter?

Cramming until late at night for next day’s test is time-honored tradition for students. But it turns out the roommate who is sawing logs at the same time may be the smarter dude after all.

Research shows that getting sleep is  important for both learning new information and remembering the old. Meaning taking that nap might not be such a bad idea.

Read about it here.

This has gotta be the most creative online product page I’ve ever seen.

It’s for a Dutch department store chain called HEMA. The first store opened on November 1926 in Amsterdam . Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands . (HEMA also has stores in Belgium, Luxemburg and Germany.)
Might take a couple moments to load (and I had to hit “reload” one time when it played the sounds but there was no action) but to check it out, Click  Here.

Some people think 30 minutes of yoga isn’t enough.

I’ve always felt it’s not so much what you do, as how you do it.

And over the years, folks have expressed surprise at how much we actually get done in the 30-minute Runner’s Yoga routine. There’s no mucking about – smarter, not harder, as they say.

Kinda like this guy who invented a brilliant way to move huge blocks of stone … easily.

Pretty inspirational.

Painkillers like Tylenol and anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen are commonly used in the running world. But just a little research will show you how dangerous they can be if you’re not careful.

The article below is from the Wall Street Journal a couple years ago when the FDA was considering limiting sales of acetaminophen. If you want to know more about the risks of ibuprofen, Google a bit about the side effects of a drug class called NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory). It might just save your life.
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Taking Pains With a Painkiller
As FDA Weighs Limits on Acetaminophen, Consumers Must Stay Alert to Prevent an Overdose

Whether or not the Food and Drug Administration decides to limit sales of acetaminophen, consumers should know this:

* It’s easy to take more than the recommended daily dose without realizing it.
* The margin between a safe dose and a potentially lethal one is small.
* The first symptoms of acute liver failure caused by an overdose seem like the flu and don’t set in for several days, by which time it may be too late to save your liver and consequently your life.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203577304574272292331942618.html

Well, we exercise because we enjoy it. Hopefully. (If we don’t enjoy it, we probably won’t be doing it very often through the years.)

But new Canadian research suggests that regular exercise may not only help prevent an early death, but actually delay aging as well.

Check out the article HERE:

Received an email from J with a great question in it about the breath and flow in the Runner’s Yoga routine. So thought I’d post my answer here for any others who might be wondering the same thing as J.

Email me if you have any questions and I’ll try to get to as many as I can.

Van
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Hi J,

Thanks for your email. And congratulations on your great start with Runner’s Yoga.

Also, good question!

Traditionally in Ashtanga yoga every movement is coordinated with just one inhale or exhale until you’re holding the final posture. This is a challenge for everyone in the beginning, (me included!) and perhaps no more so than in Mountain Series B. (Sun Salutation B)

But there are definite benefits to doing it this way: strength building, heat-building (for more effective, safer stretching), endurance, focus and flow. And with persistence it gets easier and easier until eventually we look back and wonder what the big deal was.

When we add the beat to the routine, we add further challenge, and initially it can be difficult to move smoothly at that pace. But again, with persistence this also falls into place and takes us to another level that we couldn’t have achieved otherwise. (e.g. The 60BPM flow is wonderful for turning off the intellectual side of the brain.)

Having these challenges in the Runner’s Yoga program gives us plenty to work on … for years! (I’m STILL trying to do just one Mountain Series A with ‘perfect’ focus, fluidity and alignment.)

But as always, YOU are the boss – if you want to remain in warrior pose (or any other posture)
for an extra breath, I say “Go ahead!” Then, to stay in time with the audio, come out of Mountain Pose after 3 breaths instead of 4.

I’ll post this on the Blog too, because it’s a great question. Let me know if anything else comes up.

All the best,

Van

Came across this interesting study in my files today.

“The effects of yoga training and a single bout of yoga on delayed onset muscle soreness in the lower extremity.”

Basically, what researchers found was that “Individuals who regularly practiced yoga were less sore 24 and 48 hours post-exercise, compared to individuals who did not regularly practice yoga.”

“Researchers at the Department of Exercise Science and Sports Studies at Springfield College Allied Health Sciences in Springfield, Massachusetts, examined whether yoga influences muscles soreness after exertion.”

They looked at individuals who regularly practiced yoga and a single session of yoga, and noted that soreness was also significantly reduced after the single yoga class.

But then, we knew that, didn’t we )

Van

Authors: Boyle, Sayers, Jensen, Headley, & Manos.
Source: The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Vol. 18. Nov 2004.