Tag Archives: yoga

Guest Post: Beauty and the Beast

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We pretty much all grew up with the adorable (and, at moments, terrifying) fairy tale depicting the beauty, Belle, and her unlikely relationship with the big scary Beast.  Essentially, a story about two people that you might not put together at first glance, but upon further inspection, clearly fit well with one another.

Now, this might seem like a strange analogy for the way that I view the relationship between yoga and running…but that really is what it is like.  If you look at it from an over-simplified “10,000 foot view”…yoga is Beauty, and running is the Beast.  Some people might not think that they would form a great mutualistic relationship, but they do.  Oh, how they totally and completely do!

side by side shot of some of my yoga wear and some of my running wear

side by side shot of some of my yoga wear and some of my running wear

I have been running off and on since my sophomore year in college.  Prior to that, I firmly believed that I didn’t have more than a forced-gym-class mile in me.  I pretty much forever hated running as a sport and thought it was for crazy people.  As a matter of fact, I really felt that way up until probably 10 years ago.  (Wait, am I dating myself here???  Yeah, I’m kind of old.)  Even after I stopped thinking that running was for those who were certifiable, I still envisioned that it was for a special brand of people who were probably close to superhero status.  Why?  Because every time I took to lacing up and hitting the pavement, the novelty of it all would last for a few months, and then it would fizzle out.  Let’s face it.  Getting off the couch is hard.  Finding motivation to do something beyond that?  Well, HARD x 10.  So, the people who ran obviously had the super power of stick-to-it-iveness that most do not.  And, it seems I was better at quitting than I was at continuing or committing.

Fast forward to a few years ago when I actually caught the running “bug”.  This time,  for real.  I don’t know how exactly that it happened, but it did.  Maybe it was because I stumbled upon the realization that running was a cheaper form of therapy for a first time mom than prescription drugs or “real” therapy.  Maybe it was because I actually got time to myself, and I wasn’t about to stop indulging in that guilty little pleasure.  Maybe because I discovered it was a way of giving in and letting go and coming out stronger at the end…and, well, that just feels good.  Just for the record, I’m all for feeling good.

this is a selfie from one of my fall runs last year in my beautiful outdoor gym

Selfie from one of my fall runs last year in my beautiful outdoor gym

At the same time, though, I was starting to realize that my body wasn’t as into running as my head was.  My body was viewing running as the Beast that it can be for some.  See, I have an ever-growing list of injuries / aches / pains that often hinder my want or ability to open up that front door to my outdoor gym.  I would often wake up the morning after a run, step out of bed, and limp my way through the rest of my day, courtesy of: sesamoiditis, a newly forming bunion, an uncooperative and often angry heel and ankle, IT bands tighter than my husband’s grip on the bank account when I go out purse shopping, etc.  Well, you get the idea.  I’m sort of a mess (and my husband is stingy when it comes to purse shopping).  Enough of a mess at a few turns that I was starting to cut back and contemplate stopping my running activity YET AGAIN.

Until.

Until, I sort of accidentally met yoga.  Ah, enter, Beauty.

I say that I accidentally met yoga because I really had no intention of being a yogi.  (Sort of like I never really intended or expected to be a runner.) I had taken some prenatal yoga classes, and they were “fine”.  Outside of that, I had unwarranted opinions about the practice, and I just didn’t think yoga would be for me.  But, life works in mysterious and awesome ways…and, so it happened.

I decided that I needed to do something else besides JUST running.  Something that would break up the monotony of my routine, challenge me, and get me another form of exercise all while still allowing my body to recover from my running Beast.  I was searching out a unicorn of sorts.

Another mom friend had mentioned the prospect of us trying out an all-levels Vinyasa class at a local studio while our kiddos were at preschool.  I swallowed all of my group exercise, “oh, I look like an idiot and have no idea what I am doing while you all look amazing in your Lululemon everything” insecurities, rolled out a mat, and took the class.  And, I almost died.  Turns out, yoga can be seriously HARD, y’all!  I like a good challenge, though, so I stuck with it.  And, I learned a whole bunch of things in the process:  yoga IS exercise.  It can be intense. Or restorative. It works every part of your mind and body. It can energize you and calm you, all at the same time.  And, it really, really, really helps to loosen up your muscles and stretch you back out after a run (see: pigeon pose, double pigeon pose, lizard pose, forward folds, downward dogs, legs up the wall, etc).  Hallelujah!  Beautiful, wonderful, magical unicorn found!

This is a pic of myself (10 lbs heavier, but still including despite that fact...ha!) and my best friend Canella (yoga instructor extraordinaire) doing back to back tree poses on the beaches of OBX in 2012

This is a pic of myself (10 lbs heavier, but still including despite that fact…ha!) and my best friend Canella (yoga instructor extraordinaire) doing back to back tree poses on the beaches of OBX in 2012

Working yoga into my weekly routine, and limiting my weekly running to 3 or 4 days at the most, has made it possible for my body to be “ok” with the beatings that it takes when I’m out hitting the roads.  The pairing of both exercises, in turn, has allowed me to run longer distances than I ever imagined and to improve my pace (without even consciously working on it).  I actually ran a half marathon in September, and that is something that I never even imagined being remotely possible.   So, I might be old, achy, and held together by KT Tape, but I am now also officially one of those certifiable superhero-y sorts of people that I used to emulate…all thanks to introducing Beauty to the Beast.

So, what do you do besides run?  Is there anything that makes it more enjoyable or more possible for you to run or for you to be a “better” runner?  Please share!

Happy Running!  Shanti, Shanti, Shanti!  And, Namaste!

Megan Ritter is a stay at home mom, blogger and fashionista. She enjoys yoga, running, photography and the laugher of her daughter. Her secret powers include sarcasm and baking without a recipe. It’s quite possible that she was a cat herder in a past life. A Chicago area native, Megan now lives in Haddonfield, NJ with her husband, 4 year old daughter and dog, Batman.

Guest Post – Three Cheers for a Girl’s Best Friend!

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Hi there, gentle readers, I mean runners! I’m Jenn, and I’m here with greetings from the Rocky Mountain west where everyone drives a Subaru and really likes beer. We like beer so much, we have to do all these crazy things to work off all the beer we drink. Things like snowboarding and ice climbing and road bike racing at altitudes of ten-thousand feet. Luckily, I’m not here to talk about any of that, for I am not anything remotely resembling that type of remarkable athlete. No, I’m here to pay homage to the one person that no athlete can succeed without, their cheerleader.

It’s a given that everyone needs a cheerleader. Having someone to keep us on track and offer an encouraging word can mean the difference between failure and success in achieving our goals.  A support system is crucial. And although the responsibility of change ultimately falls on us, our cheerleader helps us keep our eye on the prize and the ice cream out of the freezer. Of course some people, people like myself, need more than one cheerleader.

Running is not my favorite thing. In fact, exercise is not really my favorite thing. The looming threat of inherited heart disease and a mouth full of sweet teeth are my reasons for working out. I’ve experimented with different fitness activities and have found a few I enjoy more than others. So far, yoga and rock climbing are my two favorites.

Natarajasana (Lord of the Dance Pose) at the Eiffel Tower

Natarajasana (Lord of the Dance Pose) at the Eiffel Tower

Sadly, the climbing gym and yoga studio are not always convenient. Running is nice because I get a lot of value for my time and I can run almost anywhere. I also like it for the release it gives me; I can almost feel the stress evaporating from me with each drop of sweat that falls. Being a high-strung person, I really need that in my life. Still, it’s often hard for me to find the will to hit the pavement. That’s where my cheerleader comes to the rescue.

I’m super lucky in that my best cheerleader and my best running partner are combined in one amazing, furry package; my dog, Coco. She’s always ready for a run. She doesn’t buy ice cream, and she doesn’t judge me when I do. If we don’t make it outside for a run because I’m chained to my laptop writing literature essays, she curls up at my feet and keeps them warm.  When I struggle to get into my favorite, and suddenly tighter, pair of jeans, she doesn’t  say I told you so. She licks my face and tells me I’m pretty.

Best. Cheerleader. Ever.

coco

She’s an amazing trainer, too. Her eagerness to get out there is the best motivation. She loves our runs. Sure, she’s a dog, and it goes without saying that she loves our runs, but this dog is a running machine. She’s a small nineteen pound mixed breed Italian Greyhound and Chihuahua I rescued nine years ago. Italian greyhounds were bred as sight hounds with extraordinary stamina. In other words, Coco can leave me in the dust. My sprint is her speed walk. She slows down for me, though, and lets me find my groove. When I hit my pace, she speeds up a touch.  She pushes me just enough.  Once she’s allowed off-leash, she stays quite a bit ahead, scouting out the path and urging me on.

She’s also a fantastic teacher in the school of life. Running with Coco, I’m reminded to appreciate the things that are easy to take for granted.  Coco runs with abandon. She runs with pure joy. Her appreciation for the outdoors as she sniffs out every rock, weed, and tree never tires. She runs with a curiosity I have long since lost. She’s exploring. She’s looking for changes on our route; are there ducks in the pond, or maybe a crane? Are there any Red-Tailed Hawks riding the thermals overhead? Any fresh coyote tracks?  She’s basking in the opportunity to wander, to be free for a little while. We all need the occasional reminder to stop, look around, and remember that every day on this planet is full of beautiful moments.

Our runs are never very long or far. Asthma and knee problems rear their ugly heads after the first mile and a half. I’ll never be a marathon girl; 5ks are my comfy zone. I used to feel guilty or inadequate about that, but Coco reminded me it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we live in each moment and appreciate its gifts. My cheerleader reminds me that running is an opportunity to reconnect with things that don’t plug into electricity. It’s an opportunity to listen to my rhythm, and get it back in sync. It’s a way to feed the soul and purge the body.

Dogs are so smart. They really are the best people.

Jenn is a wife, and mommy to four dogs: Coco, and three pugs who are decidedly NOT runners. She and Coco run near Boulder, Colorado, and are considering taking up trail running in the spring. She recently completed an intensive 8 week indoor rock climbing program that she blogged about here. She’s an aspiring novelist, and likes to blog, tweet, and instagram (occasionally in Klingon).

So Hot in Herre

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It’s been an exciting week at our house; Little Dude is learning how to crawl! I guess my new cardio is going to be running the vacuum, and chasing after him.

A baby’s first year is filled with so many milestones; first smile, rolling over, crawling, first word. For the mother, there are almost as many firsts. Since he is baby number three, there weren’t as many “parenting” milestones (that he can pee on me when he’s WEARING a diaper was a new one though), but I still celebrated my first run, my first outing with three kids, our first date night, and last Saturday, my first hot yoga session.

We have an amazing yoga studio nearby; Orlando Power Yoga, where they practice the style of power vinyasa yoga. The classes are fast-paced and performed in a room heated to about 90 degrees. I took classes before I got pregnant, so I was eager to get back to it.

Sara and I arrived early enough to get a good spot in the middle of the room, and once the door closed, I was in my own little world.

This type of yoga is the first with which I’ve really connected. It’s quick enough that I feel like I’m getting a good workout; and between the heat, the sweat and having to concentrate on my breathing to hold the postures, my mind really does clear. In other yoga classes, I would think about my grocery list, or what I wanted to do later. I felt like all that ommmmming and sighing was pretty silly. Not so for this class! I have to focus on my breathing. The sighing? Amazing. It truly feels as though I’m releasing toxins and stress and finding inner peace.

I could tell that my work with Trainer Jen is paying off. Postures that require more upper body strength were easier for me than they’ve been in the past. I actually held crow for about 2 seconds, which has never happened before! I can’t wait to go back.

Hot mess mamas after yoga.

Hot mess mamas after yoga.

My other first this week was an early morning run. Like, before 6am early. Dude doesn’t sleep through the night yet, and my middle girl is an early riser, so I am usually up at 6. With coffee, the news (Facebook), and my couch, that is. Getting up an hour earlier to exercise was a bit of a challenge, but it felt terrific to sit down for coffee at 8am and realize that my run was done.

Sara wrote about her first hot yoga experience and offered some yoga etiquette tips on her blog, The Classy Crafter. Check it out!

Any firsts for you this week? Where do you like to stand for group fitness classes? The front, middle or back? Have you tried power yoga? Are you are early morning runner? Any tips for me?

edited to add (by Mer):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeZZr_p6vB8&w=480&h=360]

Ommmmm…MG

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I am an anxious person. The question “what’s the worst that could happen?” is not a rhetorical one for me. It is a challenge. What’s the worst that could happen, you ask? Let me tell you, because my insane brain has already formulated about forty different scenarios that could go down.

Also, you just jinxed us.

Anxiety has been my near-constant companion and worst enemy for most of my life. Without getting long-winded about it – this is a health and fitness blog, not my personal diary, I get it – I have tried it all: therapy, medication, wringing my hands, rocking in a corner. And while all of these things worked, some much better than others (don’t really recommend the last two), there’s one thing that always nips my anxiety in the bud.

It’s a little thing called yoga, my friends. Yes, while I’m harnessing my chi I’m also wrangling my anxiety. I can’t hear you over all of my deep breathing and namaste-ing, scary thoughts!

There’s a long list of studies that back up my anecdotal evidence, too. Just Google “anxiety and exercise” and pages upon pages of articles will pop up citing the short- and long-term benefits of exercise in those of us that are prone to it.

While running calms me (woo, endorphins!), there’s something special about yoga that gets to the root of my anxiety, those little tendrils of worry that burrow into every-day life, and digs them out.

Maybe it’s the purpose with which you have to practice the poses, how everything is slowed down. Maybe it’s that yoga gently forces you to go inward instead of looking out at the world, which can be admittedly pretty scary and weird, especially in San Francisco. Maybe it’s all of those gorgeous words that describe the different poses, the mantras like the previously mentioned namaste, like shanti and om, a chant that is said to be the sound of the universe.

Cool, right? How could I not be completely chill after an hour and a half of all that?

Yoga was the one fitness routine I did religiously while I was pregnant. Not only was it the one form of exercise that didn’t send my heart rate skyrocketing into the atmosphere, it also made me feel more positively connected to my body and mind, which in turn made me feel more connected to the little person growing inside of me. As hokey as it sounds, it made me realize what a freaking rock star my body was, to be doing all of that work.

For all the anxiety I put myself through during my pregnancy and for those moments now when fear rears its ugly head, a calming reality check is just a short walk away to my neighborhood yoga studio.

So hey, while I’m sitting here thinking of the worst that could happen, I might as well do it in the lotus pose.

Do you practice yoga? Or is there another exercise that helps you get mellow? Tell me in the comments!