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Yoga for Runners

I have practiced yoga on and off for decades, having participated in classes and also on my own with the aid of books. When I started running, I wanted to continue my yoga practice, but in a way that is complementary to the running. I found this book called Yoga for Runners, by Christine Felstead to be really helpful.

Like other yoga books, it illustrates many yoga poses. However this books goes beyond many yoga books I have seen in several useful ways:

  1. It is organized by muscle group. Each chapter opens with a section illustrating and discussing the different muscles and their relation to running, followed by yoga exercises aimed at strengthening and stretching those muscles. The book indicates the exact benefits of each pose.
  2. The section on "Restorative Yoga" teaches a number of poses where the body is supported to allow for deeper relaxation. I use some of these after a race or a particularly hard workout to reset my body.
  3. It has two tables on injuries: one list yoga poses that are good for recovering from different injuries, the other focusing on how to modify different poses to accommodate injuries. I frequently refer to these tables.
  4. A number of sequences at the end focus on different parts of the body (e.g. hips or upper body) or workout goals. These are also useful, although it seems the author's style is to keep moving from one pose to another without holding any pose for any serious length of time. That is different from my style, and is confusing because one has to remember a great many poses in sequence for a 40 min workout. What I do therefore is break up the sequence into several days, holding each pose as long as I want.
The main weakness of the book is twofold. First, really dangerous or advanced poses are not labeled as such, and are cavalierly inserted into the sequences. I ended up hurting myself attempting one of those. It is better if it is noted that such and such a pose is more advanced, that you want to master this other pose before you attempt it, or you can replace it in the sequence with something else. Second, the notes on each page are too detailed. It is nice to have all that information, but practically, it gives us way too many things to remember and keep track of - head alignment, shoulder alignment, hips, etc., - making me lose my concentration from the actual stretch I am doing. It is better if alignment guidelines for class of poses are lumped together, with the individual description of each pose kept clear and simple.
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