I'm super grateful to have Annie in my life. She's got some really cool running goals and I'm honored to be a part of helping her one day achieve those goals. I doubt that I'll ever meet another person with the same goals. Last weekend, we shot some videos in her backyard. She shot the couple of videos I did on stretching and slant board exercises and I had asked Annie if I could record some videos of beginner yoga that would be beneficial to runners. It's nice to finally bring yoga back into my life. After my shoulder injury back around 2017, I had given up on yoga, but silver lining of the pandemic was that I had to cut climbing out of my life and my shoulder finally had time to heal up. I've started incorporating the Sun Salutations that Annie demos here a couple times a week as part of a strength/core/slant board routine. One day this weekend, I will try it as a warm up before running as Annie suggests. It'll be interesting to see if these movements can get my heart rate up into the low 100 bpms, which is what I usually try to achieve with a fast walking warm up. Video instructions below with written descriptions authored by Annie. Thank you, Annie!
Sun Salutations
The Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation) sequence can be used as an excellent tool to warm up before a run. I say “tool" because you really have to harness its power by linking your movement with your breath. Once you are able to do that and flow through the sequence, you will uniformly heat your whole body (with your personal sun energy!) while also stretching your muscles- preventing injuries and reducing aches and pains. Famously practiced by Indians at sunrise to greet the sun, this sequence is a major jumpstart for the cardiovascular system. You will send the blood pumping out all the way to your fingertips and toes, opening the energy pathways at the junctions that tend to get clogged like ankles, knees and hips. It’s also known for stimulating the digestive system through the stretching and compressing action, and developing the lungs by making them more elastic. What I have presented here is affectionately known by Ashtangis as “Sun A” and “Sun B”. I have instructed the breath in the video. Enjoy!
Tips for Beginners:
It will take time before you can stretch your breath enough to link the movement to the breath. In the meantime, take as many extra breaths as needed. Also, until you get comfortable enough with them to feel fluid and relaxed, you may not be able to build the heat you will need to safely start your run so be aware of this.
Sun Salutations should never be rushed. I always tell my students if you feel like you’re going in slow motion (surprise...you’re not!) then you’re doing it right. Sun B will feel faster because of the two warrior poses in it. Remember that there are many advanced yogis that are still improving upon their sun salutations....yoga is always a perfect work in progress!
Eventually, if you keep practicing regularly, you will befriend this warm up and go back to it again and again to ground yourself and prepare your mind and body for any challenge.
Sun A
Sun B
Bio:
Annie is a proud to be celebrating 20 years of yoga practice! She strives to connect her mind, body and breath in order to be a better human being and to help her yoga students do the same. She received her 200 HRS teacher training certificate in 2006 from Yogaworks in NYC and then in 2007 she completed a 500 HRS advanced certification in therapeutic yoga in Coonoor, India. For the last 5 years she has practiced Ashtanga yoga which has helped her cultivate the 8 limbs of yoga into a deep and constant presence in her life. For her, yoga has been the best platform for marrying a healthy body and a spiritual practice. She is brand new to running!
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