Yoga & Exercise Questions

[SugarKane958]

What other exercise do you do to go hand in hand with your Yoga routine?

(Cardo?)

How often do you do it, and how do you feel it compliments your yoga??

Just looking to figure out my weekly routine! Thanks guys!

-Whitney

[InnerAthlete]

Nothing goes hand in hand with Yoga, Whitney.
Yoga by its very design (classically) is meant to counter nature. Weight lifting, cardio, stairmasters, eliptical trainers, step classes, rowing, cycling, running, swimming, and Thai Bo are not.

If you are doing those things listed above it would be "good" to have a yoga practice to calm the battering being done to your joints and the imbalances created from the movements which are typically a) high impact or b) working only one plane of movement.

So you may do these things. They are fine when chosen mindfully and fully aware of their effects on the entire body and its systems. But yoga is not an addition it is a counter.

[Balen]

This may sound weird but at home I practice Iyengar poses. In where I hold them for a while. I do this all infront of the TV, the weird part is that I also have ropes on the walls for bends and such. When non yoga friends come I tell them they are for Yoga .. They just look at me and say “what ever you say” 

However I also cycle to the studio so when I get there my blood is already warmed up and I’m more focused than if I was by driving.

[xela]

I don't do anything else.

[yogiforlife]

Like Innerathlete stated, the battering your body takes from those forms of exercise is exactly why I insist on always doing my Yoga first. I jog 8-12 kms about every fifth day, this precedes my day off of rest for recovery, I then begin another cycle of Yoga. This time of year I like to mix in some swimming as well.

[Hubert]

Interesting, I too, switched to weekly running. And this only because I have to spend that energy somehow.
What are your methods to deal with tha extra rajas ? I eat less end less, and still, my energy level is raising.

[yogiforlife]

There are a couple of reasons why I switched. One, I don't wanna be one of those people who jogs every day or every other day, I think long term thats very damaging to your joints. Secondly, I can do Yoga the day after but its a real struggle sometimes, I never know how my legs will feel the day after jogging, which is why I prefer to take that day off. If I were to jog more often, I would then have to take more days off and I don't wish to do that. Yoga first and foremost is most important to me and I also find jogging once a week keeps my cardio at a level that would be no different if I chose to jog say every second day, its just overkill at that point.

[xela]

Yogiforlife...do you feel the running helps or hurts your asana practice?

[Nichole]

Hello Whitney,
I do not use asana for my personal exercise; it is occurs as something else within my sadhana. What I do for exercise is listed below.
I do try to keep a yogic focus and mindfulness during my gym exercise. I use my breath, I soften my gaze, I ask my body what it can do during each session, I use my humility muscles when I can't do as much as the day before. I rest during the first 3-4 days of my moon.

Aerobic exercise (not cardio) 3 days a week 65 minutes
Weights 2-3 days a week + 30 minutes aerobic

I am outdoors a lot too, and in addition to the above, my daily activity always includes at least one of these: light hikes in mountains, long night walks to talk about our day (and to get gelato!) with my sweetheart, riding my bike for errands and groceries, and I ski telemark during the season.

I am glad that you are getting a nice and wide polling for this post!

Namaste

[yogiforlife]

Originally Posted by xela

Yogiforlife...do you feel the running helps or hurts your asana practice?

If I had to say one way or the other, I'd have to say it hurts my asana practice but I don't really look at it like that. I can say without a doubt that my asana practice has helped my running though. When I climb a mountain, I compare it to holding a pose for an extended period of time, you feel the burn, you focus on your breathing and work through it. I would never do Yoga 7 days a week, today is my day off, I jogged yesterday, so I can't really say its hurting my Yoga. My legs are not sore today, maybe a little tight, I could do Yoga today, but I would struggle my way through it, wouldn't enjoy it as much as usual.