Yoga For Dummies

(Photo via LOVE MORE, FEAR LESS)

A mid-week yoga session sandwiched between days of hard training helps with my physical and mental recovery. I'm no yoga expert when it comes to planning routines. I usually look them up online and follow through them.

Why do yoga? Obivously, the first things that come to mind is to gain flexibility, body awareness, reduce stress, promote relaxation, yadda, yadda..... but if you want to know the precise details, check out the 77 Health Benefits of Yoga.

Top reasons why I do yoga:

• ward off training-related injuries and soreness (active recovery)
• stress reduction
• mind-body connection
• integrated function of the body
• improve balance and core stability

The only routine I know by heart is the Bikram method. You go through all 26 poses twice in a heated room. When I trained for my first marathon, I practiced it regularly.

However, a 90-minute session is especially time-consuming once you embark in training for multi sport adventures along with other obligations you have in life. Training twice a day is preferable to ensure that all disciplines are trained regularly. I'm not making it an excuse for not practicing yoga regularly..... I'm just saying that I have a life. I try to do the routine once a week in room temperature but sometimes when time is tight,  I swap for a different shorter routine from the net.

I was just cruising the net the other day out of boredom and found a website that allows you to build your own yoga routine! I just love how you can browse through levels of different poses, learn intimidating jargon and jargon-free names of each poses, drag them into a sequence and save as a file into the website.

All you need to do is register to get started. Sign up now!