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Yoga every day??

Hi everyone. I’m loving being mostly raw and feel wonderful about my eating habits. Since I’ve made the raw transition I’ve also been able to be more in tune with my body and trying to treat it well. I’m usually a cardio and running type of gal typically 6 days a week about 45-60 minutes at medium to high intensity. Lately I’ve been rediscovering yoga and the wonderful benefits of an activity that is less taxing on the body but still has wonderful health and mood benefits. My question is this: Does anyone do yoga most days as their ONLY structured exercise? In particular has anyone gone from doing more intense workouts to only yoga? I’m kind of hoping to make the transition but I’m having a hard time not feeling like I need to really get my heart pumping. Right now I’m doing 3 days yoga, 3 days cardio and feel like I could still I’m kind of wound up without my usual intense workouts. (I’m doing ashtanga most often) Any thoughts??

Comments

  • Have you tried hot yoga? That really gives you a cardio workout, and you sweat a lot. I personally go crazy if I don’t get a run in….but thats just me. I do love hot yoga, though. Some of my instructors at my hot yoga studio are probably the most fit, healthy, (did I mention extremely hot??) people I know, and they say that is all they do. I think you should do whatever makes you feel good!

  • I start off every day w/yoga in the morning, then 20 min. on a stationary bike, then I usually walk 6+ miles a day, usually 3 in the a.m. and 3 after dinner.

  • elizabethhelizabethh Raw Newbie

    I do both. Yoga in the morning for about 30-45 min, then I run about 10k four or five times a week around the afternoon after school. They kind of work hand in hand, because the flexibility I get from yoga helps me get the most out of my runs, and the cardio I get from running helps me do yoga longer!

  • jenny2052jenny2052 Raw Newbie

    I’m a former runner who happily transitioned to daily astanga, so it is possible. It took a while, but I eventually started craving a different type of release rather than the kind of one-dimensional sensation that running gave me. For a while I was doing both, but I started to want daily astanga and I didn’t have time for a run in addition, so I slowly switched over. But nothing’s quite like running, so if running is working for you, I think you should keep doing it! However, I will say that the flexibility I gained when I weaned myself off running was quite a thrill.

    Do you do astanga at a gym or a studio? Gym classes often don’t do the full series, and they generally omit some of the vinyasas in the seated series. Both of these elements build more heat, so if you’re not at a studio now, you might try that. Mysore style classes are particularly good because you can move at your own pace. Going faster can also help maintain the heat that you’re looking for. These days my daily practice is usually a more open style of vinyasa yoga (both emotionally and physically, I started wanting a little more variety), but I still return to astanga regularly, and I have to say that the changes I saw while doing daily astanga were simply incredible. I highly recommend it!

  • I was a gym rat for many years before cancelling my gym membership and practicing heated power/vinyasa yoga for 2 years without any additional regular activity. For the first year or so, I felt continuous changes in my body. It was an amazing journey. As with every “exercise,” your body can become accustom to the movements and you may not continue to see the same physcial changes. Therefore, about 6 months ago, I began to run in addition to my daily yoga practices. It was great until I injured myself and now I’m solely practicing yoga again.

    I definitely agree with those that have already commented. A daily, rigorous yoga practice can have incredible benefits. If you have the time and inclination to run as well – I think that can also enhance your yoga practice and hopefully yoga will keep you running!

  • Joyce – you could try a restorative-style yoga class or, since hatha/ashtanga/vinyasa styles are generally more available, just take child’s pose or rest on your hands and knees (you can still engage your abdominals, legs, etc.) while others are in downward facing dog. In either of these variations, your head will stay above your heart!

  • Thanks so much to all who responded, it’s wonderful to get some personal takes. To respond to some I think I would love hot/bikram yoga, unfortunately where I live there is a wonderful wellness center that offers ashtanga, vinyasa, mixed yoga, and pilates but no bikram. I’ll ask the owner whether he has ever considered bringing it in. I definitely think I would like the sweat factor because I find it cleansing. I used to do some pretty intense endurance events marathon and half-iron man triatholon and it took me a while to break away from the NEED to do hours of exercise, so at this point I try to keep all of my structured exercise to an hour or at most an hour and a half. Joyce, I definitely second rawyogini’s take, just do whatever modifications you need and let the instructor know ahead of time that you need to keep your head above your heart so they’ll have a heads up and they often have some great suggestions for other great alternatives. My knees aren’t always up to any sort of lotus or unusual position so I just do something else.

    Anyways, sounds like you all did a good job of listening to your bodies and letting them tell you what activities to do. So I’ll try half and half for now, by day and/or by week and see where it takes me. Thanks!!

  • heathermarsbombheathermarsbomb Raw Newbie

    I just started going to hot yoga classes at my gym….OMG I am hooked…I cant believe how amazing I feel after I go…I am hoping it will help me with my running capabilities too

  • I personally don’t like “sweat box” yoga (what I called hot yoga!)... I feel like I can’t breathe as well when it is that hot in the room. I usually do 20-30 minutes of cardio before yoga class, but I try and alternate days depending on the class. Last week I took a yoga class at the gym the day after I had done 1 hour 15 minutes of elliptical training, and my quads were killing me in yoga, I could barely hold warrior poses. I think I overcompensated by putting more pressure on other body parts to relieve my quads a little, and in a different yoga class the next day, I noticed how sore my shoulders were from the day before.

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