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Yoga for Runners
As a runner, you strike the ground 1,000 times per mile, with a force of two to three times your body weight. You can feel that impact in the muscles, ligaments, and bone structures throughout your body. Thankfully, Yoga for Runners addresses both the physical and mental demands of the sport. Whether you are new to yoga or have practiced for years, Yoga for Runners provides you with the most effective poses--88 poses in all. Each pose is described in detail to ensure correct execution, maximizing the physical benefit and decreasing the risk of injury.
You'll learn how simple yoga techniques can be incorporated into your existing running workouts and routines to eliminate chronic aches and pains. Discover how each pose can be sequenced to address a specific need, such as strengthen and lengthen the hamstrings, strengthen and increase mobility of the hip joint, eliminate lower-back and upper-body discomfort, speed the recovery process after a practice run or a race, maintain a strong core, or just restore and rejuvenate to prepare for an upcoming event. These sequences target all troublesome muscle regions. Anatomical illustrations and descriptions explain why these poses and sequences decrease your risk of acute or chronic injury as well as why they are beneficial to your training regimen.
After just a few weeks of following Yoga for Runners, you will feel stronger, more balanced, more in tune with your breathing, and more aware of your posture and technique. Your entire running experience--endurance, strength, breathing, and mental sharpness--will be more productive, positive, and enjoyable.
You'll learn how simple yoga techniques can be incorporated into your existing running workouts and routines to eliminate chronic aches and pains. Discover how each pose can be sequenced to address a specific need, such as strengthen and lengthen the hamstrings, strengthen and increase mobility of the hip joint, eliminate lower-back and upper-body discomfort, speed the recovery process after a practice run or a race, maintain a strong core, or just restore and rejuvenate to prepare for an upcoming event. These sequences target all troublesome muscle regions. Anatomical illustrations and descriptions explain why these poses and sequences decrease your risk of acute or chronic injury as well as why they are beneficial to your training regimen.
After just a few weeks of following Yoga for Runners, you will feel stronger, more balanced, more in tune with your breathing, and more aware of your posture and technique. Your entire running experience--endurance, strength, breathing, and mental sharpness--will be more productive, positive, and enjoyable.
- GenresNonfictionHealthFitness
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
38 people are currently reading
330 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 31, 2014
In September 2013 I had to stop running because my knees were KILLING me, despite the fact that I’m a goody two sneakers and always stretched and in general try to make sure my body benefits from exercise.
I didn’t run and those knees were still KILLING me months later. In fact, the pain seemed to get worse, which was Book of Job level frustrating, I tell ya.
So I finally decided I had to do something besides stop running, and lo and behold I started in with this book. Within two weeks the pain had greatly subsided. Greatly!
I’m only half way through the book, but I’m a goody two shoes, don’t forget. I read the introductory chapters, including one you can definitely skip called A Fit Mind (meditation/mind-body/mindfulness lite). I tackle new poses very slowly, after reading carefully and watching videos about them on YouTube (I tend to prefer this woman’s videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pQM8... ).
I go so slowly it’ll probably take me another year or more to finish the entire book, but I’m very content so far. I can still feel my knees (grinding, popping, biomechanical bone music), my left knee in particular at times, but there is no pain. If you are addicted to running, no matter how good you feel, the repetitive pounding and overuse of certain muscles is gonna get you. Balance it out with yoga, grasshopper, I kid you not. (And if I get injured over the next year, I will take back 4 stars, I promise.)
I didn’t run and those knees were still KILLING me months later. In fact, the pain seemed to get worse, which was Book of Job level frustrating, I tell ya.
So I finally decided I had to do something besides stop running, and lo and behold I started in with this book. Within two weeks the pain had greatly subsided. Greatly!
I’m only half way through the book, but I’m a goody two shoes, don’t forget. I read the introductory chapters, including one you can definitely skip called A Fit Mind (meditation/mind-body/mindfulness lite). I tackle new poses very slowly, after reading carefully and watching videos about them on YouTube (I tend to prefer this woman’s videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pQM8... ).
I go so slowly it’ll probably take me another year or more to finish the entire book, but I’m very content so far. I can still feel my knees (grinding, popping, biomechanical bone music), my left knee in particular at times, but there is no pain. If you are addicted to running, no matter how good you feel, the repetitive pounding and overuse of certain muscles is gonna get you. Balance it out with yoga, grasshopper, I kid you not. (And if I get injured over the next year, I will take back 4 stars, I promise.)
February 12, 2025
Time to actually do the yoga rather than read about it now 👀
December 13, 2013
Full disclosure: I was sent a free copy of this edition for the purposes of reviewing it.
I am a recent (for the last two years) recreational sprint runner (5K) who has also done yoga for more then ten years.
This book is not aimed at those who have done yoga and have come to running, but rather runners who have not done any yoga and aren't aware of the asserted benefits of regular practice for runners. The blurb on the back states the author is both a long-distance runner and yoga practitioner. So, is this book useful for its intended demographic?
Overall approach:
This book is written from an alternative viewpoint, in that there are no footnotes nor scientific studies in which to validate the author's assertions about anatomy and running. If you are looking for a wholly academically-impeccable sports-medicine approach, this is not the book for you. Much of the chapters on mental development and meditation embraces the somewhat loosy-goosey science of holistic medicine on the mind-body link and general living and performance, but the author doesn't deviate very far from the generally supportable views that most would agree with; however, I know some readers find such an approach irritating to read, so I include this observation for your benefit.
Some General Observations:
The author does some good things in this book.
There is a huge section listing common running injuries and yoga poses that can help. As I would guess many runners would look to yoga for recovery and injury prevention, this section is well done.
In a similar note, the section on routines are separated by body parts that they target. Although the injury list and the routines are in two different parts of the book (why not reference the routines at least by page number in the injury list section?) the content is excellent and would appeal to runners who are trying to reduce the aches, pains and injuries associated with years of running.
Although she lists the poses themselves and organizes them into routines, and gives some instructions on how to synchronize breathing into the poses, the author does little to describe how to transition from one pose to another. For intermediate yoga practitioners, this is no real problem, but for someone who has not done yoga, the transitions can be very helpful and can make practice more organic and fun. Granted that these can be difficult to describe in a book, but other authors have done as much as can be done in print to describe the transitions, and I think this can be very helpful. The demographic being targeted presumably has never taken a yoga lesson, so transitions probably are worth putting into the routines, for those who might not want to attend a yoga class or rent a video to see how they can be done. A small quibble.
The author has a brief section on running form. I think this is a worthwhile offer, but most runners I know have generally come to the running form that works for them, as biomechanically people differ quite a bit. The general tips she offers are helpful.
Mental game:
The author spends a great deal of time going into the mental game to emphasize its application to running. She also touts the benefits of meditation, and the mindful running and mindful living approaches. I think this chapter could be helpful to some, although I would add a caveat in that I think many experienced distance runners have a pretty good handle on the mental game that works for them. Some embrace mindful running, zen running, and other running approaches. While I think the tools can be helpful to some, others might find the emphasis on holistic eastern approaches are entirely too unscientific to be useful. That said, most runners I know use whatever approach that works for them, so having other tools to try is probably not a bad offering in a book meant to appeal to a wide variety of running types. Just be aware that it may not be the best approach for every runner.
Overall: I think this is a solid offering to the runners' demographic, and is one of the most current in a field that is not saturated with yoga for runners texts. For runners who have an interest in injury prevention and pain management, and who are interested in adding yoga to their regular practice as a complementary exercise to running, this book has a lot to offer. For intermediate to advanced students of yoga the book's handling of yoga probably offers little that is new, but I think they are not the target audience.
I am a recent (for the last two years) recreational sprint runner (5K) who has also done yoga for more then ten years.
This book is not aimed at those who have done yoga and have come to running, but rather runners who have not done any yoga and aren't aware of the asserted benefits of regular practice for runners. The blurb on the back states the author is both a long-distance runner and yoga practitioner. So, is this book useful for its intended demographic?
Overall approach:
This book is written from an alternative viewpoint, in that there are no footnotes nor scientific studies in which to validate the author's assertions about anatomy and running. If you are looking for a wholly academically-impeccable sports-medicine approach, this is not the book for you. Much of the chapters on mental development and meditation embraces the somewhat loosy-goosey science of holistic medicine on the mind-body link and general living and performance, but the author doesn't deviate very far from the generally supportable views that most would agree with; however, I know some readers find such an approach irritating to read, so I include this observation for your benefit.
Some General Observations:
The author does some good things in this book.
There is a huge section listing common running injuries and yoga poses that can help. As I would guess many runners would look to yoga for recovery and injury prevention, this section is well done.
In a similar note, the section on routines are separated by body parts that they target. Although the injury list and the routines are in two different parts of the book (why not reference the routines at least by page number in the injury list section?) the content is excellent and would appeal to runners who are trying to reduce the aches, pains and injuries associated with years of running.
Although she lists the poses themselves and organizes them into routines, and gives some instructions on how to synchronize breathing into the poses, the author does little to describe how to transition from one pose to another. For intermediate yoga practitioners, this is no real problem, but for someone who has not done yoga, the transitions can be very helpful and can make practice more organic and fun. Granted that these can be difficult to describe in a book, but other authors have done as much as can be done in print to describe the transitions, and I think this can be very helpful. The demographic being targeted presumably has never taken a yoga lesson, so transitions probably are worth putting into the routines, for those who might not want to attend a yoga class or rent a video to see how they can be done. A small quibble.
The author has a brief section on running form. I think this is a worthwhile offer, but most runners I know have generally come to the running form that works for them, as biomechanically people differ quite a bit. The general tips she offers are helpful.
Mental game:
The author spends a great deal of time going into the mental game to emphasize its application to running. She also touts the benefits of meditation, and the mindful running and mindful living approaches. I think this chapter could be helpful to some, although I would add a caveat in that I think many experienced distance runners have a pretty good handle on the mental game that works for them. Some embrace mindful running, zen running, and other running approaches. While I think the tools can be helpful to some, others might find the emphasis on holistic eastern approaches are entirely too unscientific to be useful. That said, most runners I know use whatever approach that works for them, so having other tools to try is probably not a bad offering in a book meant to appeal to a wide variety of running types. Just be aware that it may not be the best approach for every runner.
Overall: I think this is a solid offering to the runners' demographic, and is one of the most current in a field that is not saturated with yoga for runners texts. For runners who have an interest in injury prevention and pain management, and who are interested in adding yoga to their regular practice as a complementary exercise to running, this book has a lot to offer. For intermediate to advanced students of yoga the book's handling of yoga probably offers little that is new, but I think they are not the target audience.
March 1, 2014
Helpful and easy to follow but it didn't tell me a lot I didn't know already. Much of this is common sense, it seems geared toward runners who are unfamiliar with yoga. I would recommend this to those who are curious about and intimidated by yoga and those who need the encouragement to try.
March 26, 2018
This gets 3 stars because there are all black and white pages no color and it reads like a text book. With that being said it is an interesting read, and I would consider buying this book. It is very in depth and there are plenty of pictures as examples of how to do everything and how to do it and what muscles it works on. Some of these positions I had no idea were yoga poses. I would consider them stretches, but then again yoga is stretching.
January 30, 2021
I love the book. It explains all aspects of running and how yoga can be used to stretch, strengthen muscles, and minimise injuries. I especially love the yoga sequences to help strengthen different parts of the body. It is easy to read and provide just enough information. There are photos for each yoga pose, a description and its benefits. I highly recommend the book for any runner looking for cross-training exercise.
March 16, 2023
An extremely basic book which feels kind of superfluous in the age of Youtube, Online Yoga sessions and the like. Is anyone really going to be referring to an actual Yoga book with diagrams to follow a Vinyasa flow? The poses in the book would all be covered in any basic Yoga class anyway (and you'd get a lot more out of it) and the 'link' to running feels stretched and frequently during the book forgotten about entirely.
July 28, 2023
If you don’t know much about yoga and you are a runner, this is a good book. If you know a lot about yoga (and the reasons for the various poses), you can probably figure out stuff without it. It’s not going to tell you anything that you didn’t know. But still a pretty good effort.
May 6, 2025
Came back to this for the injury prevention, stayed for the reminder of how to 360 breathe ❤️
August 13, 2014
I found it extremely helpful. I've been running for years and a friend of mine told me yoga would help. I didn't really believe him, but decided to try it anyway and it's made a world of difference! This book explains the benefits really well and gives great poses to target common problem areas. I'll be buying a copy.
June 23, 2016
Another so-so yoga for runners book. I wish that she could have used sanskrit names (even if in parantheses) or put the most common names (sometimes, she used names I had never heard of before). The photos were in black and white. Still, I appreciated the sequences at the end, and this did give me some ideas for my next yoga for runners workshop.
Read
December 31, 2014i find it really hard to rate books like this - will hold off until I have a chance to try some of the sequences, integrate into workouts. I borrowed this from the library, however, and will be buying my own copy for reference (I guess that is a good recommendation right?)
February 25, 2016
Great format, just needs to be spiral-bound.
Love the anatomical background and accompanying diagrams, targeted sequences, topics covered, organization of the chapters, and especially 'common injuries and pose modifications' reference chart.
Love the anatomical background and accompanying diagrams, targeted sequences, topics covered, organization of the chapters, and especially 'common injuries and pose modifications' reference chart.
February 6, 2014
I like running better than yoga, but this convinced me that I should be doing both. Helpful and fairly easy to follow. I appreciated the "why" as well as the "how".
January 6, 2014
This review can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com or Amazon.com as part of the Vine program.
June 23, 2014
may buy this one (took this copy out of the library)
October 11, 2016
Important book for runners training for a distance race.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews