How Yoga And Walking Are a Powerful Pairing
One simple pose can change how you walk! Feel more strength and less pain
Walking is great exercise, but sometimes it can hurt, especially when you are over 50. When we walk for miles and are unaware of our posture or body mechanics, that can lead to body dysfunction and discomfort. The hips, hip flexors, neck, lower back, feet and legs are common areas where we feel pain when we walk.
One solution? Yoga!
Yoga builds strength and mobility, as well as corrects your posture and body mechanics, so that when you walk, you move with more ease and less pain. Let’s dive a little deeper:
Tadasana (Mountain Pose)
Tadasana, or Mountain Pose, gives you a solid baseline from which to start your walk. Mountain pose isn’t just standing there, Mountain builds leg and core strength, while helping you find vertical.
When you stand in Mountain pose, you stack your joints in vertical alignment. Ideally, you don’t slouch or round your upper back, as is common when sitting at a computer or looking at your phone.
Mountain pose strengthens the neck and upper back muscles so they can hold you upright without strain. It also slightly stretches the chest muscles and anterior neck so that you don’t get pulled forward into poor posture.
Stacking your hips over your ankles activates the quads, which support the knees, and activates your lower abdominals which support your lower back. When you press your feet into the floor, you engage your glutes and pelvic floor (this may take some practice), both of which support you while you walk.
From Standing to Walking
Once you’ve established your vertical posture, it’s time to move. Most of us learned to walk when we were babies, but chances are, you no longer walk with proper mechanics. This can lead to pain.
When you walk, try to feel Mountain pose in your body. Maintain the vertical alignment as you move. When you don’t, you’ll feel it in your hips, lower back, neck, all sorts of places. If you slouch, you will feel neck and upper back pain. When you don’t use your glutes, you will over work your hips flexors and/or hamstrings, and they will hurt. If your hips are leading or following you as you walk, this leads to other types of discomfort and pain.
Walking is important exercise, especially as we age, but HOW you walk is just as important as the walking itself. The video below is a short tutorial on the Mechanics of Walking.
Other Ways that Yoga Supports Walking
Yoga helps both before and after walking. It undoes all of your posturnal “bad habits” and infuses you with better ones. By strengthening what is weak and stretching what is tight, you are better prepared to move with more ease and less effort.
Practicing yoga before walking prepares your body for movement. It warms you up and loosens your muscles, while strengthening and encouraging good posture. It also supports your balance, so that you can shift your weight more easily when walking on uneven surfaces. If you can adjust to small and large shifts of weight when you practice yoga, it will be easier for you to adjust to those shifts when you are walking in the woods or on cracked pavement.
After walking, there are many yoga poses that stretch out the muscles you just used. If you lost your ideal body mechanics while you were walking, even a 10-15 minute yoga practice can help you feel looser and more at ease.
Check out my two Post Walk/Run Stretch sequences in the links below! These yoga sequences are specifically for cooling down after you walk.
Post Walk/Run Stretch Sequence (9 minutes)
Post Walk/Run Stretch #2 (13 minutes)
I love combining walking and yoga, I think they are a perfect pair!
What’s your favorite way to exercise and do you feel yoga has or could help you feel better while moving? I have found that yoga is an excellent way to cross train for really any sport or movement. I have worked with golfers, tennis players, triathletes, and more, and they have found yoga helps them physically, as well as with focus, motivation, and being kinder toward themselves.
Practice with me!
Join me online daily at Purple Room Yoga, an online yoga studio for active adults over 50 who want to stay active with yoga! Classes are live online as well as on demand.I offer classes for beginning through experienced students, plus stretch classes, meditation, and mindful core.
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