5 Best Yoga Poses for Runners

Yoga and running are very complementary activities. Yoga helps with stability and core strength and opens up the lungs so runners can breathe more deeply. Yoga is great cross-training for runners by working the upper body as well. I have a ton of students who are avid runners and they swear by the benefits of yoga. One student in particular who’s run more than 20 marathons says the focus and zen he finds through yoga allow him to perform at his best over and over again.

On a personal note, I’m getting so excited to lead the yoga stretch before the Health and Cooking Light Fit Foodie 5K Race in Fairfax, Virgina, on June 21st. My husband and I will both be running the 5KÂ as we push 10-month-old son Timothy in the jogging stroller.

Whether you’re a marathon veteran or a weekends-only runner, these poses will help keep you strong and flexible. Pre-run, it’s best to warm up with some dynamic yoga stretches to loosen up the joints and get the blood flowing. Post-run, it’s best to do more static stretches and give the body a chance to cool down and recover. Give these five posses a try.

Warm Up

Before you head out for your run, fold forward over your legs and walk your feet back in to an inverted V shape. In downward dog, you will stretch your hamstrings, calves, shoulders, and hips. Hold for 5 to 8 breaths, and feel free to bend one knee at a time to get a deeper stretch in your calves.

Next, step your right foot forward in to a high lunge and raise your arms up above your ears. Make sure your front knee is directly over your ankle and your back leg is straight. The high lunge activates your core muscles prior to running and gets your hip flexors and quads loose. Hold for 5 to 8 breaths before going back to downward dog, then step the opposite foot forward to repeat on the other side.

Photo: Appcession

From high lunge on your left side, get into half moon pose by stepping forward and folding in to your legs. From standing forward bend, slide your right hand forward 10 inches in front of your right pinky toe as you lift your left leg up, turning the foot out and stacking your left hip over your right. Lift your left arm up to the sky and look up at your hand. Engage your core and hold for 5 to 8 breaths. Fold forward, then repeat on the opposite leg.

Photo: Appcession

Post Run

After you’ve come back from your run, you’ll want to stretch out your quads, hip flexors, external rotators, and hamstrings. Both of these poses will also stretch out the lower back and waist and and alleviate any tension in the shoulders or neck which sometimes are tightened when running.

Pigeon
Slide your right leg forward and parallel to the front of the mat or in between your hands. Lengthen your left leg back and try and keep your hips even as you walk your hands forward. Hold for 5 to 8 breaths, then switch sides.

Photo: Appcession

Janu Sirasasana
After pigeon on the left side, swing your right leg forward. Keep your left knee bent and place your foot on the inner upper right thigh. Stretch your right leg straight and twist and fold over your right leg. Hold for 5 to 8 breaths, then repeat with the left leg forward.

Photo: Appcession

Kristin McGee is a leading yoga and Pilates instructor and healthy lifestyle expert based in New York City. She is an ACE certified personal trainer who regularly trains celebrity clients in New York and Los Angeles. She serves as Health’s contributing fitness editor and is frequently seen on national TV. Her latest in a large collection of fitness DVDs is YogaSlim. Follow her on Twitter @KristinMcGee and like her page on Facebook.

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This Mom’s Angel Baby Photo Shoot Brings Awareness to Infant Loss

Mom Kyrstyn Johnson was grieving the loss of her son to SIDS. For what would have been his first birthday, Johnson created a breathtakingly beautiful “angel baby” photo shoot hoping to spur conversation around infant loss awareness.

A 21-year-old mom from Boise, Idaho named Kyrstyn Johnson has taken to Love What Matters to share her personal experience with every parent’s most heartbreaking nightmare. Johnson, who was already a mom to two girls named Violet and Lilah, welcomed her son Mayson Michael on August 22, 2017. But just four days before he turned 8 months old, the little boy passed away from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

“[SIDS] doesn’t discriminate and even at almost 8 months old, SIDS took my child, yet we still don’t know why or understand how he could just die,” Johnson wrote. “On April 16, 2018, I became an individual that I never thought I’d be, a bereaved parent. That day I became a part of a club that no one would ever want to be a part of. I was forced to become the mother of a child who was taken by SIDS.”

RELATED: New Ways to Reduce the Risk of SIDS

Admitting that, upon facing the devastating loss, her mental health took the “heaviest hit,” Johnson went on to illustrate her experience of grief. “The stages of grief don’t come in a specific pattern, it’s waves and all over the place,” she wrote. “Some days I’m angry, some days depressed. Sometimes I’m able to step away from my shock and accept I need to learn to live again instead of being frozen in grief while time moves forward. I won’t try to say I’m handling this well, but I was given no choice. And that’s what was holding me back from truly grieving because I felt no matter what, nothing was in my control anymore. I sat there and sobbed over how he’d never have a first birthday and get his first cake.”

Upon thinking more about what would have been Mayson’s first birthday, Johnson landed on the idea of an angel baby shoot. She reached out to Megan Nutter from Lil’Lemon Photography who agreed to work with her on it. 

“I felt so out of control in the situation I was dealing with and was hurt he’d never get to celebrate his birthday,” Johnson tells Parents.com. “One day, I decided I can have control and will still celebrate him no matter what.” 

The images came out to be so powerful and breathtaking.

Infant Loss Awareness Month 2018

October is SIDS, Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and October 15 is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Johnson notes that another motivating factor in doing and sharing the breathtaking ‘first birthday in heaven” photo shoot was to “end the stigma of miscarriage, still born, infant loss, and child loss,” she tells Parents.com. 

“I want it to stop being taboo, and I want a discussion. … I want people to actually be there and support these mothers. I want people to recognize how it’s impacts our mental health, and we don’t have a lot of options to get help unless we can afford it. I want our babies to be remembered. I want conversation on why this is happening and how we as humans can have compassion and actually help someone heal instead of them feeling alone.”

Posting the images alongside her story has helped her with her own grieving process, Johnson explains. And beyond that, she’s heard from people who have told her that her Love What Matters post inspired them to reach out to other grieving parents and “actually talk to them about their baby and support them in a way they didn’t realize they needed.”

Ultimately, Johnson hopes the memory of Mayson Michael to spur conversation around infant loss and offer other parents in her position bolstered healing. She shares, “I want to use my son’s name to make a difference, because that’s the type of soul he is.”

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How to Save Your Own Life in a Medical Emergency – Health.com

Knowing what you’ll do in an emergency is key to surviving one. Your ER plan:

Call 911: If you can’t move, you’re bleeding heavily, or you have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, you need an ambulance. EMS personnel can provide lifesaving care en route and determine the best hospital for your needs. 

Or (sometimes) get a ride: As long as you can walk to a car and do not have the symptoms listed above, someone—a friend, a taxi—can take you to the hospital. Don’t drive yourself; and when in doubt, call 911.

Go to the closest hospital: When transporting yourself to the ER, your priority should be to get there as quickly as possible. They’ll stabilize you and transfer you to another hospital if needed.

Make a list: “If you’re unable to respond to EMS providers’ questions, they’ll look in your wallet for info,” says Dr. McGann. “Keep a list there of meds you take along with emergency contacts.” As a backup use an app, like the Health app in iOS or ICE Standard for Android, that can store info on your lock screen.

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