Q: Is there a big difference between yoga and runners’ yoga?
A: The runners’ yoga approach focuses on activation and counter-contraction of muscles to build strength and to create stability and an increased range of motion in specific joints. The pursuit of extreme flexibility as found in many yoga classes is counter-productive for runners.
Mike has written an article on Yoga for Runners for the Jan/Feb 2012 issue of IMPACT magazine.
Running is a noble pursuit full of unintended consequences, and the glamour of being a runner can be quickly stripped away when confronted by injury’s rude slap. I began using yoga specifically for runners five years ago, when running’s dark master, the injury epidemic, made me wonder what yoga could do for the hobbling masses. A lot, as it turns out…
Mike goes on to describe and demonstrate 5 important postures. Read more
The Province has a new article up, highlighting the growing interest in Yoga for Runners and various nationally-recognized teachers, including Mike:
There are waves of running-specific yoga programs popping up around the country, including Michael Dennison’s PB Runner’s Yoga in Vancouver, Felstead’s class in Toronto and Donna Davis’s Runners Yoga course in Ottawa…
Mike was recently interviewed on Shaw TV’s “The Express”, in anticipation of running events in Vancouver and how to maximize running health through yoga. Watch the YouTube video…
“Mike Dennison, a former competitive runner who now teaches yoga specifically for runners, agrees restorative yoga would benefit both elite and beginner runners because they are all feeling the stresses of pushing their bodies beyond what they are used to.
“It helps you deal with the fatigue of intense physical exercise,” he says. “Whatever level you are at, you are experiencing the extra stress and extra fatigue of running,” he says. “What this does is it helps you recuperate faster. I think it is really good.
“Running is very intense. Restorative yoga is very mellow.”
Older people who run for fitness or at the competitive level are embracing yoga in greater numbers, says Dennison. “They understand that the body needs that extra oomph.”
