In an effort to improve my flexibility and to add some additional strength training, I am trying to do yoga.

I am really not good at it. My friend, who is a yoga teacher, said “No one is bad at yoga,” when I told her that. I disagree, I think that’s something they teach you at yoga teacher school to make clumsy stiffs keep coming back to classes.

I am bad at yoga partially because I have a bad attitude about it. I am not into the more spiritual aspects of it, and I find some of the terminology a little too new-agey for my taste. I do find the relaxation portions at the end very beneficial, but I don’t know about “lifting the heart” and “shining.” I am not still not sure what the yogi meant there.

I am also bad at yoga because my flexibility is probably the worst it has ever been. So, a good reason to do it, and I do feel slightly better even after only a few sessions.

I am practicing this yoga in the privacy of my own home, using Chromecast to show free YouTube yoga videos on my television. There are several downsides to this. First of all, there’s no one to correct my form, so I’m just doing everything wrong. There’s also no one to notice if I am taking a longer time to get into poses, so I get behind. I actually turned off the first video I tried yesterday because it was too fast to follow. I don’t have a yoga mat either, so I use a towel, which is not ideal. I don’t get any traction, and it doesn’t provide much padding. It’s just slightly better than lying on a wood floor. I feel like a yoga mat is like a gateway drug into retreats and public Ommming and inner peace, but I might have to get one anyway if I keep this up.

To choose which regimens to follow, I used the scientific practice of Googling “Yoga for Runners.” Once I have found a few I am certain I like, I’ll post some links, but I am still testing out some channels. I may try some non-running related ones that focus on the body overall, not just the legs, and maybe a few that are a little longer (the ones I have tried are around 20 minutes and some of that is jabbering at the beginning and end.)

I haven’t replaced my super-fancy strength workout of push-ups and sit-ups, I am still doing that irregularly, but it’s too basic, and doesn’t address my flexibility issues. I am not sure if yoga will actually make me a better runner, but it will help me recover better, I hope.