I Bet You Can’t Touch Your Toes

I started practicing yoga in the Spring of 2013.

The reason that I started sounded a little like this, “You really need to work on that or else you’re going to get hurt. I bet you can’t touch your toes. Maybe you should try yoga?”

I paused and thought to myself, “Hmm my dad has a point, but I’m pretty sure I can touch my toes…”

So when I got off the phone, I tried it. I got about 5 inches from my toes before I had to pull up. It literally felt like my hamstrings were about to tear. And so it began, my journey with yoga.

•••

I’d heard of yoga before, but honestly, I didn’t view it as a workout, and the thought of going into a studio and not having any idea about what was going on didn’t sound very appealing to me.

I felt confident going into a weight room. I knew what to do when I lined up for sprints. I could do a box jump. But the thought of going into a room with people older than myself to “stretch,” “breathe,” and do “poses” just didn’t sound like my cup of tea. But, for the sake of my body, I swallowed my pride and began to look for yoga studios around Fort Worth. I stumbled upon a studio just a couple of miles from the TCU campus called Karmany Yoga,. I checked out their classes and found one that fit my schedule.

So there it was, the class was in my calendar, I got a mat, I had my outfit picked out, and I was ready to go.

I’m not going to lie, the first class was weird. I felt out of my element trying to follow along with the different moves, cues, and awkward/burning pauses. It felt like I was just looking around the entire class trying to copy the instructor and the people around me. I would not say it was love at first class. Don’t get me wrong, I felt great after class, but it was just weird.

The next day, I was sore in places I had never been sore before. Small muscles I never knew I had were aching, but in a good way. It felt like I actually worked hard and accomplished a good workout.

I stuck to the process, and as months and classes went by, I slowly began to fall in love with yoga. It was the challenge of it that kept me coming back. At the time, I was still an athlete at TCU, so I would work in yoga classes after practice, after team workouts, and on the weekend. I love the way it complemented our volleyball workouts and practice, and it started to make my body feel great!

I was becoming more flexible, I started to truly understand what “mindfulness” and mind + body connection meant, I was learning how to control and use my own breath, and I could notice a change in my body. A good change.

I continued my yoga practice all the way through college and I still practice to this day. There have been seasons of my life that were filled with yoga, I’m talking like yoga every day, and there have also been seasons of my life where I have gone months without it. I can tell you right now, my life is much better with yoga in it. There is just something about being on my yoga mat that makes me a better person. It grounds me, it connects me with me, and it heals me. Both as an athlete and as a human.

I have been practicing yoga for the last seven years of my life, and I truly believe that yoga is a hidden secret for athletes and non-athletes alike. It allows you to dive deeper into yourself, it makes you stronger and more aware, and it teaches you just how strong and amazing your body really is.

Here are some of the different groups of poses and bends, and their benefits:

● Standing Poses – Builds leg-strength as well as flexibility in the hips and hamstrings.
● Balancing Poses – Increases body awareness, stabilization, and proprioception.
● Backward Bends – Improves posture, respiration, digestion, and elimination.
● Forward Bends – Promotes health of posterior chain and help balance autonomic nervous system.
● Inversions – Improves immune function and enhance circulation in legs.
● Arm Balances – Builds core and upper-body strength and improve balance/body-awareness.
● Twists – Improves posture, shoulder-mobility, respiration, digestion, elimination, and health of spine and nervous system.

For me personally, here are a list of things that yoga has helped me with:

● It has allowed me to create a strong mind – body connection.
● It allowed me to disconnect when I was having a bad day whether it was from school or sports.
● It helped me work on being comfortable while being uncomfortable.
● It has allowed me to connect to my thoughts on a much deeper level.
● It has taught me the power of stillness.
● It helped me come back from knee surgery.
● It helped me achieve my goal of being able to touch my toes, and so much more!

•••

If you are a current athlete, a “retired” athlete, or you have nothing to do with sports, I encourage you to start incorporating yoga into your weekly workout routine. You can start small and work you way up to a longer and more advanced practice, but the key is just to start! I promise you will notice a difference in your mindset and body. 

Here are a couple of teaches and studios that I have enjoyed throughout my yoga journey. Some are now offering virtual classes, so check them out!

Rebecca Butler and Alexia Heist

Rebecca Butler:
Website: https://thesanctuaryyogaroom.com/teachers/rebecca-butler
Instagram Handle: @rebeccabeingreal

The Sanctuary Yoga Room (owned by Rebecca Butler):
Website: https://thesanctuaryyogaroom.com/ 
Instagram Handle: @thesanctuaryyogaroom

Rebecca Emery:
Website: https://www.rebeccaemery.com/about/
Instagram Handle: @therebeccaemery

LaurenBailey Motheral:
Instagram Handle: @laurenbaileymotheral

Lauren Wessinger:
Website: https://laurenyoga.net/ 
Instagram Handle: @laurenwessinger

Elyse Sullivan:
Website: https://www.bluemorphoyoga.com/teachers
Instagram Handle: @elyse_sullivan

Blue Morpho Yoga (owned by Elyse Sullivan):
Website: https://www.bluemorphoyoga.com/ 
Instagram Handle: @bluemorphoyoga

Corepower Yoga:
Website: https://www.corepoweryogaondemand.com/keep-up-your-practice
Instagram Handle: @corepoweryoga

•••

Some Q&A’s that I think you may have:

Q: What kind of mat do you have?
A: I actually have three and I love all three for different reasons, but if I had to choose one to use forever, I would choose the Lululemon Reversible 5mm – linked below.

Lululemon Reversible 5mm Mat: https://shop.lululemon.com/p/womens-gifts-for-yogis/The-Reversible-Mat-5/_/prod6750166?color=38392&sz=ONESIZE
Lululemon Travel Mat: https://shop.lululemon.com/p/mens-and-womens-accessories/The-Reversible-Un-Mat/_/prod6750167?color=3327&sz=ONESIZE
Jade Harmony Mat 68″: https://jadeyoga.com/collections/yoga-mats/products/harmony-mat?variant=1167061532

Q: What kind of yoga do you practice?
A: I personally like both “flow” and “slow” classes. You will see “vinyasa flow” used quite a bit when referring to flow classes and “restorative” used for slow classes. When I first started my practice I always wanted really fast and hard classes, but as I got deeper into my practice, I started to realized that what I really needed were slower deeper classes that incorporated longer holds in poses. (aka: helping me learn how to be comfortable being uncomfortable)

I’ve tried Bikram (hot yoga) and didn’t really enjoy it. I already sweat a lot to begin with, so I ended up being miserable in classes. BUT you may love it, so give it a try if you ever have the opportunity!

In my opinion Corepower Yoga is truly a “yoga workout,” it’s a much quicker pace and I always seem to work up a solid sweat when I do their classes. So, on the days where you want to get a good “yoga workout” in, I recommend Corepower.

Q: What is your favorite pose?
A: I feel like this answer has evolved over time. When I was doing the most yoga, I would have to say handstand or headstand. I was obsessed with inversions. I would do them all of the time no matter where I was, I’ve even done a headstand in an airplane(?!).

Now, I would have to say my favorite pose is either child’s pose or frog pose. Both hip centered poses, and although neither are easy for me, I feel like I get SO much out of them.

Q: I have never done yoga before, but want to start. What do you recommend I do?
A: I think that the instructor and the type of class that you take have so much to do with it. I recommend starting with a beginner class, you can find plenty on YouTube, or you can just jump right in like I did! The Corepower Yoga link above has a couple of free classes that are great and I also recommend looking into the instructors that I listed above. I know that some of them are doing online classes right now.

Q: I’ve tried it a couple of times, but didn’t like it. Any advice?
A: As you read above, I didn’t enjoy my first class. Heck, I didn’t really “enjoy” the first couple of months of yoga. It was just like learning a new sport, but I knew it was good for me, and I pushed through!

If I were you, I wouldn’t give up on it just yet. Try different teachers and different classes until you find one that you like!

•••

 

*I am not a strength and conditioning coach and I do not recommend doing yoga as your only form of workout as an athlete.*