Boy am I behind on blogging, it’s been over a week since I got back from Kripalu and I’m JUST getting around to writing about the experience! For the most part moving forward I will be sharing most of my yoga related content over on my new yoga specific website/ blog, but since this is also running related I thought I’d share it here too!
Three years ago I went to Kripalu, a yoga and wellness retreat center in the Berkshires of Massachusetts for a weekend of Yoga for Athletes with Sage Rountree whose yoga books I LOVE! It was amazing and since then I’ve been wanting to go back and do the full week Teaching Yoga to Athletes training for yoga teachers. I finally decided that if I didn’t go this year I wouldn’t have time until I was done with PT school so it was now or never! (Ok, not “never”, but at least not for another 4 years!)
I arrived for the workshop on Sunday afternoon and as I was parking my car I ran into Sage and her assistant for the week, Jenni coming back from a run – not only did Sage remember me (I did the weekend workshop with her 3 years ago and went to a class she did in New York a couple years ago), but she immediately asked how the PT school journey was going – I was so impressed she remembered!
Sage, me and her assistant Jenni
Our first session was that night. We basically went around and introduced ourselves (we had a small group, only 9 of us!) and went over what to expect for the rest of the week.
During the workshop we’d learn the 5 P’s of Teaching Yoga to Athletes – Philosophy, Physiology, Psychology, Pedagogy and Professionalism! This post could get really long if I shared thoughts on each of these, so over time I’ll be sharing some information on the benefits of yoga for athletes – strength, flexibility, balance and focus!
We met twice a day for several hours and in between there were plenty of yoga classes we could attend or we’d head out for groups runs and hikes!
Between session hike!
I learned so much throughout the week from Sage as well as from all the other participants in the group. I left motivated and energized to come back to the Cape and work on offering some Yoga for Athletes workshops – I’m so eager to share everything I learned!
Our Teaching Yoga to Athletes group!
As I go through all of my information from the week and organiz my thoughts I’ll be sharing some posts on how your running can benefit from yoga and how to appropriately incorporate it into your training plan!
Live, Run, Grow 
Hi Danielle,
I have a real problem with getting dizzy/nausea when transitioning from upright to low positions. I monitor my breathing but not sure if I’m doing this correctly and/or if it’s something else (inner ear?).
I also want to build up my core as well as practice mindful thinking through yoga. What would you suggest to start on a daily basis. Do you have a routine before you run?
Thanks!!
Laurie (FTC member)
Hi Laurie, I actually get very lightheaded when transitioning as well, I’m pretty sure mine is due to low blood pressure, do you happen to know if yours is low?
So I’m actually working on offering a Yoga for Runner’s workshops soon which will basically address all of your questions! If you send me an e-mail to DanielleNardiYoga@gmail.com I’ll give you more info on it (I’ll be sharing more in the track club Facebook group once I confirm a date!), hopefully you can make it to that or the next Yoga for Runner’s at Marathon Sports (I’m planning on sharing a pre-run warm up sequence!).
This sounds amazing! I used to do yoga regularly (I had a dedicated home practice so making it to a class wasn’t necessary) but over the years it’s degraded. My gym here in Chicago has lots of yoga classes, so I’m trying to get back into it knowing my running will only improve from it!
It was such a great week, I learned so much and can’t wait to share it!
I’m excited to hear more about what you learned! I love yoga but don’t practice as regularly as I’d like. The good news is, I discovered Yoga with Adriene on YouTube, which is helping yoga be more accessible and doable for me with my crazy schedule, so I’m hoping to start gaining some strength, calm, and flexibility from that.
Interesting, I think someone else mentioned Yoga with Adriene to me recently too, I’ll have to check her out! (Although I am admittedly terrible at doing yoga from computer/ dvd!)