Before I discovered yoga, running was my go-to form of exercise when I wanted to shed some kilos or feel better after day of pigging out. However, as I got older and my metabolism slowed, running proved to be more and more ineffective and barely showed results despite me running almost everyday for at least 30 minutes each time.
Thankfully, I decided to give yoga a shot and once I started, running has taken a back seat in my life. From then on, yoga is everything my body needs to feel good. Here are 3 reasons why:
1. Yoga tones the entire body – Practically every pose in yoga engages multiple parts of my body at once, and often including the core. Through chaturangas, arm balances and inversions, I built strength in my arms that I never ever imagined I could have, especially since I am a girl. Moving from one pose to another and holding on to poses for an extended period of time also lengthened my muscles and improved my flexibility. Overall, yoga has allowed me to tone my body in a way that running never could.
2. Yoga can count as cardio – Now there is no need to go through monotonous 5 to 10 km runs just to get the heart beat raised and get a decent cardio workout. All I have to do now is to be slightly creative by incorporating a little more active moves during my yoga workout. These are somewhat high intensity interval training moves such as mountain climbers and plank in-and-out jumps.
3. You can do yoga anywhere – With no equipment necessary, not even running shoes, I can do yoga at home, at the park, or in my hotel room (when I’m traveling). It’s fuss free and little or no preparation is required, so long as I have some moves memorized or have my mobile phone or laptop with me so I can follow videos on youtube.
That said, it is no wonder I’ve not looked back since and not missed running, and have been in love with yoga ever since.
– Rachel
