A 10-minute yoga sequence for post-run, post-walk, or chronically tight low back, hips, and hamstrings.
I call this a “Run Salutation” because it flows like a Sun Salutation, but it’s a version that feels better to me after a run or long walk.
Half Sun Salutation
From standing, inhale arms overhead, keeping shoulders rolled down and relaxed. As you exhale, hinge from your hips and fold toward the floor (stopping wherever your body says to stop). Inhale and sweep back up to Arms Up Mountain. Exhale and sweep arms back down toward Forward Fold. You can take your arms out to the side, move them in front of you, or keep them on your hips. Experiment. :)
Forward Fold
Pause in Forward Fold, knees bent as much as they need to be. If your hands don’t touch the floor, you can extend them down as if they will, rest them on your shins or thighs, hang in Rag Doll with opposite hand to elbow, or interlace hands behind you in Yoga Mudra. Keep your back flat if there’s any discomfort. As you inhale, imagine lengthening the line from your tailbone through the top of your head. As you exhale, bring your belly a little closer to your thighs. Don’t force – hamstrings don’t like to be pushed and will tighten up even more if you’re too aggressive. Be nice! :)
Table and Cat/Cow
Come to Table, hands and knees, with hands under shoulders and knees under hips. Begin to move in Cat/Cow, inhaling to arch your back and look up, exhaling to round your back and look toward your belly. You can rest on flat palms, fists, or forearms, and your toes can be curled under or the tops of your feet can rest on the floor. You can move in straight lines, rounding and arching, or you can let your hips and shoulders create circles or diagonals. For a more Lateral Cat, move side-to-side, parallel with the floor, taking your hip and shoulder in a C-curve. Your hips can make a half-circle (like a smiley face) behind you. You can move with your breath, or just take a couple of breaths in one position. What feels the best to you?
Downward Facing Dog
From Table, curl your toes under and lift your hips up on an inhale, so that your body creates an upside-down “V” shape with the floor. Explore the position of your hands and feet, side-to-side and front-to-back, until you find the position that feels the best right now. Knees can be bent or straight, or you can alternate, bending one and straightening the other. Keep your back flat, head in line with your spine, shoulders rolled down away from your ears, and shift forward and back until the weight feels equally distributed between your hands and feet.
Lunge
From Downward Facing Dog, take an inhale and float one leg into the air behind you, then engage your core and step that foot forward, placing it on the floor beside your hand. Wiggle your toes or move your foot forward with your hand until your knee is in line with your hip and not extended past your ankle. Your hands can rest flat on the floor or you can “tent” your fingers, bring your forearms to your thigh, or reach your hands overhead or behind you. Explore.
Runner’s Lunge
From lunge, bring both hands to floor on the side inside your bent knee. Turn your front foot out 45 degrees. You can stay up on your hands to build core strength or set your back knee down to build more flexibility in your hips. Your front foot can be grounded, or you can roll onto the outside edge of your foot. You can stay still, of inhale arms straight and exhale elbows bent. You can face forward, or twist and turn. You might set an elbow down and reach the other hand out in front of you. If your knee is down, you might draw the foot of your back leg in toward your bottom to create more sensation in the front of your hip and thigh. Search for the sensation feels the best.
Pigeon
From Runner’s Lunge, heel-toe your front foot across toward the other side of your mat, then lay that shin down. If your hips are tight, that foot will be back near your other hip. If your hips are flexible, your shin will be closer to parallel with the front of your mat. You can stay up on your hands, arching your back and lifting your heart to create length all the way down the front of your torso to the front of the back hip. You can come down to your elbows or the floor for more sensation in the outside of the front hip. You can keep you torso centered, lay it down over your bent knee, or extend it out toward the other front corner. You can always prop a pillow or blanket under the front hip or under the bottom of the hip with the bent knee.
Seated Twist
From Pigeon, come back up to your hands and roll to the outside of the hip corresponding to your bent front knee, sitting up. You can leave your front leg bent or straighten it out in front of you. Draw your other leg around and cross it over with the knee bent and the foot on the floor. Adjust your position until both of your sit bones connect with the floor. Cross opposite hand or elbow to the knee that’s on top and sticking into the air. On an inhale, lengthen from the tailbone through the top of your head, reach the other arm overhead, then exhale, setting the raised hand down behind you, and turning your shoulders toward the side wall. With each inhale, lengthen up, with each exhale, relax your shoulders away from your ears and imagine them being parallel with the side wall.
If you’d prefer to be on the floor, lie down on your back with your arms reaching out in a “T” with your body, bend your knees and draw them in toward your chest. Take an inhale, and on the exhale lower your knees toward the floor on one side. Inhale to the center then exhale to the other side.
Repeat Sequence on Other Side
You can move directly back to Table and proceed through Downward Facing Dog, Lunge, Runner’s Lunge, Pigeon, and Seated Twist on the other side. If you’d prefer, you can move through Plank on your way to Table or from Plank directly to Downward Facing Dog. Play with it until you find your preference in the moment.
Plank
Plank is just a high or low push-up position on your hands, fists or forearms. Your knees can be down on the floor, or your legs can be straight. Create a straight line from your shoulders through your hips, through your knees or heels, as if you’re a plank propped against a stair.
Corpse
After Seated Twist on the second side, come down onto your back. You can draw your knees in and rock side to side, or move in any other way your body wants to before settling into a minute of ease. Corpse is an important “seal” for every practice, even super short ones, as it helps to integrate the experience. Rest on your back or side, with your knees bent or straight. Relax the muscles of your feet and legs, hands and arms, hips, glutes, abs, chest, shoulders, neck, and face.
Keep your mind present as your body relaxes completely – you can always just “watch” your breath as you inhale and exhale. When you’re ready to get up, roll to one side, let your hands press you back up to hands and knees, and find your way to standing. You might move through a low squat up to Mountain, from Table to Downward Facing Dog to Forward Fold to Mountain, or you might find another way. Once you’re up, take a couple more deep breaths, then head back into the rest of your day. :)
For dedicated videos for Mountain, Arms Up Mountain, Forward Fold, Lunge, Plank, Downward Facing Dog, Seated Twist, and Corpse visit: http://www.jenasawyer.com/poses.html.
I call this a “Run Salutation” because it flows like a Sun Salutation, but it’s a version that feels better to me after a run or long walk.
Half Sun Salutation
From standing, inhale arms overhead, keeping shoulders rolled down and relaxed. As you exhale, hinge from your hips and fold toward the floor (stopping wherever your body says to stop). Inhale and sweep back up to Arms Up Mountain. Exhale and sweep arms back down toward Forward Fold. You can take your arms out to the side, move them in front of you, or keep them on your hips. Experiment. :)
Forward Fold
Pause in Forward Fold, knees bent as much as they need to be. If your hands don’t touch the floor, you can extend them down as if they will, rest them on your shins or thighs, hang in Rag Doll with opposite hand to elbow, or interlace hands behind you in Yoga Mudra. Keep your back flat if there’s any discomfort. As you inhale, imagine lengthening the line from your tailbone through the top of your head. As you exhale, bring your belly a little closer to your thighs. Don’t force – hamstrings don’t like to be pushed and will tighten up even more if you’re too aggressive. Be nice! :)
Table and Cat/Cow
Come to Table, hands and knees, with hands under shoulders and knees under hips. Begin to move in Cat/Cow, inhaling to arch your back and look up, exhaling to round your back and look toward your belly. You can rest on flat palms, fists, or forearms, and your toes can be curled under or the tops of your feet can rest on the floor. You can move in straight lines, rounding and arching, or you can let your hips and shoulders create circles or diagonals. For a more Lateral Cat, move side-to-side, parallel with the floor, taking your hip and shoulder in a C-curve. Your hips can make a half-circle (like a smiley face) behind you. You can move with your breath, or just take a couple of breaths in one position. What feels the best to you?
Downward Facing Dog
From Table, curl your toes under and lift your hips up on an inhale, so that your body creates an upside-down “V” shape with the floor. Explore the position of your hands and feet, side-to-side and front-to-back, until you find the position that feels the best right now. Knees can be bent or straight, or you can alternate, bending one and straightening the other. Keep your back flat, head in line with your spine, shoulders rolled down away from your ears, and shift forward and back until the weight feels equally distributed between your hands and feet.
Lunge
From Downward Facing Dog, take an inhale and float one leg into the air behind you, then engage your core and step that foot forward, placing it on the floor beside your hand. Wiggle your toes or move your foot forward with your hand until your knee is in line with your hip and not extended past your ankle. Your hands can rest flat on the floor or you can “tent” your fingers, bring your forearms to your thigh, or reach your hands overhead or behind you. Explore.
Runner’s Lunge
From lunge, bring both hands to floor on the side inside your bent knee. Turn your front foot out 45 degrees. You can stay up on your hands to build core strength or set your back knee down to build more flexibility in your hips. Your front foot can be grounded, or you can roll onto the outside edge of your foot. You can stay still, of inhale arms straight and exhale elbows bent. You can face forward, or twist and turn. You might set an elbow down and reach the other hand out in front of you. If your knee is down, you might draw the foot of your back leg in toward your bottom to create more sensation in the front of your hip and thigh. Search for the sensation feels the best.
Pigeon
From Runner’s Lunge, heel-toe your front foot across toward the other side of your mat, then lay that shin down. If your hips are tight, that foot will be back near your other hip. If your hips are flexible, your shin will be closer to parallel with the front of your mat. You can stay up on your hands, arching your back and lifting your heart to create length all the way down the front of your torso to the front of the back hip. You can come down to your elbows or the floor for more sensation in the outside of the front hip. You can keep you torso centered, lay it down over your bent knee, or extend it out toward the other front corner. You can always prop a pillow or blanket under the front hip or under the bottom of the hip with the bent knee.
Seated Twist
From Pigeon, come back up to your hands and roll to the outside of the hip corresponding to your bent front knee, sitting up. You can leave your front leg bent or straighten it out in front of you. Draw your other leg around and cross it over with the knee bent and the foot on the floor. Adjust your position until both of your sit bones connect with the floor. Cross opposite hand or elbow to the knee that’s on top and sticking into the air. On an inhale, lengthen from the tailbone through the top of your head, reach the other arm overhead, then exhale, setting the raised hand down behind you, and turning your shoulders toward the side wall. With each inhale, lengthen up, with each exhale, relax your shoulders away from your ears and imagine them being parallel with the side wall.
If you’d prefer to be on the floor, lie down on your back with your arms reaching out in a “T” with your body, bend your knees and draw them in toward your chest. Take an inhale, and on the exhale lower your knees toward the floor on one side. Inhale to the center then exhale to the other side.
Repeat Sequence on Other Side
You can move directly back to Table and proceed through Downward Facing Dog, Lunge, Runner’s Lunge, Pigeon, and Seated Twist on the other side. If you’d prefer, you can move through Plank on your way to Table or from Plank directly to Downward Facing Dog. Play with it until you find your preference in the moment.
Plank
Plank is just a high or low push-up position on your hands, fists or forearms. Your knees can be down on the floor, or your legs can be straight. Create a straight line from your shoulders through your hips, through your knees or heels, as if you’re a plank propped against a stair.
Corpse
After Seated Twist on the second side, come down onto your back. You can draw your knees in and rock side to side, or move in any other way your body wants to before settling into a minute of ease. Corpse is an important “seal” for every practice, even super short ones, as it helps to integrate the experience. Rest on your back or side, with your knees bent or straight. Relax the muscles of your feet and legs, hands and arms, hips, glutes, abs, chest, shoulders, neck, and face.
Keep your mind present as your body relaxes completely – you can always just “watch” your breath as you inhale and exhale. When you’re ready to get up, roll to one side, let your hands press you back up to hands and knees, and find your way to standing. You might move through a low squat up to Mountain, from Table to Downward Facing Dog to Forward Fold to Mountain, or you might find another way. Once you’re up, take a couple more deep breaths, then head back into the rest of your day. :)
For dedicated videos for Mountain, Arms Up Mountain, Forward Fold, Lunge, Plank, Downward Facing Dog, Seated Twist, and Corpse visit: http://www.jenasawyer.com/poses.html.
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