BELIEVE Yoga for Runners with Jasyoga

For 6 weeks during January and February, every Monday I left work stressed and tired, and headed to a top floor yoga studio hidden away in Battersea. For 90minutes I stretched, relaxed and breathed my way through yoga poses designed to help with achey, tight runner's muscles, and allowed my mind to reset too. I was encouraged to re-channel my energy into positivity, allowed myself to dream big and got my negative thoughts out of my head and scrawled down onto the page.

This was all part of Jasyoga's BELIEVE: Yoga for Runners course and I firmly believe that it played a major part in my success at Brighton!

The course is centred around the BELIEVE journal created by two pro-runners, which is so much more than just a workout log. It's a training diary that allows you to record mileage and stats, as well as pages to check in with your progress, be honest with yourself, and help inspire you to become a better athlete.

Throughout are motivational messages and hand drawn illustrations- it's a lovely book to own, and I'm really enjoying taking the time every evening to reflect on my workouts that day and actually write on paper rather than on a computer!

If you'd like to try one of the questionnaires from the journal, click here ---> Are you a warrior or a worrier?

The Yoga course was led by Erin, who is awesome! The group was small, only three of us and it was a friendly laid-back, and chatty atmosphere. Each week had a different focus - from creating a solid foot foundation, to waking up our glutes, identifying smarter ways to stretch your hips, and, perfectly for me (the day after Brighton Half!), the final session on the importance of recovery.

We used straps, bolsters and blocks to hold poses for long periods of time so our muscles could fully relax. There was lots of "legs up the wall", a whole session on upper body opening- chest and side body stretches, and twists. I may have to invest in a bolster now!

Every week I felt I had something new to take away, even just as simple as taking time away from my desk to stop, close my eyes and breathe! Alongside the physical stretches, we talked about creating a stronger mind, finding a mantra to cut through the doubts, and how to manage setbacks.

Here's Erin:

"I've had the pleasure of teaching yoga to pro runner and all-around badass Lauren Fleshman since 2012. During that time, I've been inspired and uplifted by not only her athletic prowess, but also her fierce positivity and big, open heart. So, when I learned Lauren was penning a new training journal with Irish Olympian Roisin McGettigan-Dumas, I was like, "Sweet!" And when I learned the book is called Believe, I had goosebumps before I even got my hands on it.

Here's the deal: For years I've obsessed (and continue to obsess) over how to make yoga impactful for athletes. I look at bodies like puzzles waiting to be solved. How, I ask myself daily, can we put things back into the places they're meant to be in? How can we use yoga to sustain the equilibrium the body is designed for? But it was Lauren who reminded me about the potency of positivity and the direct role that believing in yourself plays in your performance and, ultimately, accomplishing your goals. It was Lauren who got me thinking about infusing yoga with more positive mental training.

The inaugural Believe course was a celebration of dreaming big, doing the work, and, most importantly, the power of belief. We will definitely be offering this course again soon, so stay tuned...

In the meantime, you can find special editions of the Believe Training Journal signed by Lauren Fleshman here: http://www.jasyoga.co.uk/shop/limited-edition-believe-training-journal"

If you'd like to sign up for one of Erin's courses she's holding a regular Month End Reset- the next one is on Sunday 29th March- and is launching a video platform very soon so you can "Hit Reset" anytime, anywhere!

Beki x

NB: Photos courtesy of Erin.

2 comments

bethan says: March 23, 2015

This sounds amazing Beki! What a great way to focus and renew at the start of the year, I'd love the opportunity to do something like this!
lou lives well says: April 6, 2015

This sure sounds lovely 🙂 Like a mini-retreat every Monday night! That diary looks cool too. I have the Daily Greatness yoga journal, which I love, but I must say that I sometimes find it a chore to fill in and I don't need another chore in my life! 🙂