Galfromdownunder Yoga Blog I ride a bicycle for a living. Not like Lance, but enough to wonder if a strange, crunchy sound coming from my knees at the medium-rare age of 46 had something to do with it ... When I'm not in the saddle, I'm pounding away at a laptop (sound like you?). I started developing shoulder and neck strain, a tendency to slump at my desk and knee misalignment - even though, as knee guru Andy Pruitt says, cycling's gentle motion is almost everyone's friend. I consulted experts and videoblogged my consult with Pruitt. I discovered that cycling, laptopping and ... walking, driving, eating, cooking, knitting, swimming, hiking, watching TV - are all essentially "1-dimensional" activities: movement is in a restricted, front-to-back plane. Unless you're a dancer, surfer, gymnast or pro-snowboarder with plenty of opportunities for lateral movement, most of our time is spent moving in this front-to-back plane. And anything that relies on muscles rather than steel tracks to stay in its plane is a candidate for misalignment. Good alignment and a strong core - benefits offered by basic yoga - help counter this tendency toward imbalance. Teaching my class to cyclists during my Georgia speaking tour For years I've studied yoga, ballet, deportment, martial arts, gymnastics, bellydancing, hip-hop, ballroom dancing and even poledancing (note: those tall boots are merely there protect your shins), but I always came back to the 5000-year-old discipline of yoga, because I always felt invigorated after every class. Even if dog tired after work, if I could just drag myself off to class, I'd emerge refreshed, like the day had just begun. In early 2009, I completed my 200-hour Vinyasa yoga teacher certification at Joschi Yoga Institute, NYC, a rigorous course which emphasizes movement and anatomy. I've since developed a thorough, patient, beginner class, focusing on correct alignment, with a leaning towards the needs of cyclists and seniors. However, the class is relevant to anyone who spends a lot of time moving in "1-dimension" - that's most of us. I'm interested in seniors, because many of my 25,000 Bike Friday customers are living proof of who you can be when you're 64, 74, 84 ... if you stay active and engaged. (Take a look at 60-something yogi Colin Freestone, pictured left). Seniors are often glaringly absent from yoga classes because they feel intimidated by youth or the class is too hard. I want to change that perception and see more seniors doing yoga. And let's not forget the importance of a flexible mind. My interests and/or experience in related areas include Feldenkrais, Transcendental Meditation and Vipassana meditation (where I have attended three 10-day silent meditation courses and served). I include some verbal teachings from the fascinating foundation literature of yoga, but this is optional depending on the needs of the class. If you'd like some extremely patient yoga instruction for yourself or your group, contact me galfromdownunder at gmail dot com, phone 541-513-7711 (USA) RELATED LINKS Gal Yoga Blog Mutimedia: Bike Fit with Andy Pruitt Galfromdownunder Website | Bio If you're a cyclist, read this: An excellent article, Yoga for Cyclists written by Baron Baptiste and Kathleen Finn Mendola, from Yogajournal.com. It so beautifully summarizes the issues of cycling that I include a snippet here, with gratitude to the authors. As a bicyclist travels through one plane, he or she repeatedly overtaxes some muscles and underutilizes others. Watch a cyclist coming toward you, and you can read the imbalances. Rocking side to side signals that one hip is compensating for the other's weakness or inflexibility. Hips are the core of movement for the cyclist. If the core is weak, then the upper body has to work harder, and this can lead to back strain. Likewise, if a thigh or knee flares out from the bicycle seat due to weakness or chronic tightness, that side of the body is doing less work. The hips, thighs, knees, and ankles should all be on one track-pointing straight ahead. If these body parts are off track, cyclists run the risk of wearing down ligaments and tendons, and developing imbalanced muscle groups. And in cyclists, the quadriceps are often overdeveloped. To compensate for this, the hamstrings shorten, tighten, and thus weaken. The posture a cyclist conforms to astride a bike also contributes to muscle tension and imbalance: A bicyclist's spine is in a constant state of flexion, hunched over the handlebars. In order to achieve overall flexibility and balanced muscle groups, a biker needs to incorporate balancing, counteracting movements - for example, backbends, which stretch and elongate oft - used hip flexors and quadriceps. A yoga practice can help restore balance, first by taking the alignment principles of yoga and transferring them to how you sit on your bike. Permalink to this page: www.galfromdownunder.com/yoga Last updated: January 2010