CHENNAI : Yoga doesn’t strain your lungs enough,” says 55-year-old Gopinath, completing his asanas after a casual 5-km jog, without breaking a sweat. K Gopinath, yoga coach at the MRF Pace Foundation, believes yoga isn’t enough to completely ‘activate’ the body.Gopinath, who trains fast bowlers from across the globe at the Pace Foundation, says that jogging activates the lungs and when combined with yoga asanas, it maximises the distribution of ‘prana-energy’ in the body. “Unlike the limbs, you can’t strengthen the lungs with dumbbells,” says Gopinath, explaining that limb movement while running acts like pistons in an engine and increases lung capacity over extended sessions.
Increased lung capacity is common among leaders likes MK Karunanidhi, Narendra Modi, and Winston Churchill. “These leaders have activated the lower and middle lobes of their lungs. This enables them to deliver sustained rhetoric without taking breaths in between,” says Gopinath, while doing the Sirsasana (headstand).
Taking it a step forward, Gopinath, who played cricket at the U-19 level for the state, suggests alternate running to jogging before doing yoga. He believes this will season the lungs better and empty carbon dioxide more effectively. “I usually jog 200 metres, run 200 metres and walk 100 metres and it also burns more calories,” he says, lamenting how people work out to look good and not feel good.
Yoga asanas for runners
● Tadasana gives traction for whole body, shoulder joints and centre of spine.
● Bhujangasana stretches spine, shoulder joints, wrist, palm and abdominal muscles.
● Sirsasana builds immunity, improves blood
● Janusirsasana gives a good stretch to the groin.