YOGA AND RUNNING: INTERVIEW WITH THE CO-FOUNDER OF BERUNNER SCHO

Yoga and Running: Interview with the Co-Founder of BeRunner School

The heroine of our new interview is Natasha Shakhmetova , IT marketer, co-founder of the BeRunner running school . We talked about how to run in any weather, why it is necessary and how yoga and running complement each other.

My name is Natasha, I work as a marketing manager and I have been running for, I think, 20 years. I never thought about it, but recently I realized that I have been running since childhood. My mother is an orienteering coach, and I simply had no choice. I was once rejected for professional swimming, to which my mother said, "It's okay, you will run," and I have been doing this ever since.

For those who do not know, orienteering is running through the forest with a map. You have a detailed map of the area, on which every hillock or swamp is marked. There are checkpoints on the map, and your task is to run through all of these checkpoints in a given sequence. Competitions are held in the city, in the forest, there are also different types of distances (3, 5, 10 km). This is one of the most popular sports in Scandinavia and some other European countries, but unfortunately, it is not so popular here yet.

To run the distance, you need to be in good physical shape and train running first and foremost. Orienteering combines the ability to quickly read a map and run across rough terrain - through swamps, hills, through bushes and other difficult-to-pass areas. Running is an important factor in being a successful orienteer, and in parallel, I have trained this sport separately since childhood. I was in the youth and junior national teams, went to world and European championships.

Since my university studies, I have been running for a Swedish club, where this sport is very popular. Orienteering has a club system, much like football, and each club attracts legionnaires. 2-3 times a year I continue to go to Sweden for about a week, and the process there is completely different - different terrain, more difficult orienteering, a different level of physical fitness among people. In Sweden, in general, many sports are more popular and developed than here, and it is not only running.

YS: At what point did you realize that you needed yoga and why?

N: Let's start with the fact that I am choleric, plus sometimes it is difficult for me to concentrate, to stay in the present moment. And when you are doing orientation, you constantly need to maintain your attention, not to be distracted by unnecessary thoughts. Because if you get distracted, you will get lost. All this can easily be transferred to work and to any other activity in life - as soon as you drop out, it becomes difficult for you, you need some time to delve into the process again. And yoga has drawn me in primarily mentally, not physically. It helps to concentrate on your body and listen to yourself. I practically do not have extraneous thoughts during practice. Sometimes I even force myself to go to the studio for a class, because I know that now I need 2 hours without a phone and thoughts. Running is also a kind of meditation, but while running you still think about something more often. And in hatha yoga, especially during dynamic switches from one movement to another, you are in the flow all the time.

Physically, I felt how much my core and back muscles developed, and I became much more flexible. Many people say that runners don't need flexibility and extra elasticity of muscles, but I don't think so, because with moderately developed flexibility there is a lower risk of injury. Yoga in this regard is a very complex activity that allows you to develop flexibility and strength in a balanced way.