[ by Alexandra Sobczak and Wyatt Loy and photos by Elizabeth Tipton ]
Do a sun salutation, an airplane pose, a chair pose, crescent lunges and more during 20 minutes of yoga in the fresh air of Will Christy Park before setting off on a 3-mile run around the Highland Square area of Akron. There are physical and mental benefits to running, yoga and being outdoors, so the Yoga Squared Run Club brings them all together while surrounding you with other runners, walkers and yogis.
“Tapping into the natural elements of the planet will give you a sense of energy and a drive like no other,” says Kate Woodford-Shell, the co-owner of Yoga Squared and a Run Club instructor. “It’s connecting to the Earth and connecting to each other.”
Part of the goal of the studio, which Woodford-Shell’s now wife, Nikki, opened in December 2016, is to make yoga accessible. Participants don’t need to be members, pay a fee or be an experienced runner to attend the club on the last Thursday of each month. Each meeting ends with encouraged stretching and then an optional hangout at a local restaurant or bar. All runners can bond beforehand, too, during yoga.
“When you run, you’re running at all different paces,” Woodford-Shell says. “The yoga thing is so that we can all come together and move and breathe as one … and to get into that space where we feel very interconnected to the people around us.”
Seasoned runners can benefit from adding yoga, she says. Some runners have told her that they don’t always warm up their muscles or stretch the way they should, so the yoga session serves as a way to focus your mind, ground your spirit and prepare you physically for running. It activates your mind and gets your body feeling strong.
“Finding that interconnectedness is really, really important,” Woodford-Shell says. “This is the union of the mind, body and spirit.”
Yoga Squared offers a plethora of yoga styles, from beginner-friendly Hatha yoga to hot power yoga to yoga Nidra — a type of meditation — to yoga and weights classes and more. Any style of yoga and running are symbiotic, as yoga can also help your breath, which is essential in running. “Yoga is about breathing,” she says. “We get a lot of runners who say, I’m so much more aware of my breathing during my run because of yoga.”
Woodford-Shell started her running journey near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when Yoga Squared was closed and started the Run Club this April. Running gave her some peace of mind to know her lungs were strengthening and her cardiovascular health was improving. “I feel stronger,” she says. “I feel mentally stronger.”
Even while running on her own, she does 20 minutes of yoga poses beforehand. “I’m always doing like, chair poses and crescent warrior, and my sun salutations, and making sure my muscles are turned on before I head out the door,” Woodford-Shell says. “That kind of mimics the movement of running. … The ones that activate your leg muscles are going to be best.” She adds that she does deep stretching afterward for her muscles and joints.
That habit helps her body best perform, which is an aim of the club too. “My goal is to really help people to not get injured,” she says, “and also just to have the best possible run, jog or walk that they can.”
You can not only get guidance and reap physical and mental benefits from joining the club, but you can also meet other people, build a community and grow new friendships.
“It’s important for us as a community to help each other,” Woodford-Shell says, “and support each other in that pursuit of being mentally, spiritually and physically fit.”
