Stone Path Yoga to host Soma-Yoga for Runners class

As Door County becomes more of a destination for silent sports enthusiasts, one person is ready to treat and prevent the pulled muscles, displaced kneecaps and torn tendons that come with extreme athletics.

Theresa Evans of Stone Path Yoga treats somatics patient Jim Johnson for chronic injuries due to running. Evans will offer a Soma-Yoga for Runners class this fall to address some of the common injuries athletes experience. Photo by Katie Sikora.

“I’m hoping to give people tools that they can use for the rest of their lives and help them keep doing what they love doing,” said Theresa Evans, owner of Stone Path Yoga studio in Sister Bay.

Evans decided to offer a class tailored toward distance runners and cyclists when she realized many of her clients come to her with running-related injuries.

The class, called Soma-Yoga for Runners, will teach students how to avoid injury while exercising. In the 90 minutes of class time Evans will teach students about how running impacts the body, how to breathe effectively and how to stretch – or lengthen muscles – in a way that won’t lead to more injury.

“We’re going to be exploring in this class alternatives to traditional stretching that actually lengthen the muscle faster, and more peacefully, and work more with the nervous system,” Evans said.

Evans also practices somatics – which teaches students how to feel what happens inside their bodies and control it. She leads them through contracting and relaxing parts of the body, while paying close attention to which muscles are used. That way, students can practice keeping those muscles relaxed after they leave the studio.

“We’re going to be working with teaching your brain to remember how to relax a muscle,” Theresa said. “That’s the somatics part.”

Jim Johnson, one of Evans’s students, is a former runner that has transitioned to walking after a knee injury. He’s been practicing somatics with Evans and attends one of her classes.

“I know from just going through the relaxation yoga, it’s completely different than what you were taught about stretching,” Johnson said.

Evans said runners, especially runners who go long distances, tend to have tight muscles and often over-stretch to make up for it.

“It becomes a vicious, kind of self-perpetuating cycle,” Evans said.

So instead of yanking on muscles, Evans will help her students remember what relaxed muscles feel like.

But that takes practice, Evans said. Once the Soma-Yoga for Runners class begins, students will have to take time every day to notice their posture, alignment and muscle contraction, then re-adjust to a neutral, comfortable position.

“We have to remind ourselves what is truly normal,” Evans said.

Evans said in many cases taking a long break from a certain exercise like running or kayaking can help athletes enjoy their sport for a long time. Then, once they start the exercise again they can pay attention to what might be causing injury and try to avoid hurting themselves.

“At least if you’re going to do something, do it with awareness,” Evans said.