YOGA AT THE PARIS MARATHON 2025
On the occasion of the Paris Marathon on Sunday April 13, 2025, let's take a look at yoga, the unsuspected ally of long-distance runners. Much more than a simple post-race stretching exercise, yoga invites itself into the stride of marathon runners to strengthen breath, prevent injury, improve recovery and balance effort through body awareness. When endurance meets full presence for the Best of All Worlds!
Written by TINA - April 2025
Inklapbare content
Reading time
Approx. 10 minutes
WHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO DISCOVER
- The essential role of breath in physical performance and the management of prolonged effort.
- How postural yoga strengthens the runner's alignment, anchorage and stability.
- Key postures to gently prepare the body and avoid chronic injury.
- Deep recovery tools to relieve muscles after exercise.
- Focusing and mental resilience practices to overcome limits.
- How the yoga mat becomes a space for balance and complementary training.
"Let's take a look!
BREATH AT THE HEART OF ENDURANCE
Even before the first step, there's breath. In running, as in yoga, it gives rhythm to the effort, supports the mind and optimizes every movement. Yet for many runners, breathing remains unconscious, often too rapid or superficial. Yoga, with its pranayama techniques, offers a fine-tuned approach to breath as an endurance tool.
Working on breathing through exercises such as Nadi Shodhana (alternate breathing) or Ujjayi (victorious breathing) helps to oxygenate muscles, calm the nervous system and maintain concentration, even in the midst of exertion. This mastery of the breath plays a decisive role in regulating the heart rate and managing competition-related stress.
Before the start of a marathon, incorporating a few minutes of conscious breathing can prepare the mind for the ordeal, stabilize emotions and refocus energy. During the race, returning to the breath in moments of fatigue or doubt becomes an inner anchor, almost meditative.
Yoga teaches that breath guides movement, not the other way around. This philosophy, transposed to running, transforms the performance experience into a fluid, connected and more respectful exploration of the body. Breath after breath, step after step, the breath becomes an invisible... but decisive ally.
PHYSICAL PREPARATION AND TARGETED POSTURES FOR RUNNERS
A marathon can't be improvised. It requires weeks, sometimes months, of physical preparation. Yet many runners forget the importance of flexibility, joint stability and muscle recovery. This is where yoga comes in as a strategic complement to classic training.
By incorporating certain postures into a weekly routine, runners can not only prevent injury, but also improve their performance. Postures such as Utthita Ashwa Sanchalanasana (high lunge) or Ardha Hanumanasana (half split) open up the hips, which are often put to the test by miles of running. Others like Malasana (yogic squat) reinforce stability and relax the lower back.
Yoga also strengthens deep muscles, particularly in the abdominals, psoas and lumbar region - essential for maintaining efficient posture throughout the run. And unlike static stretches often performed without awareness, yoga postures involve mental engagement and breath work, making them more complete.
This approach helps to improve the stride, relieve accumulated tension in the legs, and improve body awareness. The body becomes more supple, more aligned and more available. In other words, it's better able to withstand effort without becoming fragile.
Before a marathon, a fluid sequence of targeted postures can become a real ritual for refocusing and warming up. After the race, these same postures accompany recovery, soothe tension and promote muscle regeneration.
GENTLE PHYSICAL PREPARATION AS HEALTHY AND MIRACULOUSLY INTELLIGENT
Much more than a simple training supplement, yoga is an intelligent approach to movement that prepares the body for effort without rushing it. In the context of a marathon, where the repetition of ground impact can generate tension and imbalance, a targeted yoga practice offers gentle, preventive and effective physical preparation.
Yoga postures promote joint warm-up, muscular flexibility and energy circulation, preparing the runner for the intensity of the race. Key areas are particularly stressed by runners: tight hamstrings, locked hips, overstressed lumbar vertebrae, sensitive ankles... These are all points that yoga helps to untie with precision and kindness.
Active stretches, such as downward dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana ) or warrior I (Virabhadrasana I), strengthen alignment while developing muscular endurance. Yoga also acts on the posterior chains and core, improving posture and reducing the risk of compensation during running.
But beyond the physical, it's also a subtle awareness of the body that yoga develops: knowing when to slow down, breathe, adjust. This fine-tuned awareness enables you to adapt your effort to your real capacities, avoiding injuries caused by overestimation or lack of thorough preparation.
Yoga then becomes a strategic partner for the runner, helping to preserve the body's integrity, balance strength and flexibility, and support long-term progress. It's a way of running further, but above all, a way of running fairer.
POST-MARATHON YOGA: RECOVERY AND REGENERATION
After miles of intense effort, the body needs rest, relaxation and gratitude. Yoga, practised after the race, becomes a profound regeneration tool that accompanies the runner in his physical and mental recovery phase.
Certain key postures helprelieve muscular tension,improve blood circulation and prevent muscle soreness. Asanas such as Supta Baddha Konasana (butterfly pose), Viparita Karani (legs against a wall) and Balasana (child's pose) help the body to relax passively, while activating the parasympathetic, regenerative system.
Breathwork plays a central role here: longer exhalations calm the heart rate, reduce nervous tension and facilitate a return to calm. Abdominal breathing and cardiac coherence can be integrated into this post-race phase to maximize the benefits.
Post-race yoga isn't just a set of stretching exercises: it's a moment of listening to the body, where runners can return to their sensations, observe areas of fatigue or fragility, and treat themselves to gentle, respectful care. It's also an opportunity to celebrate the effort made, to honour the limits crossed and the kilometers covered.
Incorporating these post-race rituals not only promotes better muscle recovery, but also a more conscious connection to the body, thus avoiding excess or long-term injury. Here, yoga becomes a space for gratitude, refocusing and restorative gentleness.
THE MENTAL POWER OF YOGA TO OVERCOME THE FAMOUS "30th KILOMETER WALL
In running, there's one moment that marathoners dread: the 30th kilometer wall. This breaking point, where energy reserves dwindle and the mind wavers, is as much a physical challenge as an emotional one. This is where yoga comes in as an ally of the mind, revealing all its inner power.
Yoga has always taught that the body follows the mind. And that when we master the fluctuations of the mind, we find the strength to move forward, even in the face of adversity. The tools of yogic practice - meditation, concentration (Dharana), breathing (Pranayama) - become invaluable resources in preventing fatigue and self-doubt from overwhelming you.
Visualizing a smooth run, a calm breath, a joyful finish can positively reprogram the experience. The repetition of simple mantras (such as "I'm strong", "I'm going on", "I'm breathing") becomes a common thread that keeps you in the present moment, despite the effort.
Some active meditation practices can even be integrated while running, bringing attention back to the cadence of your steps, the breath or the landscape. This allows you to leave behind the negative mental loop and return to a calmer, more centered state of presence.
By cultivating these skills before and during the race, the rider learns to observe without judgment, to welcome discomfort without identifying with it, and above all, to stay the course despite turbulence.
The wall is no longer an obstacle, but an initiatory passage. An opportunity to tap into invisible but powerful resources. Thanks to yoga, endurance is not limited to the body: it becomes an inner strength, stable and resilient.
WHEN THE YOGA MAT BECOMES A SUSTAINABLE CROSS-TRAINING GROUND
More and more runners - whether amateurs or seasoned marathoners - are discovering the benefits of cross-training with yoga as part of their routine. Far from being reserved solely for recovery, the yoga mat is becoming a genuine complementary training ground, helping to optimize overall performance, both physically and mentally.
Yoga strengthens muscle groups often neglected by running, such as the deep abdominal girdle, stabilizing muscles and the upper back. By working onpostural balance and proprioception, it reduces imbalances and compensates for the repetitive effects of the one-sided effort of running. This helps prevent the chronic injuries common to runners (knees, Achilles tendons, hips, etc.).
Beyond the physical benefits, this practice also develops mental stamina. The postures held, the breathing controlled and the attention paid to internal sensations train the mind to remain centred and lucid in the face of fatigue. Yoga thus offers a more conscious approach to movement and rest, directly linked to the demands of long effort.
By incorporating even one or two yoga sessions a week, runners observe improved energy management, optimized recovery and a greater ability to listen to their bodies. The mat then becomes much more than an accessory: it becomes the silent ally of a sustainable, balanced preparation, fully aligned with the demands of marathon running.
Thank you TINA for this post
Thank you for this beautiful inner and outer race around the Paris Marathon 2025. May every stride, like every breath on the mat, bring you closer to your own finish line: that of balance, strength and mindfulness.
TINA's bio
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TINA
1994, Reunion Island & Mauritius, a Life inspired by the Indian Ocean and Yoga
Since childhood, this intrepid traveler has criss-crossed the globe, leaving her footprints on beaches the world over.Passionate about surfing, scuba diving and sailing, she has made the ocean her playground and source of inspiration.
The freedom of the waves, the serenity of the ocean depths and the wind in his sails have punctuated his journey, always guided by a quest for connection with nature.
Through her explorations, yoga has become more than a practice for her - it's a way of life.
Between morning surf sessions and meditative sunsets, she has found in yoga a perfect balance of strength, fluidity and self-awareness.
Today, she combines her passion for water sports with teaching yoga and is part of the Yogaterrae team, here in France, in the South-West and often remotely :)
This adventuress is a true source of inspiration for anyone who aspires to live in harmony with their body and nature.
Through her stories of incredible experiences, she invites everyone to open up to a world where every wave, every breath and every posture is a celebration of life.
