Yoga Poses for Walking Enthusiasts

Whether you’re a marathon sprinter, casual jogger or walking enthusiast, preventing injuries, lengthening your muscles and relaxing your tense joints are essential, regardless of your activity level. 

Incorporating Yoga, a soothing and relaxing ancient practice, into your daily workout routine can provide many health benefits including protection from repetitive strain injuries. Other mental and physical health benefits include strengthened cardiovascular abilities and a deeper mind-body connection. Breathing exercises practiced through Yoga also help you to run or walk at a more stable and efficient pace by balancing and calming your body. 

With these health benefits in mind, here are 4 great yoga poses you can try as you prepare for the upcoming 2014 Mandarin MS Walk! 

1.    Extended Forward Fold – This lower body fold helps to deeply stretch the calf and hamstring muscles, while gently elongating the back and spine.

2.    The Chair Pose – This pose helps alleviate leg muscle pains while engaging your hips and quad muscles by focusing your mind and stabilizing your core.

3.    Warrior Stance – The stretch provides a deep back of leg stretch to loosen your muscles and strengthen the calves and legs, perfect before a walk or run. 

4.    Twisting Lunge – This leg balancing move helps to increase your fitness endurance and body’s stability while lengthening and stretching your leg muscles. 

For tips on how to perform these poses and more, check out yoga instructor Morgan Cowie’s article from Chatelaine Magazine http://bit.ly/16wTh0e.

Step into Fall

This past Sunday marked the first day of fall. As the cool autumn breeze begins to blow and leaves transform into beautiful colours, the fall season is an excellent opportunity to take advantage of the scenic outdoors.

Along with the beginning of a season full of fun and festive activities, the fall season also marks an important opportunity to kick off your personal fitness goals. Whether you aim to improve your overall health and fitness levels, begin to prepare for the upcoming 2014 Mandarin MS Walk or are a beginner fitness enthusiast, now is the time to start! 

Why not set aside 20 minutes a day to go for a relaxing walk, run or hike outdoors? Grab a friend, family member or load up your favorite tunes on your IPod and get ready to step into fall!

For some quick and easy tips on how you can begin your active walking fitness routine, check out this short Health Smarts video by fitness expert Vonda Wright http://bit.ly/1ep6IbA.

Walk Diary: Sudbury Mandarin MS Walk

Stephanie M., an MS Society Staff member, really enjoyed her time up North at the Sudbury Mandarin MS Walk. Read about her experience below! 

It was a beautiful day for such an amazing event. New and longtime participants joined together at the MS Centre of Hope in Sudbury, on May 26, to take part in the Sudbury Mandarin MS Walk.

Participants returned from there 5km walk in high spirits, looking forward to the annual raffle draws and BBQ lunch. It was so nice to see such great community involvement and local support as well as participants sharing stories and meeting new friends. The volunteers were incredible; many volunteers are longtime participants who enjoy helping out in the morning before the Walk and participant in the Walk as well! 

Thanks again to all of the dedicated participants, teams, volunteers and local sponsors. The event was a large success and it would not have been possible without your support. More than 150 participants walked 5km and raised over $28,000 for people affected my MS. Congratulations!

Walk Diary: Ajax-Pickering Mandarin MS Walk

Kristin with her Mandarin MS Walk team

We’re back from our brief hiatus to bring you another Walk Diary. That’s right, when we said they don’t stop, we meant it!

This week’s Walk Diary comes from Ajax-Pickering Mandarin MS Walk Committee Member Kristin S.

After participating in the Ajax-Pickering MS Walk as a team captain for 4 years, I was thrilled to be recruited onto the planning committee for 2013.

It definitely takes the entire community to get this giant ball rolling. Every week, I would meet with the planning team, approach potential sponsors, and manage the social networks attached with our local walk. 

One particularly cold day, after seeing their 'grand opening' ad in the Ajax paper, I headed up to a new No Frills grocery store. So many local businesses are already partnered with a charity, so it can be tough to get new ones on board. I was juggling my 2.5 year old, my bag of MS info, a pen, and rehearsing my "The MS Walk is a great event to partner with because..." speech as I went in.

 I met with the owner of Summerhill's No Frills right there in the frozen foods section. He listened intently, and guess what? I didn't even have to finish my well-rehearsed sales pitch! He immediately said "Sounds great. Count us in". WOW. Turns out he knows someone with MS. And isn't that the thing with MS? It is there, in our communities, across our country, and most likely someone in your neighbourhood knows someone with MS, has it themselves, knows of friend of a friend...you get the idea. But it can be a positive thing, because it brings us together. We can carry each other's burdens and support each other, like Summerhill's No Frills did.

Our event had a stellar breakfast to get our participants going! Fresh fruit, juice boxes, granola bars, and of course our Tim Horton's favourites too. And that was just the beginning of a fantastic day, but nearly the end for the planning committee who breathed a collective sigh of relief as the day wrapped up nicely.

If you've been participating in your local MS Walk, why not take the next step and help plan it? Every Step Matters, after all.

Walk Diaries will continue with a recap of the Sudbury Mandarin MS Walk!