Following on from our article last month about surf fitness and how to work out like a pro-surfer, this month we are taking a look at yoga for surfing, and exactly why yoga will improve your surfing. It is no secret that many surfers on the WCT are advocates of using yoga to improve their surfing, and it applies in many different ways. Obviously the training for flexibility and body suppleness plays a big part in why yoga is so good for surfers, but there is more to it than that. It is an all-round body and mind wellness regime that helps to improve your surfing on a range of different levels, from balance and coordination on a physical level to concentration and focus on a mental level. Yoga is well suited to compliment the necessary physical and mental attributes that a surfer needs.
Peggy Hall and Yoga for Surfing
Perhaps one of the most well-known ‘yoga for surfing’ pioneers is Peggy Hall, who runs Yoga for Surfers TV. A surfer herself and former competitive swimmer, Peggy has spent years researching, learning and teaching the best yoga techniques and poses that are specifically chosen because of the benefit they have for surfers. She has singled out the best yoga exercises to help you improve stretching and flexibility, another set of breathing exercises to increase lung capacity, and poses that will help to increase surfing strength and power. She has released a range of DVD’s that provide different yoga lessons to get you started and help create your own specific yoga regime. You can even attend a Yoga for Surfers teacher training program in San Clemente, California, where Peggy will teach you to become a certified teacher of yoga for surfers.
What Taylor Knox Thinks of Yoga
One of the oldest competitors on the WCT, Taylor Knox, talks candidly about how he first discovered Yoga (thanks to a friend who bought him a lesson!), how it has benefitted him and why he will never stop. Watch the interview here, and you’ll be inspired to give yoga a go.
http://vimeo.com/72382192
Surfboard + Yoga = SUP Yoga
Another form of yoga that has sprung up in recent years is SUP yoga, which is essentially the same yoga exercises as you would do on land but instead you practice them while on top of a SUP board on the water. The warm up and cool down you get from paddling out to your yoga practice area is one extra benefit, but also the peace and tranquility of being detached from the land and surrounded by the calming element of water. It combines surfing and yoga in a way that forces you to improve your balance even more, as you need to stay on your board while striking yoga poses.
A Word from Gerry Lopez
Legendary big wave charger Gerry Lopez believes that yoga can truly save a persons surfing, and old age, stiffness and aches can make surfing simply more difficult and painful as time goes on. Yoga can prolong your surfing ability and help you surf through retirement, but that is not to say that youngsters should not be trying yoga. The younger you start the better, and for the fastest noticeable results, Lopez recommends Bikram yoga, 26 poses practiced for 90 minutes in a room heated to 105 degrees fahrenheit. Whichever type of yoga you choose to try, there is no doubt that all forms of yoga are sure to help you surf better.