SURF AND YOGA

Yoga has been growing in popularity year after year and more so within the surfing
community. Kelly Slater, Tom Carroll, Gerry Lopez and Mick Fanning are all big fans, so why
is yoga so good for surfers and how can it help you radically improve your game?

Breathe In, Breathe Out

First and foremost, yoga teaches you how to breathe. And we don’t mean just inhaling and
exhaling air. Most surfers in the line-up will be paddling around taking quick breaths in and
out of their mouths. Yoga teaches you how to slow down your breathing and take slow deep
breathes in from the nose, completely filling the lungs and then exhaling out from the nose.
It is not only important for maintaining stamina but helps with those set wave hold downs.
Breathing properly will keep you calm when you’re stressed, relax your body and tighten
your focus – all the things you want to be doing when you’re surfing.

Adios Muscle Knots

Anyone who has spent time in the water knows the pain of knots in the shoulders and back
from long sessions of paddling. Yoga is all about stretching, and the poses really help stretch
out those contracted muscles. Not only is yoga great for the post-surf knots, regular yoga
practice can prevent injuries and knots from occurring in the first place by strengthening
muscles.

Injury Free

As with any sports, surfing can take its toll on the body, particularly the shoulders, back,
knees and ankles. As we mentioned in the previous point, regular yoga practice helps
strengthen major muscles as well as secondary stabilising muscles, but it also strengthens
the core and results in better flexibility. A strong core and stabilising muscles create better
balance and increased flexibility which will give you a better range of motion. All this helps
when it comes to taking a wipeout, better yet all this helps avoid a wipeout.

Energiser Bunny

More energy means more time in the water, as well the advantage in overcrowded lineups.
While yoga is great for strengthening the body and improving breath, it’s also great for
working the internal organs and balancing metabolism. What do your internal organs and
metabolism have to do with surfing well? Everything! The twisting, stretching, and
contracting of the organs which happen in many yoga poses helps release toxins from the
body faster. Fast steady toxin removal means a good working metabolism, and when your
metabolism is optimal your body is optimal meaning it’s a good weight and working how it
should, increasing general well-being and energy. Yoga also promotes better sleep. A well-
rested surfer is an energised surfer.

Anywhere and Everywhere

Yoga is so awesome for improving your surfing, reducing stress, staying fit and just your
general well-being, but what’s even more awesome is, once you have had a few classes it
can be done anywhere, at any time. On the beach, by the road, on a nice grassy spot in a
park.

Yoga and surfing go together like sunsets and Instagram. And the benefits of being able to
practice yoga while travelling the east Australian coast and surfing epic waves are fewer
injuries, more time in the water and better waves.