Surfing and yoga have ridden in tandem for a long time now. From iconic surfers including “Mr. Pipeline” Gerry Lopez and the fluid and stylish Tom Curren, yoga has been utilised to enhance surfers ability to connect with the Ocean. Today, World Champions such as Kelly Slater and Mick “The Elastic Man” Fanning epitomise the benefits that yoga has to offer to a competitive surfer.
Rochelle Ballard, an elite surfer with 17 years on the ASP World Tour under her belt, has said that: “Yoga is the best thing I have found to complement my surfing. I think every surfer should discover yoga.” So what are the actual benefits that have stimulated Surfing Yoga DVD’s popping up everywhere?
Peggy Hall, of www.yogaforsurfers.com, explains that yoga targets motions that surfers use to balance. It strengthens the specific muscle groups used for takeoff, cut backs and impact maneuvers such as floaters. Your ability to surf better is directly related to your core strength, balance, endurance, flexibility and determination. These are the elements the growing phenomenon of yoga works to improve.
Tom Carrol on surfing and yoga --
As we all know, surfing instills a profound respect for the oceans power; which is humbling in unfathomable ways. There is a distinct mental element to your ability to surf that goes beyond your physical capabilities. Again, yoga parallels this. Aside from the obvious physical benefits yoga has to offer, yoga is known to increase mental focus, concentration and a refined sense of body and mind. The ‘power of the mind’ idiom takes its true form in the competitive surfing realm; with Kelly Slater having recently quoted “My best performances happened because my mind was in the right place. The mind is definitely stronger than the body."
In any Yoga DVD you come across, and there are plenty of them, a key focus is mental discipline and a heightened sense of consciousness. This form of mental training is certainly not incorporated in a typical gym workout. Yoga has provided an avenue through which surfers can develop their physical as well as mental being. As so aptly described by Tom Carroll on Yoga for Surfers 3: “Yoga connected me…it joined all the dots. You get to become closer with the moment and understand a centre in the middle of chaos. It’s just all encompassing. It just gripped me a long time ago and it drew the passion out and just makes you full.”
A yoga routine designed for surfers by Yogatic -
So the agility and suppleness of the world’s top surfers isn’t necessarily raw ability. Yoga seems to be an invaluable aspect of so many fitness training routines, as it is mirrors so many aspects of surfing. What was once stereotyped as a “girls only” activity is openly endorsed by some of the greatest power surfers of all time. I guess what I’m trying to say is…don’t knock it till you try it!
Check out 'Yoga for surfers' on thesurfshop.co.nz
2009
08:52 am
i need to lose weight first haha
- Posted by pol
2009
04:16 pm
If anyones interested in yoga and surfing lifestyle please have a look at http://surfingashram.wordpress.com/
- Posted by sam
2010
11:24 am
I got really into the surf/yoga combination when I booked a trip to Costa Rica a few months ago. I used this website: http://www.uniquewellnessdestinations.com/ which I would HIGHLY recommend and it landed me in the most amazing hotels in Central America..all of them with a focus on wellness, surfing and yoga. Can't get enough of surfing, yoga and wellness..and especially in Costa Rica!
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Hannah Howard is an avid surfer, mainly involved in the Longboarding community. She is the Women's Coordinator of the Orewa Longboard Club and writes for various media outlets, including 09 magazine. She is super stoked on travelling to Costa Rica with the NZ team covering the 2009 ISA World Surfing Games.
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