A few weeks ago we wrote about pre surf holiday yoga poses. Hopefully your preseason training is well under way, and we’ll be seeing you out here in the waves soon.
Today we’re covering yoga poses that we recommend for post surfing. After a day paddling in the ocean, your arms, neck, shoulders, back and legs – basically your whole body – will love these post surf focused stretches.
So roll out your mat – or bookmark for later – and join us for a taster of our evening sunset yoga class.
Savasana with Cushion Support
Find a cushion or bolster the length of your back. Sit upright with cushion at base of your spine, then slowly lie back so that your whole upper body, including your head, is supported by the cushion. Relax. Feel the weight of your whole body supported. Allow your shoulders to sink down. Close your eyes. Connect with your breath. Take deep inhales through the nose into your belly, and slow exhales following your breath rising up through the body and out through your nose. Stay here for as long as it takes to feel like you have ‘arrived’ on your mat.
Thread the Needle
A great arm and shoulder stretch. Come to a kneeling position, also known as Hero Pose. Reach your left hand forward and place it on the mat with the arm out straight. Then on an inhale lift your right arm to the sky, and on an exhale sweep it down, threading it underneath your left arm. Come on to the outer edge of your right shoulder, with your right temple on the mat. Stay here for a few minutes, feel that opening between your shoulder blades. To come out of the pose slowly release and press back up to your kneeling position. Repeat on the other side.
Bound Angle or Butterfly
Come to a comfortable seat with the soles of your feet together and weight distributed evenly across your buttcheeks. Use your hands to lift your heels in towards your body. From here rock your knees up and down, flapping your butterfly wings for around 30 seconds. To deepen the stretch, take it to a static stretch by wrapping your hands around the feet, opening them up like the pages of a book. Inhale to lengthen through the upper body lifting up through the crown of the head, exhale bring the chest up and over, reaching chest over your feet. Feel that yummy stretch in your hip adductors and inner thighs.
Cat Cow
Excellent for warming up and loosening any tension in the spine. From a table top position – on your hands and knees – check your hands are in line with shoulders and knees are in line with hips. Inhale press into your palms, lift the chin to the sky and drop the belly for a cow stretch. Exhale, round the spine, bringing your chin in towards your chest and lifting the navel up towards your spine. Repeat several times, syncing with your breath, slow and steady controlled movements.
Other key stretches to include would be;
Side stretches: to work on your obliques which get used a lot in paddling, include poses like Side Angle Pose, Twists, Side Planks
Hip flexors: anything to keep flexibility in your hips will help with popping up, and being comfortable sitting on your board for extended periods of time, include poses like pigeon, lunges and cow face pose.
Abdomen: this area gets used a lot in surfing, so its nice to include some post surfing stretches that target this area specifically, like cobra and upward facing dog.
Thank you for reading. We hope this gives you a taster as to what to expect in our post surfing yoga classes, and look forward to seeing you on our sun kissed, cactus-filled terrace for some yoga – or mint tea – very soon.
Namaste.
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