Yoga is important to surfing and learning to surf for these five reasons.

Yoga is important to surfing and learning to surf for these five reasons.

1. Yoga teaches you to Practice Conscious Breath

Guess what? When you are in the water, you can’t always breath. Duck-dive, gotta time your breath. Same with a turtle roll. Caught by a set? Get the most out of your breath between in the few seconds you have before waves. Wave holding you under? Calm mind, calm body, longer the breath lasts. Yoga helps everyone learn to control. So, breath is incredibly important to surfing.

2. Flexibility

Flexibility is key. Try the eagle pose, try seated triangle. Flexibility is good for yoga and surfing, they both benefit from it and they both encourage it.

3. Strength

Yoga builds strength. Often it is a complimentary strength to surfing. Surfing builds that repetitive endurance muscle, the strength to go for wave after wave. Yoga builds that connecting tissue muscle strength. Try the chair pose, try the crow. That is often the first kind to break down during surfing.

4. Balance

Warrior pose, Tree, Chair, Crow, Side-plank. These positions train your body to balance while coming off the top of the lip harder and stronger.

5. Mindfulness

Om. Slow the mind. Focus on the present. Breath, on the mat or on the board.

Want more, come try a yoga / surf retreat with us!

www.elsalvadorretreats.com