Seems a lot of serious paddlers advocate yoga as an activity to improve your paddling.
What are the benefits (both in general and for paddling)?
Matt
Yoga Practice
I have combined yoga practice with my weight training program for the last year. Yoga improves range of motion and balance as well as working muscle groups that the weights don’t address. All good. I hadn’t done head stands since college.
And, after, several of us adjourn to PJ’s the local brew pub, where we engage in another practice we refer to as re-toxificatioin.
It’s great
Take a drop in class some day. The next day when you hobble to breakfast you’ll know.
It’s not magical. It’s just a total body exercise form that challenges your flexibility and puts you in strenuous positions. It also encourages your breathing and control. The nice thing is you can go at any pace you want, it’s non-competitive and all instructors want you to never go beyond your limits no matter how out-of-shape you are. There’s a spiritual side of personal self-development that is in all classes.
Perfect for paddling development. Give it a try.
Fat Elmo in a Lotus position…
Hawwwwwww! Hawwwww! Gawf! Sputter! Gawf!
FE
if you haven’t seen this
it’s worth getting…
http://www.brushymountainpublishing.com/yoga-ventures/yfp.html
Maybe more calm
I am thinking that wouldn’t be a bad idea.
It is also introduces crucial stretch for stuff like the Greenland moves.
Yogurt…
I agree… I think most paddlers would benefit from eating more yogurt, less ice cream… fewer calories and sugar…
balance, flexibility, concentration
good question and thanks for the
responses all. I have yoga in my “to do” list.
'sall right Boo-Boo!! NM
You favor the Reclining Bhudda postion?
i agree with zzzz great dvd to have
works on your trunk and core muscles well!!!
Been doing it…
Actually I started with a weekly class last week. Had my 2nd class today.
It’s different…just wondering how it can benefit me over spending that time on the elliptical at lunch and curious to learn about the overall benefits.
Matt
Keep up with it
Give it some time and you will soon realize the benefits.
Made my knees hurt
And I know my body was not designed to bend in some of those positions. Granted, I’m about as flexible as a plank of oak. But it did nothing for me but cause pain in places I never had pain before.
not yoga but
I’ve had really good luck with the Elaine Petrone stretching methods and I have doubled the time I can sit comfortably without back pain.
Pain where you’ve never had pain before
If you start a new exercise routine and you are having pain where you’ve never had pain before, that means it is working. It is obviously focusing on area that don’t get worked out very much. Keep at it and eventually the pain will go away.
bigger johnson, too
that was for seakak 
Actually yoga and ballet stretches are very good for all sports. Many pro football and basketball players have done these exercises for over a decade, even when their teammates might snicker.
Increased balance, flexibility help avoid injuries.
Improved posture. Better breathing.
Also as others mentioned it’s a state of mind acclimation. It’s helped me handle difficult situations and people. although I’m still working on that.
Many paddling club events often start with some optional yoga in the mornings, at least the ones I’ve attended.
Hamstring Flexibility
Many yoga poses require hamstring flexibility and by working to improve yours, it will make it easier to sit with your legs out in front of you, lessening the strain on you lower back. Other postures improve torso rotation, promote back flexibility and strengthen lower back and abdominal muscles, making it easier to roll. -Nancy
I know this to be true from other forms
of exercise. When I first took up running and strength training, for example, muscle soreness was part of the process of getting fit. With yoga, however, it really seemed like a different ballgame–putting stress on joints in ways that didn’t go away, even after weeks, and ended up creating problems in my other activities that didn’t exist before. I found myself acquiring “running-related” injuries when I was doing yoga, that I never had before, and which eventually went away (and have not returned) when I gave up yoga. I actually still do incorporate a couple of yoga positions into my routine stretching. But others, I became convinced, were doing me harm, not good.
My new approach is to not rigidly buy into the dogmas of yoga, pilates, or other specific programs. My body is better at telling me what kinds of stretching is beneficial, and which contortions are harmful, than any yoga instructor or book.