Yoga is Making Waves: How to Prepare for Your Surf Trip

1. Simple Reclined Twist.

This restful posture opens the chest, twists the spine and stretches the lower back and hips, making us all lovely and supple. The spine loves to twist, it keeps it healthy, mobile and young.

How:

• Lie on your back.
• Hug your knees into your chest.
• Send both legs over to the right side and let the left knee rest on top of the right. You can always bring a pillow under or in between your knees for extra support.
• Open your arms wide (in line with your shoulders) so the chest is facing upwards.
• Inhale gently and try to fill your torso softly from your belly towards your chest. Exhale and release the weight of your body towards the ground.
• Stay for as long as you like, and then repeat on the other side.

2. Cat/Cow Movements

As we move between the two postures of cat and cow, we create more mobility through the spine, relieving stiffness and increasing range of motion. This exercise is great for any time of day, and can be particularly helpful in the morning when we are feeling a bit stiff – great for waking up the spine.

How:

• Start on your hands and knees - hands spread wide under shoulders and knees under the hips. Fold a towel or blanket under your knees if they are sensitive.
• Connect to your inhales and exhales
• Start to wiggle around a little bit, moving the body naturally, loosening up your hips and spine – checking in with how your whole body feels.
• Breathe in – dip your belly toward the ground, arching the back, then gently shrug the shoulders away from the ears and look up. Breathe out – round your back towards the sky and relax the chin towards the chest, stretching the back of the neck.
• Continue like this, connecting movement and breath for as long as it feels good. 

3. Melting Heart Pose

This posture is a right tonic after a surf as it stretches the front and back of the torso, shoulders, chest and arms all at once. You can move into it from Cat/Cow.

How:

• Come into an all fours, or tabletop, position (you’ll already be there if you’ve just done Cat/Cow).
• Stack your knees under your hips but walk your hands forwards – you want your arms to be fully stretched out.
• Keep a bit of pressure in your hands and spread them into the floor, actively connecting them to the ground so a bit of energy flows up into your arms.
• Let your chest sink towards the ground.
• See if you can relax around your upper back area, especially in between your shoulder blades.
• Focus on the movement of the breath, and soften any tension around shoulders and upper back on the exhale.

4. Pigeon Position

A yoga classic. This shape stretches the hip flexors & deep gluteal muscles, plus works the muscles of the groin, back, thigh, and piriformis. It releases tightness in the lower back area and helps improve mobility in the hips.

Even though this posture can feel really intense - give it time to work and don’t forget to breathe!

*This deep position may not be suitable for you if you have injuries to the psoas muscle, knees or any historical labral tears in the hip joint, so go easy and perhaps look to modify by lying on the back, and crossing one ankle over the opposite knee in a piriformis/figure four stretch.

How:

• From all fours slide your right knee toward the outer right wrist, so your knee points slightly out and your heel is closer to your hips.
• Bring your right foot towards the back of your left wrist, so your shin is towards the front of the mat (at most parallel).
• Wiggle your left leg further back and stretch it out behind you.
• Ease your hips towards the ground – pop a pillow under your hips for comfort if you like – to feel a stretch in your outer right hip.
• Breathe slowly and gently throughout to calm any thoughts and feelings that start to come up. Stay for as long as is comfortable - you don’t want to feel any pain here, so back off if you need to.
• To come out, place the weight into your hands, and either roll over to one side, or step back to downward dog to neutralise the hips. You might feel stiff, so no rush to exit the position!