Benefits of yoga for snowboarders

Focus, balance, equilibrium, respiration, power and flexibility. Those are crucial fundamentals both in snowboarding and yoga practices.
In this article, we will explain you why yoga goes hand by hand with snowboard and how it will help you improving your riding.

In this article we will consider all benefits of yoga that could lead to positive results in your snowboarding style and in the way you ride your snowboard or approach the sport. We will also consider the effect that yoga practice has on snowboarders, including both physical aspects and mental aspects.

What is yoga?

For those of you that know nothing about the yoga practice, let’s start with a short definition of yoga. The term yoga derives from the verb “to yoka” which means to bring together body and mind.
It is indeed a combination of physical postures, breathing techniques and meditation.

There are various yoga disciplines: hatha yoga, vinyasa yoga, kundalini yoga, ashtanga yoga, yin yoga and so on. Some of them are more relaxive and distensive, some others are more powerful. All of them have different positive effects on the human body.

Mental aspects

Respiration : A tool for concentrating is the ability to breath and indeed respiration is crucial in either yoga and snowboarding.
First of all, a focus on respiration is the clu for being concentrated on present moments.
When you breathe consciously you stimulate specific areas of the brain, like the cortex, that are more evolved and normally not used with unconscious breathing. The activation of the cortex has a relaxing and balancing impact on your mind.
In this way by doing different yoga poses you can ameliorate the ability to control emotions. You will be able to better manage your worries and stress before a physical performance on your snowboard.

Concentration : Personally, I first understood and experienced the importance of staying focused while trying some new tricks or doing something in snowboarding that was out of my comfort zone and required concentration.
By practicing yoga, the importance of being focused on the moment and on my body has become even more important. Yoga requires us to focus on each breath that we make in order to succeed in staying balanced and stable in one position; if we are not focused or we think about something else, we will not be able to maintain the right yoga position.
Thereby with the yoga practice you will improve the ability to concentrate on present actions that you do on a snowboard, this will increase your results, improvements and performances on the snow.

Body awareness : Another positive impact of the yoga practice on your snowboarding performances is linked to the possibility given by some yoga postures to develop increased proprioception. This will result in having the ability to know where you are and to understand how your body is oriented in the space and surroundings.
The yoga practice will train your receptors and nerves to monitor sensations naturally without consciously thinking about it. For example you will increase your perception of the pressure in your boots.

Physical aspects

Balance : There are two different types of balance, both important in snowboarding: (i) static balance which is the ability to maintain equilibrium when stationary; (ii) dynamic balance which is the ability to maintain equilibrium when moving.
Yoga is not only relaxing and indeed some yoga poses will help you to strengthen your core and improve your reflexes for balancing. Warrior III pose, eagle pose, side planks and half moon pose will reinforce your abdominal muscles as well as the back muscles, crucial groups of muscles that will positively affect your stability and control on the snowboard.

Musculation : As we already said, yoga is not only about relaxing and stretching. A yoga session can be really intense by focusing on some poses that require muscles’ power.
Vinyasa yoga and ashtanga yoga are yoga disciplines that increase muscle endurance because they imply holding poses for a longer period of time. In particular you will bring your body into positions and orientations where your muscles need to support your body weight. Yoga poses that imply using legs muscles are very useful for preparing you for snowboarding and to gain endurance for the winter season.

Stretching and flexibility : Yoga is not only about releasing the body but of course by practicing yoga before and after snowboarding you will gain flexibility and you will stretch your muscles after the effort. More flexibility will help your performances, since a more flexible body has more range in the movement, this translates into more speed, strength and power. Conversely, a lack of flexibility can lead to injuries.
To stretch is also very important as you will be able to recuperate faster from spills and you will prevent soreness with the result of better snowboarding performances.

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Elisabetta

Équipe communication DREAMSCAPE, monitrice et passionnée de snowboard.

Yoga after snowboarding

No need to participate to a snowboarding and yoga retreat. Read this article and you will be able to feel the benefits of some yoga poses that we selected on purpose to stretch the body after a snowboard day.

Yoga before snowboarding

Snowboard requires a good physical preparation in order to have strong muscles, a lot of balance, equilibrium and proprioception. For this reason, yoga will help you prepare for your rinding activities.