Yoga for Skiing

Yoga teaches flexibility, balance, and also the way to improve concentration. That is why many professional athletes from golfer to the NFL players can feel the benefits of practicing yoga as an addition to their regular physical exercise. Skiers are no exception. With great concentration, more flexibility and balance they get by practicing yoga, their performance will definitely improve.

yoga for skiing

Moreover, yoga is known as being one of the best exercises for athletes to prevent injury. Many kinds of injuries can happen in a professional ski tournament, from light wound to broken bones, and with yoga these risks can be reduced significantly.

Improving Skiing Skills and Performance

In general, basic skills of skiing are pretty much the same with the basics of yoga, which is flexibility, balance and concentration. So actually by practicing yoga, skiers will improve their basic skiing skills. Muscular imbalance and lack of concentration are two of the main causes of injury that will also give a bad impact on a skiers performance.

Yoga helps athletes and sport enthusiasts to improve their concentration and balance which are extremely needed when performing a sport that contains high risk for injuries like skiing. More flexibility will bring out the maximum capability of skiers in performing their skiing techniques. Yoga can help by relaxing and releasing muscles from stiffness caused by over stretching or other causes, this will make the muscles move freely with better (safer) motion, thus the movements become more flexible.

Builds Physical and Mental Qualities of Skiers

Yoga might seem like some simple stretching techniques, but actually it's way more than that. If performed correctly by following the proper guidelines, yoga would improve blood circulation, normalize the heart rate, and also help the metabolism. All these are great benefits offered by yoga for your overall health which will give a huge impact on the physical abilities.

Yoga will also increase your focus and relax your mind. Its benefit of increasing the ability to concentrate is a great help to build up your mentality. As we all know, both physical and mental qualities are just as important for anyone including professional athletes.

There are different disciplines and methodologies of yoga, and each of them are offering slightly different approaches. Don't be afraid to try these different styles until you find the one that feels right for you. There are also different poses in yoga that are used to help skiers improving their abilities.

Here are five yoga poses that are usually practiced for skiers:

Mountain Pose

Tadasana

Mountain pose is designed to help you find the center of your balance when you are in the standing position and also helps to strengthen your ankles and curves of your feet.

Chair Pose

Utkatasana

Chair pose looks a lot like when someone is skiing, so it really helps to strengthen all relevant muscles used in skiing. However, the main target of practicing this pose is to help strengthen the knee joints and the core, and also to train the upright balance.

Extended Hand to Big Toe Pose

Utthita Hasta Padangustasana

The extended hand to toe balance pose is quite an intense pose, and should be practiced after warming up first. The objectives are to strengthen the muscles and small tendons that support your hip joints, knees, and ankles.

Upward Plank Pose

Purvottansana

Upward plank pose is really helpful to fix any muscular imbalances. It also strengthens the wrists, legs, and the arms.

Sage Twist

Marichyasana A

Also known as the sage marichi pose. It is performed to strengthen the shoulders, spine, hip joints, legs, and also to fight muscle imbalance.

All in all, yoga for skiers can definitely enhance performance, improve flexibility, balance and strength, and help prevent any injuries. Skiing is such a dangerous sport, as so many injuries, and even death can occur at any time. Yoga should be part of your exercise routine, as a preventative measure to help avoid tragedy, and make your skiing experience fun and exciting.

LexiYoga