Yoga For Skiers & Snowboarders

FIVE yoga poses

FOR YOU THIS WINTER

By Emily Williams

So you love skiing and snowboarding and want to get more out of it? Here are five Yoga poses that can help improve your performance on the hill and your recovery off it!

Emily Ruth Yoga | www.emilyruthyoga.com | www.youtube.com/emilyruthyoga | Instagram & Facebook: @emilyruthyoga

1. Cat and Cow - Pre & Post riding

2. Table top core flow - Pre riding

This warm up and cool down movement awakens the spinal column, increasing blood flow between the vertebrae. If you’ve ever experienced a bad back, you’ll know how important it is to look after your spine! But the additional benefits of these two poses warm up the chest, the shoulders, the hips, the abdomen and the lungs, meaning that even your walk to the lift in the morning will feel a little easier!

HOW TO:

Come into a table top position (on hands and knees), shoulders over wrists, hips over knees. Take a couple of moments to find your breath and begin to breathe through the nose. With your inhales, begin to drop the belly, open through the chest and lift the chin. With the exhale, tuck through your tailbone, round through the spine and draw your chin towards your chest.

Repeat, at your own pace, taking your time. Keep the breath steady and close your eyes down.

Add this in each morning, after Cat and Cow, to get your core stabilising muscles firing, as well as your posterior chain. A few rounds on each side, slow and steady and with the breath.

HOW TO:

Come back to tabletop position, reach your left arm forwards, your right leg back. Cultivate balance here by really grounding down through your grounded hand, and the top of your grounded foot. Inhale in this fully extended position and exhale to draw your elbow towards your knee/nose, rounding through the spine.

Repeat this motion a few times, slowly and with the breath, then switch to the other side.

BONUS GLUTES: Get your glutes (Yep, the muscles in your butt!) firing, and wake them up before heading out!

HOW TO:

At the end of your table top core flow, plant your lifted hand down, bend the knee of your lifted leg, and flex through your ankle. Keep your spine long here (avoid shifting back into cow pose where the belly drops down), and go for 10 pulses pressing the sole of the foot up towards the sky. This movement should stem from the glutes, with the movement coming from the hip joint.

3. Crescent lunge/Half split pose - Pre & Post riding

4. Janu Sirsasana - Pre & Post riding

5. Pigeon Pose [with variations] - Post riding

This is another great set of poses you can flow between pre and post riding to stretch into the hips and legs. Crescent lunge works into the front of the hip flexors and psoas and by staying active through the back leg, into the top of the quadriceps too. It also helps open up through the front of the chest and shoulders. Half split pose focuses on releasing through the hamstrings, lower back and into the calf muscles.

HOW TO: Crescent lunge: Starting with your right foot forwards, step your left leg back and lower your knee to the ground. Front knee stacked on top of your ankle. Hands can rest on top of your front thigh, or for an added stretch, reach your arms up towards the sky.

HALF SPLIT: Draw your hips back to stack on top of your back knee, extend through your front leg and flex through the ankle. Keep your spine long, hinge forward as far as you can through your hips and support hands on the ground (or onto blocks if you have them).

Repeat on both sides.

This pose will help relieve tension through the hamstrings, lower back and into the groin muscles - a great option for when you come off the hill. It can also help improve digestion - great if you’ve been enjoying all of the Savoyard cuisine! Additionally, taking the revolved variation will work into your side body, an area that often gets missed and should feel oh-so-good.

HOW TO: Begin seated, with both legs in front of you (option to use a cushion/rolled up blanket to sit on), and draw your right foot to the inside edge of your left thigh. Sit up tall through the spine and begin to tilt forwards from your pelvis. Walk your hands forward whilst keeping the spine long, and stop when you feel resistance. Pause here, breathing steadily. Repeat on the other side.

REVOLVED: From this position, open your hips up, so your left leg is on an angle out to the side. Place your left hand next to your left leg. Reach your right arm up on an inhale and tilt to the left with your exhale. Keep the side of the body long. Walk your left hand out further if you have the space, whilst keeping the alignment.

Stay for a few breaths, then repeat on the other side.

A Yoga classic that ticks so many boxes, use this after riding to stretch into the gluteal muscles, as well as the hip flexors, that have been working all day long! If you have any knee injuries, you can take a variation of this on your back, which puts less pressure into your knees.

HOW TO: From table top position, slide your right knee forwards to behind your right wrist, and wiggle your right toes across towards the left. Slide your left leg back as far as is available. Gently flex into your font ankle to help protect your knee and keep the hips level. With your hands supporting, roll your shoulders back and open up through the chest.

Repeat on the other side.

OPTIONS:

1. Add in a quadricep stretch by bending the back knee and reaching for your back ankle with the same hand. Some balance is required! 2. Lower down onto your forearms for a more restorative version of this pose. 3. Take the supine variation on your back: Lie down, bend both knees, then cross your right ankle over the opposite knee, flexing through the ankle. Slide your hands behind the left thigh, and draw the left knee towards you, just as far as your body allows. Pause here for a few breaths, then repeat on the other side.

Honestly, I could share so many more poses for you to use; ones that will cultivate space and strength and your body this season, but I’m going to have to stop there! Look after your body, and make it your best winter of riding yet! Yoga can transform how you feel physically and mentally, in turn improving your snowboarding and skiing.

If you’d enjoy further guidance, or if you want to learn more, join me in the studio or online for a range of yoga classes. From open and private classes in Morzine, to monthly online subscriptions enabling you to take “yoga in Morzine” home with you! Give yourself the tools to look after your body, from your head to your toes.