The Benefits of Yoga for Skiiers

Have you ever thought about how perfectly skiing & yoga complement each other? Skiing is fast, adrenaline-pumping & risky. Yoga is calming, meditative & mindful. Combining the two creates a perfect balance of mindful fun.

The biggest benefit that yoga can bring to your skiing is injury prevention. Out on the slopes it is cold and we use our cold muscles in ways or in an intensity that we generally aren't used to. Yoga can help reduce stress, strain and possible injury.

If you're planning a skiing holiday I would highly suggest attending as many yoga classes as you can before you head into the snow. Balance, concentration, flexibility & strength form the basis of most yoga classes and these are also the most important skills to get you down the mountain with a big smile on your face!

See your yoga mat as you see you your skis…and see your skis as a yoga mat

Here are a few tips to help you find alignment on your skis:

• Feet should be shoulder-width apart, as if in Mountain Pose, to create a stable base for the body.
• Knees should be in line with the toes.
• Hips should be tipped slightly forward. This is a somewhat unnatural position for most people; however, ski boots help encourage this shape in the lower body. This posture helps you gain control. 
• Shoulders should be dropped, or relaxed, as in Mountain Pose.
• Torso should be still & stable. Referred to as a “quiet upper body” in skiing, having a “still” torso is akin to riding a bicycle with the lower body doing most of the work while the upper body provides stability.
• Hands should be in front of your body to encourage forward movement and to initiate pole plants.

Here are a few poses which will help strengthen, lengthen and balance you prior to skiing:

• Forward fold: A yoga pose for hamstrings as it helps to loosen the back and stretch hamstrings and calves.
• Warrior I and II : Stretches hip flexors and hamstrings on the back leg whilst strengthening feet, ankles, glutes and quads on the front leg.
• Chair pose: classic ski and board pose, warms up and builds strength in quads. 
• Reclined cobblers pose: improves flexibility of inner thigh muscles, which can cause knee injury in skiing if not stretched.
• Tree pose: helps with balance, tones & strengthens quads, calves, ankles & spine whilst stretching hip flexors, inner thighs, chest and shoulders. Improves balance, promotes mobility in the hip and knee joint, very important for turns whilst skiing. 
• Downward facing Dog: Stretches the back & opens the chest. Vinyasas can build core strength.
• Crescent Pose (high lunge): stretches hip flexors & hamstrings on the back leg whilst strengthening feet, ankles, glutes & quads on the front leg. Low lunges are also good!

If the idea of yoga & skiing tickles your toes, have a look at our next escape:

Pause // Play // Ski

16th- 23rd March 2016

Morillon, French Alps

Daily morning yoga with a mountain view, afternoons to ski/board to your hearts content, a full body massage, meditation techniques for the curious, a B-EA-U-TIFUL chalet complete with a sauna and right next to the ski lifts. Oh, and of course stinky french cheese and wine are also included! 

See you in the snow? 

Reflections of an Escapee

Ever since I left London to move to Malta and escaped the corporate world, people always ask me if I miss my London lifestyle. After having just spent a quick weekend there, I can happily say that I don't. And don't get me wrong, I spent 19 years of my life there and they were happy years, I had a very good education, I made some great friends, and I had some experiences which I'll never forget, but I guess I never felt truly at home there. 

Of course I miss all my wonderful friends there (but they get the added benefit of being able to come and visit me here and get some sunshine and yoga ;-) ). And I miss the abundance of yoga classes always available to go to at any time of the day and in any part of the city (even on Piccadilly Circus!), but this is a small price to pay for the great lifestyle I have in Malta.

Being in London last weekend was great, but I am glad it was only two days. The main thing that struck me this time is that almost every street you walk down in Central London is full of shops, and every shop is trying to grab your attention with their colourful, sometimes moving, attention grabbing displays. Each window shouting "BUY ME! BUY ME!". And not only the shops, but any bus or taxi that passes by is also advertising something in bright colours and sometimes flashing lights. And then if you descend into the underworld of the London tube, almost every surface of every wall is filled with adverts and information. I found it totally overwhelming, there was never a pause for my brain to be allowed to process any of the information properly, but just one after the other after the other. I was exhausted by just seeing adverts! It's hard to think clearly for yourself when the brain is constantly having to process all this different sensory information. It's stressful! And this was without having to deal with any of the added stress of a job I was rushing to, or a demanding social life. 

It's amazing how quickly you get used to a different life, when I lived in London I never even noticed the effect this had on my brain, and I think in a way when you are in that situation you become immune to all the adverts and constantly being sold something. You become numb to it. Just like you become numb to all the people walking down Oxford Street, you just march on through them. 

This may sound very negative towards London and city life, but I do feel very grateful for having spent that part of my life in London, it wasn't all bad, as I mentioned at the start of this post they were happy years - I actually had a LOT of fun, and it gave me life experience. Who knows if I would have found my way to this yoga path were I not in London in a demanding job, with an even more demanding social life which I needed to balance.

I like to think that using my experience of the hectic, demanding city life but creating the calm serene space that LahLah Yoga brings, that I can help people to find ways to deal with the stress of a pressured lifestyle. Whether that be a busy city life, a demanding job, screaming kids, too much partying or intense studies, I feel yoga can always help :-)

With Pause // Play, Cat and I are trying to create a space for city dwellers to escape this madness, at least for a few days, and to learn a few techniques to help deal with the pressure of city life once they return...all while having a bit of fun on the side too, and enjoying some sunshine, of course! The last few spaces are filling up, so do contact us if you're interested!

xx