Surfing and Yoga: The Winning Combo

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If you are a surfer and you are not doing yoga, you're seriously missing out. I surfed two days ago, and today I did a 7:30 am David Guetta Yoga Sculpt Class at CorePower Yoga. My heart was racing, and everyone's sweat was coating the floor. I lowered down to my knees by the end of the class as I looked up at my instructor Stan and continued holding out my bow and arrow pose. I’m among the few elder millennials in the packed room of 40 yogis. Mostly young college girls are there, and a few of us “older folks” take the spots in the back towards the door. It’s a great spot away from the humidifier pumping hot air into the room, and if you need to duck out and escape for a quick breath of air outside, you can do it fast. I am always astonished at the fact that there are three CorePowers in my tiny city, and I go to all of them! 

Ever since I injured my C5, C6, and T3 I have struggled with neck and shoulder pain. I’ve done years of regular physical therapy. I see a chiropractor each week. I even joined a monthly massage club. I do it all. But nothing was keeping my pain down. Every time I got back in the water to surf, or anytime I started going on longer runs again my pain would return. After two years, two spinal injections of hormones, and many kinds of drugs that never worked, I decided something needed to change. Embracing yoga was one of the best decisions of my elderly millennial life. My friends have always raved about CorePower yoga classes, and I finally got a little raise at work that could cover the ridiculously expensive monthly membership. I have always been a diehard never pay to work out person. However, I was able to snag a solid monthly discount at CorePower for being a university faculty member which to me justified my first-ever pricey membership. I stopped running and doing at-home Pilates and yoga workouts completely between surfing. Power yoga and all the epic class types at CorePower got me hooked. 

The surfing and yoga combination is the only thing that has cured my neck and shoulder pain to a manageable level. Yes, I still have pain (I have three low-grade herniated discs that just never feel quite right). But I’m not that old, and my surgeon wants me to avoid surgery for a disc replacement or two for as long as I can. Maybe I’ll eventually get surgery in my 50’s, but for now, I have found a winning combination to ward off most of the pain. If I don’t keep up with yoga, chiropractic, and massage, the heavy pain will come straight back. If I do it all regularly, the chronic pain is there but it’s tolerable for the most part. 

The heated yoga is really what I think helps rid me of the extra inflammation in my body, which ultimately helps lower my pain each day. Surfing is a fantastic sport. It is a full-body core exercise. I have always been a strong swimmer from doing swim team when I was young. But back and neck pain are still common complaints for many surfers. Not to mention rotator cuff injuries. Just last weekend I met a surfer who had elbow surgery, rotator cuff surgery, and surgery for a hernia. Most of us surfers have had something pop out of place or get torn at some point. I’ve had it all over the years, and yoga is the one thing that I have realized has been missing in between my surfing days. Since getting into yoga, I’ve realized there is a huge connection between the yoga and surfing communities. I even went to a special “yoga for surfers” class at my local CorePower. 

Yoga will make you a more well-balanced surfer overall. If you are struggling with being patient between sets or working on breath and calmness if you get caught on the inside and held under, yoga helps with all of that. The balance and strength training involved in most sculpt yoga classes will help you to pop straight up on your board with a solid and confident grip. Just like yogis sway in the wind doing a tree pose, that same balance act will come up on your board. Being able to embrace the sudden changes of a never-predictable wave or stance is what surfing and yoga are all about. 

I love reviewing my class history and favorite instructors on the app! 

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