By Kimaya Singh, Faye Martins, and Bhavan Kumar
Practicing Yoga poses for snowboarders at the beginning of the day is important to warm up your muscles and ligaments and prevent injuries. Snowboarding takes a great deal of balance and muscular strength. It also requires modifying your snowboarding technique depending on the snow conditions and terrain. Several effective and challenging Yoga poses will help you warm up for the day. Before practicing specific Yoga asanas, it is advisable to begin with five to ten rounds of complete Sun Salutations. Sun Salutations help to warm up all of the major muscle groups in the body, increase circulation, and invigorate your entire body in preparation for a challenging day on the slopes.
Preventing Injuries
The demands of snowboarding can put a lot of strain on the body, which is why many enthusiasts are turning to yoga poses for snowboarders to help them stay strong and prevent injuries. While many different yoga poses can benefit snowboarders, here are four that are particularly helpful:
1. Warrior III: This pose helps improve balance and coordination, both of which are essential for snowboarding. It also strengthens the legs and core, helping to prevent injuries.
2. Chair Pose: This pose is great for strengthening the quads, which are key for making quick turns on the slopes. It also helps improve balance and stability.
3. Camel Pose: This pose opens up the chest and shoulders, which can get tight from all the hunching over required when snowboarding. It also helps stretch the back muscles, helping to prevent pain and injuries.
4. Corpse Pose: This is a restorative pose that is perfect for after a day of snowboarding. It allows the body to relax, completely aiding in recovery from aches and pains.
Strong and Flexible Body
Your snowboarding skill level does not ameliorate the need to keep your body strong and flexible to take turns to the best of your ability. Eagle Pose or Garudasana is an effective and fun Yoga pose for stretching the shoulders, arms, upper back, neck, and side torso. It also helps to hone your balancing skills, which are critical for snowboarding. Crane Pose or Bakasana strengthens and tones the abdominal muscles and the arms. It also stretches out your lower back. In addition, Crane Pose helps develop and enhance a central point of balance in a position close to the floor, similar to a crouching position on a snowboard.
Garudasana or Eagle Pose
To practice Garudasana, begin by warming up with several rounds of Sun Salutations. After you have warmed up, come to Mountain Pose at the front end of your Yoga mat. Pause for a moment and feel your balance. With your next inhale, raise your right foot and place it above your left knee, then hook your right toes behind your left ankle or calf. Take your right arm and wind it under your left arm. Press your palms against each other in the prayer position. Keep your arms at shoulder height and directly in front of you. Feel the stretch through your arms, neck, and shoulder.
Rooting
As you continue to breathe, feel the rooting of your left foot into the floor. When ready, you can lean forward over the end of your Yoga mat and “fly” like an Eagle. This is an excellent posture for practicing balancing skills. This Yoga posture will also strengthen your quadriceps. To come out of the pose, with your next exhale, unwrap your arms and legs and come back to Mountain Pose at the top of your mat. Repeat on the other side.
Stabilization
Rooting is an important skill in yoga and snowboarding for several reasons. First, rooting helps to stabilize the body and prevent injuries. Second, rooting helps to develop balance and coordination. Third, rooting helps to improve focus and concentration. Finally, traditional poses help to increase strength and flexibility. When practicing yoga poses, it is important to root down through the soles of the feet to stabilize the body. This is especially important in poses that require balance or are physically challenging.
Control
Traditional poses also help to develop coordination and focus. In snowboarding, rooting can help prevent falls and injuries by providing stability. It can also help improve balance and coordination. When landing jumps or performing tricks, it is important to be well-rooted to maintain control and avoid injury. Overall, rooting is an essential skill for both yoga and snowboarding. It helps to stabilize the body, develop balance and coordination, improve focus and concentration, and increase strength and flexibility.
Morning Review
As mentioned above, Yoga poses for snowboarders can help prevent and heal injuries. They increase flexibility, range of motion, and balance in the body. Poses also help to improve posture, alignment, and muscular strength. Before hitting the slopes, doing warm-up yoga poses is essential. Sun salutations are a great way to warm up the entire body. Other poses that can get the blood flowing and muscles warmed up include: Cat/Cow pose, forward bends, Warrior I & II pose, Triangle pose, and Half Camel pose.
End of the Day
After a long day on the mountain, your body will be tired and sore. Doing gentle yoga stretches is essential to help your muscles recover. Poses that can help relieve muscle tension and promote relaxation include: Child’s Pose, Cobra Pose, Downward Facing Dog Pose, Forward Bend, and Pigeon Pose.
© Copyright – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division
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Practicing Yoga poses before a great day of snowboarding is important in order to warm-up all of your muscles and ligaments and to prevent injury. Nice sharing!