“Which type of yoga is best for surfing?”, is a question we get asked over and over again by our surf holiday guests. That yoga and surfing go hand in hand is nothing new. Lots of professional surfers practise yoga on a regular basis to improve their flexibility for their pop up on the surfboard and to increase their core strength for extra balance when standing on or turning the surfboard.

Practising yoga regularly really is a great addition to your surfing routine, especially when you’re leaning to surf and want to get your surf fitness levels up. And because yoga and surfing make such a great match, we offer yoga in all our surf camps with different types of yoga practises for different yogi abilities.

With many types of yoga out there, it can sometime seem a little overwhelming to know just which type is the best for you. We can all be impatient sometimes, wanting to improve our surfing as quickly as possible and not waste much time on doing the wrong thing. And who could blame us! So we have done the leg work for you and have put together the “right types of yoga for surfing”, and are teaching these styles in our surf camps.

When you’re on surfing holidays with us here at Star Surf Camps, you can be sure that all our yoga instructors are qualified yoga teachers that have completed their 200-hour yoga teacher training course and have very good knowledge of asana (postures), meditation, pranayama (breathing exercises) and the yoga philosophy more generally. With this in mind, you can really let go of your day-to-day stresses and relax into your poses and surf holidays. We offer daily yoga sessions on our covered yoga platforms in our surf camps. These are held in the mornings and the afternoon with additional sessions on the beach at sunset.

But enough chatter. Here’s the nitty gritty now on which yoga style is best for your surfing!

The mother of all yoga. The source! Hatha yoga is the oldest tradition of yoga that we can practise and dates back more than 5000 years. Yoga, meaning ‘union’, is the marrying of movement, breath (pranayama) and meditation, so when you look at the meaning of Hatha (Ha – sun, tha – moon) you can appreciate this fully. Hatha is a slower moving class which traditionally moves through different poses whilst holding them for longer periods of time.

How does Hatha yoga help with surfing?

It helps to build strength in muscles and to relax the mind through concentration on the breath throughout postures. It can also help you to learn patience and forgiveness within yourself as you meet new physical and mental barriers, which is essential when learning to surf on your surfing holidays.

We have seen a few but not many beginner surfers who can get up on a surfboard first time and surf white water waves. That is an exception however. Most beginner surfers will fall of their surfboard many a times before they being able to stand up and high-five their surf instructor as they surf down the wave onto the beach. Hatha yoga might not help you get to standing up on your surf board quicker, but it will most certainly get you there more calmly!

Why do we love it?

It has the perfect combination of calm and centred movement, building strength in our body ready for surfing and helps to create flexibility in areas we need too.

This creative, fluid, (sometimes) faster style of yoga offers more of a flow and is, possibly, one of the more popular styles both in and out of the surf camps. Vinyasa means ‘movement with breath’ and a Vinyasa flow yoga session in our surf camps is just that. Moving and flowing through different poses, this is a real dynamic practise, awakening the body and mind with a playful feel to it.

How does it help with surfing?

Like Hatha yoga, Vinyasa flow yoga moves through poses building strength in key areas perfect for surfing. It also warms up the body, sometimes all the way to breaking a sweat depending on how hard and fast you want to flow.

Why do we love it?

It’s creative, it’s flowing, it’s fun! A bit like our surf camps. This style of class can be really energetic and the perfect way to warm up in the morning before grabbing your surf board and heading down to the beach for your surf lesson.

Aaaaand relax…. Yin yoga couldn’t be more different to the two yoga styles above. The perfect way to wind down a busy day of sunshine and surfing in the surf camp. Known to be a restorative and sometimes meditative practise, it incorporates poses close to the ground and held for between 3-5 minutes to help you stretch out your connective tissues, working closely with the breath.

How does it help with surfing?

Surf and yoga holidays are very active holidays and what better way than stretching out at
the end of the day on a beach as the sunset goes down? This will help you the next day to not get too stiff and feel refreshed ready for your next day on the water.

Why do we love it?

Restorative time to slow down is precious in our modern, fast-paced world and is always a great way to spend an hour after your surf session. Working with the breath in these poses really awakens the body in ways that you wouldn’t expect! So be prepared to feel refreshed ready for a fun night socialising with the other surf camp guests after a Yin yoga session!

Contact us for more information on our surf and yoga holidays, and we hope to see you in the water and on your mat! Your Star Surf Camps Team

Email us with your enquiry today!