5 Reasons Why Hikers Should Practice Yoga
1. Learn and Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is "the mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique." The implementation of therapeutic mindfulness programs was first introduced in the U.S. by Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 1970s and such practices have repeatedly been shown to improve quality of life and well-being of those those with chronic pain and illnesses.
Mindfulness practices have been extensively studied by researchers and they have found that it can reduce stress, anxiety, depression, rumination/worry, and emotional distress. These findings have been demonstrated not only in those seeking medical care but also in a non-clinical populations as well as in healthcare workers who have some of the highest levels of work-related stress.* (It has not been shown to increase resilience and burn out in health care workers but I do wonder if the addition of a strong hiking or other outdoor fitness activity would impact that area…?)
When we practice mindfulness on the mat during a yoga class or a home routine, we train our brains to bring mindfulness into other parts of our lives. Practicing mindfulness outdoors and in motion can be a potent way to reduce stress and improve health even more than just doing one or the other. Both practices can build upon each other to really make strong positive impact on our well being. In fact, at least one study has shown that taking a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course outdoors resulted stronger mental health outcomes the same course done indoors! And that when the course was done outdoors in nature, those benefits were more likely to be sustained at one month after the course. **
2. Learn Breath Mechanics, Practice Pranayama
Pranayama is a part of yoga (one of the 8 Limbs) that involves the practice of various breathing patterns. Hiking, especially with a backpack, may lead to a less-than-ideal pattern of breathing. It may lead to chest breathing or paradoxical breath patterns. Yoga can help us recognize how we are breathing and helps us to re-establish more efficient patterns that minimize musculoskeletal tension and improve respiration.
3. Stretch and Strengthen with Asana
The physical part of yoga, called asana, can help to rebalance the body. Some poses will help to stretch the muscles that tend to get tight when hiking such as the hip flexors, gluteals, calves and chest muscles. Sometimes we can focus more on the strengthening aspects of certain yoga poses. Hikers may want to focus on strengthening the hamstrings and the whole core (not just the abs): hip rotators, spinal extensor muscles and scapula stabilizers. But usually it’s not either/or! We can often incorporate both strength and flexibility into a single pose. Or we can choose to focus more on one aspect or the other, depending on what our personal goals are for our practice on any given day.
Here's a list of recommended poses for hikers:
Focus on Strength/Stability:
High Lunge, Low Lunge
Lunge Airplanes
Standing Hip Swings
Goddess Squats
Golfer’s Lifts
Bird Dog
Plank/Hover
Locust Variations
Focus on Stretch/Flexibility:
Side Angle