[Adam Lincoln]

Thought some of you may find this of use.
http://www.climbing.com/exclusive/features/a_question_of_balance/

[Oldmanmatt]

Is it just me...

Or does she look like she's holding a dismembered fore arm in the lower shot?

[Johnny Brown]

More like a collection of Yoga poses that look like wacky yoga poses, never convinced that Garudasana 'The Eagle' is much use for anything but fulfilling stereotypes of what yoga should look like.

If you want to balance your body for climbing I'd start with a solid sun salutation.

[Stubbs]

If you want to balance your body for climbing I'd start with a solid sun salutation.

 

Been doing this for a weeks now, and already noticing the difference, a few rounds of B is a good workout in itself!

[TobyD]

never convinced that Garudasana 'The Eagle' is much use for anything but fulfilling stereotypes of what yoga should look like.
If you want to balance your body for climbing I'd start with a solid sun salutation.

I think that it is one of the poses which is easy to cheat into, and look very much as though you are doing it, yet not actually be working much.
I would strongly agree with your second point however; I use navasana quite a bit too, though more as an extra bit of core, than for balance.

[SA Chris]

I like doing B more too.

Also not convinced that starting off doing yoga based on description and a few pics is a good idea either. At least attend a class or two to start off so you can learn good form and understand the flow between positions without having to stop and look at a picture every few seconds.

[jwi]

Nevermind that Yoga-thingy. The author is said to have over-developed lats.  How on earth does one get a pair of those, that's what I want to know!

[chris05]

Yoga agin? 

I'm surprised Lund hasn't been along yet.. 

[Muenchener]

never convinced that Garudasana 'The Eagle' is much use for anything but fulfilling stereotypes of what yoga should look like.

The legs part is - for me at any rate - a somewhat useful illiotibial band stretch.

The arms parts should, I suppose in theory, stretch the rhomboids/lower traps, but involves so much forward rotation/displacement of the shoulder that I really can't see how it can be a good idea for most already shoulder-impinged climbers.

a few rounds of B is a good workout in itself!

Try holding it for five breaths at *every* position in the diagram.

[Stubbs]

Try holding it for five breaths at *every* position in the diagram.

I do five breaths for each of the downward dogs and warrior poses, as that's how I was taught, I'll try doing it for the other positions too

[Johnny Brown]

I've got MASSIVE lats. I've been climbing with the chick in the photos too. Look at me.

Is the five breaths things more of a Vinyasa approach? Too slow, always preferred the movement/ flow of Ashtanga myself.

[moodyboy]

That's quite nice timing...was just googling yoga centres near me with a view to joining. being tied to desk and sciatic/back pain has brought about some action

So is there a general style that's followed by the yoga heads on here? Any recomendations? Particulary for those with Kyphotic tendancies.

[TobyD]

So is there a general style that's followed by the yoga heads on here? Any recomendations? Particulary for those with Kyphotic tendancies.

I like Ashtanga; but my advice would be to go to some different classes at a reputable centre, and see what fits for you. I also used to go to a vinyasa flow class a lot, which was great.

If you (or anyone else who is interested in yoga for that matter) is anywhere near Leeds, The Yoga Space is absolutely brilliant, especially Nichi Green, and Joey Miles' classes. A small warning, the proper Ashtanga class there in no way constitutes a rest day; I usually felt more beasted than after a 3 hour session on the Leeds Wall.

[TobyD]

I've got MASSIVE lats. I've been climbing with the chick in the photos too. Look at me.

I've been climbing with the author of the yoga article. I have pathetic lats. I'm not sure if the two are connected.

[SA Chris]

I like Ashtanga too, feel the flow of movement more beneficial to climbing (and other things) than the "find a hard position and hold it" school of yoga. But as TobyD says, try a couple of different classes to see which one you think will be most beneficial.

[Muenchener]

So is there a general style that's followed by the yoga heads on here? Any recomendations? Particulary for those with Kyphotic tendancies.

I did the full ashtanga bit for several years during my intermission from climbing, including four months with Pattabhi Jois (the founder/most senior Indian teacher of the style) in Mysore. Don't any more: my practice such as it is these days is mainly some sitting mediation, and (too) occasional spells of basic stretches/asanas for health's sake.

I got a lot out of it at the time but wouldn't necessarily recommend it to everybody: a lot of people who get into it strive towards too much lotus and advanced backbending before they're ready for it, to the detriment of a lot of knees and lumbar vertebrae.

In general, the teacher is more important then the style. There are a lot of yoga teachers out there with pretty minimal experience & qualifications, but also a lot of really good ones. But my knowledge of who's who in uk yoga circles is more than a decade out of date.

[Johnny Brown]

my practice such as it is these days is mainly some sitting mediation

I'm hoping my climbing will one day achieve such heights.

Seriously though, UKB never fails to amaze. How far did you take the spiritual side?

[Muenchener]

my practice such as it is these days is mainly some sitting mediation

I'm hoping my climbing will one day achieve such heights.

cf. Pete Livesey's "Jonathan Livingston Steelfingers"?

How far did you take the spiritual side?

Remains to be seen. At the moment with family & job, it's more a matter of finding enough time to maintain some basic level of inner peace / mental equilibrium. As Frau M quickly realised when I didn't practice for about a year after our son was born: "get yourself back to yoga class, you're getting unbearable".

"Inner peace" my sound corny, but pre-yoga I was always one for constantly beating myself up inwardly, post-yoga I have the tools to keep that within reasonable bounds. Up to you whether you choose to call that "spiritual".

[miso soup]

My mum became a yoga teacher late in life, she starts to lose her shit if she skips her morning session too often.  Does seem to be the kind of thing where the people around you can notice the benefits more than you can.  I usually do at least one sun salutation after a climbing session.  I've been nursing a dodgy shoulder for months now, recently whilst doing some yoga I felt a series of escalating cracks and pops round the back of the shoulder and spine coupled with a sensation of something sliding back into place.  It's still not 100% but definitely better than it was.

[SA Chris]

My end of session meditation normally results in a 10 minute power nap. I think I've stayed awake once in 4 years of going to the class more or less weekly.

[moodyboy]

Thanks for the advice

[mrjonathanr]

four months with Pattabhi Jois (

[miso soup]

I was going to chuck this in quality non-climbing videos but since we're on the subject.  At 2:45 she does something absolutely amazing that I'd never seen before.

[hongkongstuey]

check me out - i can do that too... (kind of sloppy attempt in this vid (slight floor dab) but have actually done it going from a back bend all the way into kundinyasana without touching the floor...)

[hongkongstuey]

have actually done it going from a back bend all the way into kundinyasana without touching the floor..

my yoga teacher demo'ing what i'm on about here:

[miso soup]

You rule, both those videos were really good.  Who and where is your teacher?  And what kind of style is this?  I mostly just do yoga by myself, I have been to classes but usually feel like I might as well be watching a Youtube video.  I would like to have a proper teacher and get into doing this kind of hardcore stuff.

[hongkongstuey]

the second video is where i start mosty of my days - Pure Yoga in Central, Hong Kong. Teacher is Patrick Creelman

I mostly practice a style called Anusara but have also had some extended periods doing a Mysore style practice (self led ashtanga with a teacher wandering around and adjusting where necessary) to the point where i have a pretty steady Intermediate Series practice.

We're pretty lucky in HK to have a wealth of really really good teachers here, as well as a good stream of high quality visiting teachers too (have been to workshops with two of the top anusara teachers in the last week alone.)

If you're mostly doing things on your own and fancy a bit of guidance/ inspiration the I highly recommend you have a look at the yogaglo website - classes from some of the best teachers around online and for a pretty reasonable price

[miso soup]

Cool, I'll definitely do the 15 day trial at least.  Thanks for that.

[Fiend]

Shitting fuck Millis   , go climb a body-tensiony 9a already!!!

[SA Chris]

Where's that impressive feats of strength thread? Most amazing thing I've seen anyone do in ages.

All that standing on your head seems to have worn out your hair though.

[psychomansam]

Amazing. Have shown that first video to multiple straight female friends who now all want to sleep with her. Is there more of her anywhere? 

[slackline]

Amazing. Have shown that first video to multiple straight female friends who now all want to sleep with her. Is there more of her anywhere? 

Yep...



More seriously clicky ->

[psychomansam]

She's improved.

[miso soup]

Awesome.  Hongkongstuey - did you make a conscious decision to replace climbing with yoga as your primary activity and if so what were your reasons for doing so?  I went through skateboarding and aikido before settling on climbing.  One of the good things about yoga is that I'll hopefully still be able to do it when I'm too old and clapped out to do anything else.

[hongkongstuey]

HK has a lot of good climbing and plenty of potential for new routing / exploring but after >10 yrs out here i was looking for something a bit new and fresh. Having been a  gymnast as a kid yoga felt nice and natural and my rate of progression was pretty damn fast so it was a nice ego boost to nail all the funky stuff (very un-yogic i know, but hey you don't get to do this stuff without ambition). Out on the rock i'd hit a plateau for a few years and had got thoroughly bored and unimpressed with climbing walls so climbing just started to fade into the background more and more.

Seem to have a hit a relatively happy medium with both activities these days, getting on the mat 3 or 4 times a week, out on the rock most of the weekend and even back down the wall once or twice a week     

Of course, Asia tends to have a rather good quota of lycra clad lovelies in the yoga studio too, which helps with motivation 

[hongkongstuey]

Shitting fuck Millis   , go climb a body-tensiony 9a already!!!

believe it or not i actually hav a really weak core - most of the stuff in that video is down to good technique rather than abs of steel

[hongkongstuey]

Cool, I'll definitely do the 15 day trial at least. 

Some recommendations based on teachers I've done workshops with:
The Basics: Jason Crandell - excellent at articulating good technique and posture
The Funky Stuff: Noah Maze, Darren Rhodes and Dice Iida Klein - all teach a good mix of challenging stuff in a relatively fun manner

If you find a way of saving the videos let me know - you can download and save the 'pay to view' workshops but i never quite figured out how to save normal classes from this site (guess they got their IT system pretty tight to stop people doing this)

[slackline]

If you find a way of saving the videos let me know - you can download and save the 'pay to view' workshops but i never quite figured out how to save normal classes from this site (guess they got their IT system pretty tight to stop people doing this)

Try browser plugins for downloading videos.

I currently use Opera and the 'Download Media Bar' works pretty well for most videos.

[miso soup]

Thanks again Stu.  There is a whole load of stuff there.  Standard flash ripping apps don't seem to work, which is quite annoying.  Surely there must be a way...

[chris j]

A lot of Jason Crandell's videos are in the yoga journal to go podcasts which you can download on itunes. Haven't managed to rip the streaming only free podcast videos from the website yet so I'm thinking I may have to finally give in to apple and install itunes after many years of resistance...

[TobyD]

Has anyone been here?
www.sheffieldyogacentre.co.uk

especially the 'athletes' class ?

[slackline]

From the Prana website Alli Rainey: Flexibility, Stretching & Rock Climbing.

[magpie]

I know I am massively late but bloody hell, Stu, that video is seriously impressive. 

I'm in a huff now, I started yoga a couple of months ago and was quite impressed with myself last night when I managed to get my hands flat on the floor for the first time with straight legs, clearly I still have some way to go.

[SA Chris]

I started yoga a couple of months ago and was quite impressed with myself last night when I managed to get my hands flat on the floor for the first time with straight legs, clearly I still have some way to go.

You mean standing up? Well I've been at it for 5 or so years on and off and can't do that.

[magpie]

Yes, standing up, I can get my hands flat on the floor ok when I am sitting down.

[SA Chris]

Yes, standing up, I can get my hands flat on the floor ok when I am sitting down.

Smartarse. Could be one of a dozen poses, or is standing up and sitting down all you do

[magpie]

Pretty much, sometimes I curl up in a ball like shape too.

[slackline]

[magpie]

WTF?

[SA Chris]

makes Waybuloos yoga seem quite normal.

[mrjonathanr]

have also had some extended periods doing a Mysore style practice (self led ashtanga with a teacher wandering around and adjusting where necessary) to the point where i have a pretty steady Intermediate Series practice.

Wad

[Clart]

Sadly the original video of this thread has been removed from youtube.... Vimeo to the rescue:

[horn]

The Yoga Space in Leeds have got a Living Social deal on at the mo: 12 classes for £26 is an absolute bargain!

https://www.livingsocial.com/deals/434450?ref=conf-jp&rpi=76501362

[saltbeef]

http://www.yogaclimbing.com/asanashipopeners.htm

[SA Chris]

I was intrugued to figure out what ship openers are.

[psychomansam]