The Benefits of Yoga

Why Yoga?

There are many benefits of yoga, from breathing techniques to physical improvements. We provide yoga classes in San Diego that can help improve your overall climbing and fitness:

Yoga improves flexibility.

By safely stretching your muscles, yoga releases the lactic acid that builds up with muscle use and causes stiffness, tension, pain, and fatigue. Yoga’s great for increasing range of motion and lubrication in joints. This creates a sense of ease and fluidity throughout your body, all of which are great when top roping, lead climbing, or bouldering.

Yoga builds strength.

Some styles of yoga, such as the Ashtanga and power yoga offered at Mesa Rim Yoga Center, are more vigorous than others. Practicing one of these styles will help you improve muscle tone. Even with less vigorous styles of yoga, such as hatha yoga that focuses on less movement and more precise alignment in poses, this can provide additional strength and endurance.

Yoga enhances posture and body awareness.

With increased flexibility and strength comes better posture. Most standing and sitting poses develop core strength — with a stronger core, you're more likely to sit and stand "tall." Another benefit of yoga is the increased body awareness, a super important quality when you’re on the wall.

Yoga benefits breathing.

Ever find yourself holding your breath while reaching for that next hold? Because of the deep, mindful breathing that yoga involves, lung capacity often improves. Most forms of yoga emphasize deepening and lengthening your breath. This stimulates the relaxation response -- the opposite of the fight-or-flight adrenaline boost of the stress response.

Yoga helps decrease stress, improve concentration, and boosts overall mood.

By focusing the mind on breath or practicing specific meditation techniques, different styles of yoga can boost biochemical responses that create a feeling of calm. It also helps boost the “trust” hormone, oxytocin, an element especially important when you’re learning to rely upon your belayer. Oxytocin is associated with feeling relaxed and connected to others. And, while not so easy to determine with science, most students walk away feeling much happier after class.