This year my personal trainer Leo Pinto invited me to be the yoga instructor at his Nicaragua Surf and Fitness Retreat, which is coming up from July 15th to 20th in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. As a longtime yoga practitioner but novice surfer, I have been researching the best yoga exercises to teach at the retreat. Below I share with you the fruits of my research, along with favorite yoga photos from my archives to to inspire you.

In her blog post The Definitive Guide to Yoga for Surfers, yoga teacher Abi tells us that surfing requires "high levels of strength, flexibility and mobility as well as excellent balance, coordination and body control." Specifically, Abi tells us "You need to warm up your hips before you surf, stretch your hips when you come out of the water and build strength in the joints with standing and balancing poses."

Let's keep that in mind as we look at some asanas.

I hope you enjoyed these photos and got some ideas for your practice. If you search the internet enough, you will find claims that just about any yoga pose can help with surfing, and that is probably true. It is also claimed that surfing can help strengthen your yoga practice, a hypothesis I plan to test out in July. Come join Leo and I for the Nicaragua Surf and Fitness Retreat from July 15th to 20th and we can discover the benefits together! Fitness classes in the morning, surf lessons each day for novice to advanced, and sunset yoga sessions with yours truly.

If you have any thoughts on yoga and surfing, please leave a comment below. Akaw! Namaste.