Yoga

I began my yoga practice around 2005. For a variety of reasons, I found it extremely beneficial for my triathlon and adventure training. My experience and subsequent career as a chiropractor showed me the importance of proper alignment for injury treatment and prevention. My interest in yoga began as a way to add the benefit of proper alignment and improve my posture and flexibility. While it began as an adjunct to training, it quickly developed into an interest and passion all of its own and I’ve become a trained yoga instructor.

I realised at some point that not all training has to or should be intensive and I also realised that yoga can be extremely challenging in its own right, but in a different way than swimming, cycling and running. I embraced power yoga very quickly and later found the benefits of restorative yoga to be much greater than I anticipated.

I’ve also created hybrid workouts specific for dryland swimming, and strengthening exercises for cycling and running without the need for expensive classes, and gym memberships and usually prefer to do yoga on my own time.

I’ve found that combining a Yoga workout either before or after a cardio workout of either swimming, cycling or running allows for greater recovery and even more training benefit. For example, if there are two hours available to me for training, I’ve usually found better benefits by swimming for 90 minutes followed by 30 minutes of yoga. I’ve found my cardio hasn’t suffered and I’m benefiting better in recovery and performance.

Generally, I haven’t embraced the yogi culture stereotype. My yoga practice is not what many yogis might consider ‘spiritual’, though I do feel a connection with nature when I practice, particularly when I practice outside. I tend to keep my belief system, both spiritual and diet separate from my yoga practice and in any instruction that I do.

Many of my outdoor adventures are followed by a yoga session, often in the huts out in the countryside.

Long term, I’d like to organise small group adventures followed by a yoga retreat in a beautiful country environment and I plan to create a video series of my yoga and hybrid workouts specifically targeted to adventurers and multi sporters.

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