Hiking and Yoga: Finding Balance Along the Trail
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5 Reasons Why Hiking and Yoga Are the Perfect Pair
It’s time to mix up your outdoor routine with a hiking and yoga combo. Bringing yoga outdoors is an easy and beneficial practice but can feel impossible to do. Images of crazy body poses, hours long meditation sessions and handstands make yoga outdoors seem unrealistic.
Can I combine hiking and yoga?
Yes! We think yoga and hiking are the perfect pair, helping keep the body injury free. While splits on an alpine lake shore look Instagram worthy, practicing outdoor yoga is less about fancy poses and more about strengthening the body and lungs so you can fully enjoy your hike.
Dancer pose on frozen ice during a winter hike.
What are the Benefits of Hiking and Yoga?
Total Body Conditioning
*Moving your entire body in various poses strengthens the spine and core.
Strength and flexibility training
*A daily practice of downward facing dog and planks tightens up your core and upper body. Adding yoga poses to regular exercise helps creates a strong physical base for hiking.
Improves balance (reduces chance for injury)
*While still huge fans of trekking poles, balance is key for river crossings and rock hopping on many Colorado trails.
Promotes strength and mobility (helps you move more efficiently)
*A healthy body keeps you on the trail longer, giving you ample time to soak in all of Colorado’s amazing views.
Reduces tightness (low back, hips, hamstrings)
*Practice half pigeon or cow face at the end of a long hiking day. It is absolute bliss.
Available anytime
*As with hiking, stopping to breathe deep, take a mountain pose with arms overhead or extended wide can be done anywhere.
Proper breathing techniques for hiking will get you up 14ers leaving the challenges of altitude in the dust. Bringing basic yoga poses on the trail keep sore bodies at bay. If the winter blues are wearing you down, combat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) with winter hiking.
Learn practical tips for practicing outdoor yoga. Prepare to be amazed at how well you feel when practicing yoga outside becomes a integral part of your hiking experience.
Perhaps, like me, you’ll find a dancer pose on frozen Colorado lake. Or put your legs up a tree after the most satisfying day backpacking Maroon Bells hiking trails. And just maybe, you’ll cross your legs and breathe deep in the middle of Colorado campgrounds, and say thanks body for being the best partner in life.
Let’s Explore five reasons why you should add yoga to your hikes.
Mountain pose along Burro Trail on a hike in Breckenridge
Winter Hiking and Yoga Fights SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)
In my late 30s, SAD became a constant companion during winter. Determined to find an answer to managing these overwhelming winter blues, I began winter hiking. In recent years, adding a few yoga meditation techniques on snowshoe trails has helped me find joy even when the sun is hidden behind clouds for days.
If the winter blues feel endless, combat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) with winter hiking. SAD begins and ends around the same time each year, for most people this is usually late fall to early spring. Common symptoms are moodiness, feeling sluggish, depression and malaise. Until recently, SAD sufferers tolerated the winter blahs, enduring until Daylight Savings helped reset the body.
You don’t need to suffer. Getting outside on winter hiking trails is a great seasonal affective disorder treatment. Incorporating yoga breathing techniques for hiking days helps.
Why should you try winter hiking?
Less people on the trails
Better views *Leaves and foliage can obstruct mountain views.
Boosts immune system
Focus on positive vs negative *Sure, it is cold and icy out. But with the proper layers and traction, winter hiking can be a life giving practice.
More gentle on the body *Hiking on soft snow often creates a slower pace.
Winter Hiking Tips to Help Keep Seasonal Affective Disorder at bay
Take a short walk every day, getting outside for at least 20 minutes.
During your walk, stop and close your eyes. Breathe deep, in and out 10 times.
Take stretch breaks, creating a rainbow shape with your arms, inhaling as you raise arms, exhaling as you lower.
Bring your five senses on the winter hiking trail with you. What do you see, smell, hear, taste, touch?
*If you are experiencing severe symptoms of SAD, please reach out for help. There is hope for this treatable condition.
Yoga Poses for Total Body Conditioning
As a certified yoga instructor, I can tell you the sky’s the limit for yoga poses. Every single body is different and unique, perfectly suited for yoga poses your way!
Youtube has so many amazing FREE video yoga sequences. There are a few basic poses that you can do on and off the trail, building total body conditioning and strength.
If you are just stepping into yoga, Yoga with Adriene has the best beginner level flows. Yoga with Tim introduces props such as a foam roller and bands to strengthen the core.
Here are a few favorite yoga poses to practice on the hiking trail.
Soaking in the glorious Colorado sun in mountain pose
Mountain Pose
Stand with feet hip distance apart, head in neutral position, eyes closed. Inhale, raising arms overhead. Arms can touch at the top or stay shoulder distance apart. Breathe deep. Exhale lowering arms to your side.
Variations include clasping hands behind back, pulling them down toward your feet. Lower one arm to the side, bringing the other one overhead, forming a banana shape.
Benefits of pose: balance and strength, stretching and moving muscles that often remain tense carrying backpacks
Tree pose on a Steamboat Springs hike
Tree Pose
Pack on or pack off, this pose is available to all skill levels. Find a level spot and root down on one leg. Bring the other foot to the ankle, shin or upper thigh avoiding the knee. For balance, find an unmoving object to focus your eyes on. Arms can be above your head, in prayer position or clasped behind your back.
Benefits of pose: hips, works on balance and core.
Calf Stretch
Find a small rock, step or tree branch. Place one foot on the object, pushing down with your heel. You should feel the stretch in your calf. Hold for 20-30 seconds. Repeat on other side.
Benefits of pose: releases tight calves, helping with muscle spasms
Wide Legged forward fold
Wide Legged Forward Fold
Find relative flat ground. Stretch legs to distance of outstretched arms. Slowly, with slightly bent knees and straight back, begin to bend over. Hands can stay on hips, reach to ground or clasp behind the back for a shoulder stretch. This is one of those AHHHH poses that feels amazing mid hike.
Benefits of pose: Release of hips, low back and shoulders
Legs up wall
Or in this case, legs up tree. Do this pose during a lunch break, when you’ve removed your daypack. Find a flattish spot in front of a tree trunk. Lie down, wiggling your bum to the bottom of the tree. Lets will go straight up the tree while arms can extend wide or overhead in goal post fashion. Hold this pose for 5-10 minutes.
Benefits of pose: Increase circulation, releases low back.
Thread the Needle
Simple seat pose
Look around to make sure there is nothing on the ground that would cause harm. Come to all fours, hands and knees on the groud. Extend left arm over head, then “thread it” under the right arm, hand up or down lying on the ground. Rest face on ground (I usually place my buff down so I don’t get dirty). Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat on the other side.
Benefits of pose: Shoulder release, perfect after a long day of carrying backpacks
simple seat
This pose feels absolutely amazing on the trail. You can find a spot almost anywhere on the trail. Take off your backpack, cross your legs (shoes off if you want) and place your hands on your knees.
Close your eyes. Breathe.
Ask yourself…
Are my shoulders up to my ears? Bring them down.
Is my jaw clenched? Move your tongue away from the roof of your mouth.
Are my hands swollen and tight? Gently open and close them.
Is my breath coming from my shoulders? Take a few deep belly breaths.
Do my feet ache? Reach down and massage them with your hands.
Does my back hurt? Slowly bend at your torso, moving your upper body toward the ground releasing your lower back.
So often bringing hiking and yoga together on the trail is as simple as sitting for a moment. The easiest poses can awake powerful observations.
For longer backpacking hikes, add movement to your stretches.
When I backpacked Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop I did a short flow each night, incorporating lunges (crescent pose), warrior poses and simple stretching.
Yoga Breathing for Trail Hiking
Years ago I hired a running coach to train for my first marathon. I remember asking her “How should I breathe?” She replied, “Just suck in air.” While that worked for my running races, practicing proper breathing can give you a leg up hiking trails.
In yoga, breathing is referred to as Pranayama. It literally means Prana (vital life force) Yama (to control). We go through life mindlessly breathing, most of the time taking sips of air from the top third of our lungs.
Yoga breathing expands your belly, allowing full body breath to enter to the very bottom of your lungs. This intentional breath is cleansing, filling your body with oxygen.
Proper breath work, like filling a balloon, can be used for many things- during hiking to center yourself and soak in the moment or to help you climb steep alpine stretches.
Practicing slow steady breathing helps keep hiking pace manageable. Both techniques below are very effective for combating the challenges of high altitude.
Proper breathing techniques for hiking will get you up 14ers leaving the challenges of altitude in the dust. Outdoor yoga can be as simple as standing in mountain pose, feet hip width apart, arms overhead or by your side and breathing. Use these meditative moments to practice these breath techniques.
Here are two breathing techniques for hiking.
Synchronized Breathing
Breathe in, moving one foot forward, breathe out as you extend your other foot. Breathing in a repetitive intentional manner allows you to take smooth long strides.
Synchronizing foot steps with breathing settles your body, relaxing muscles that typically tense when you rush your breath in and out.
This technique works great for steep hill climbs, particularly at altitude.
3 part breath (Dirga Breath)
Arriving at stunning mountain vistas or rest breaks give your body the chance to deeply inhale oxygen, preparing it for the next part of the hiking trail.
HOW TO DO THREE PART BREATHING
Lie down or stand in mountain pose
Inhale through your nose, filling belly with breath. Pretend your belly is a balloon, your tummy getting bigger.
Exhale through your nose, sucking your belly in.
Repeat for 5 breaths, inhaling to the count of 5 and exhaling to the count of 5.
Balancing in dancer pose on one of our favorite Colorado Springs hikes.
6 Ways to Practice Outdoor Yoga on Hikes
Knowing the benefits of hiking and yoga are half the battle. You need to actually PRACTICE to see results. Here are 6 simple and practical ways to bring yoga outside.
Grounding through the senses
While hiking, at a rest stop or viewing point, stop or slow down. Simply note what is happening around you using the checklist below.
Five things you see
Four things you hear
Three things you touch or feel
Two things you smell
One thing you taste
When you take intentional moments focused on your surroundings, your memory perks up, cataloguing what you’re experiencing and integrating it into long term memory.
Grounding techniques are often used for anxiety treatment and trauma recovery.
Forest BATHING - Shinrin-yoku
Choose to hike with one sole purpose. Instead of logging miles to nail new trails, enter the hike with the simple intention of noticing.
Notice nature. Look around at tree trunks. Isn’t it funny how Colorado aspens have eyes all over their trunks, staring you down? In summer months, watch your steps for vivid mushrooms and tiny wildflowers. On a snowshoe trail in Colorado, see how icicles hang like diamonds from pine trees. Spring is perfect for leaf bud spotting, nature stubbornly waking up after a long winter sleep.
In the 1980s, Japan created a new word -Shinrin-yoku translated as “forest bathing.” According to the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, forest bathing “refers to the process of soaking up the sights, smells and sounds of a natural setting to promote physiological and psychological health.
You can literally bathe in the sounds, sights and smells of the woods, stimulating your T-cells which boost your immune system.
Beautiful blue sky on a Colorado Springs hike in fall
Look up
Many Colorado hiking trails are rocky. It’s easy to spend the bulk of the hike looking down, making sure an ankle doesn’t twist or worse. Bring your trekking poles and trust them to keep you upright. Remember all that core work you’ve been doing in yoga classes (wink!)?
Trust your body to keep you upright and LOOK UP.
Whether you’re hiking in a forest or wide open meadow, take in what is above you. Maybe it’s a swirl of clouds in the sky or swaying of tree tops from wind.
Stop
Breathe in
Look Up
Breathe Out
One of the most challenging aspects to hiking and yoga is SLOWING DOWN.
Leave Your headphones at home
There are a lot of strong opinions about taking technology on the trail. For the long distance backpacker, headphones can bring companionship when the days get long.
As a day hiker, consider leaving your headphones at home.
Instead, allow your ears to take in the whispering sounds of aspen leaves in the fall or the creaking groans of tall trees in a pine forest. Sing along with the love birds chirping high in the trees.
Yoga is about being present.
You cannot relive the moment that just passed. You are not guaranteed the next minute. Live in the moment at hand.
Breath meditations
Take a phrase, a quote, verse, poem - whatever you wish to mull over.
Break it into two parts.
Inhale part one, Exhale part two.
Try inhaling/exhaling using these meditations
I am here and I am walking
I am here, I give thanks
I do my best
I accept myself
Speak to yourself as you’d speak to others. Be kind. Dig a little deeper into using these mantras with breathing techniques for hiking.
Howard Thurman said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive.”
Take a mindful hike *moments of quiet
Whether you’re a solo hiker or with a group, take intentional moments throughout the hike to be quiet. This includes your thoughts.
Not sure about you, but my mind wanders all over the place even when my mouth is shut. The to-do list, tasks for kids and what’s for dinner plague otherwise fantastic times in nature.
Chitta Vritti, the yoga term for monkey brain, wonderfully describes how easy it is to become distracted. This monkey mind is when your thoughts cannot be tamed, moving from one topic to another.
Conversation is fantastic but so are the quiet moments observing your body in nature.
Here are a few ways to quiet the mind on hikes.
Take deep belly breaths
Observe your thoughts, simply allowing them to float through your mind.
Take a decompression hike. Turn off the phone.
Ask yourself questions “How does it feel when my foot steps on the ground? What part of my foot is taking the most weight? How do my hands feel in the air as I walk?”
HIking near Breckenridge taking a quick outdoor yoga break
Have fun
Find a tree and imitate its branches. Attempt stretches up trunks. Put your hands in silly poses.
Children have a marvelous way of seeing the delight of the world around them. Taking kids hiking opens up your world. Their exuberance at rock skipping, nature noticing and finding the perfect tree branch is contagious. Become childlike.
Yoga outdoors on the trail doesn’t have to be serious.
Smile, stretching your mouth and jaw. Laugh, delighting in the world around you. Walk with intention, noticing the stride of hands and feet on the trail.
Taking moments to delight in moving your body outdoors is amazing for the mind and spirit. We often set up our camera and do at least one leap in the air.
Don’t take yourself too seriously. Enjoy the moment.
My Hiking and Yoga Journey
Growing up in Africa, I had a rocky health journey battling parasites and malaria. I spent my early adult years trying so many treatments to feel better. Along the way people kept suggesting yoga to me.
I thought yoga was for those people, the granola types who enjoyed sitting cross legged with crazy hand gestures. Who had time for slow meditations when there were trails to hike and nature to see?
Distance running was my first love. But like many, as I aged, my joints weren’t so happy after long runs. I felt like a rice krispie treat - snap, crackling and popping after every running workout. I knew I needed to try something new.
An avid runner, hiker and backpacker, it took me decades to see the value of outdoor yoga.
Soaking in Crater Lake views with a Warrior 2 dance
My personal healthy journey turned a corner when I added hiking and yoga as regular forms of exercise. Along with some pretty stellar probiotics, a change in diet and regular yoga stretching, I found myself happily enjoying hours on Colorado trails. Weekly Manitou Incline hikes felt almost easy, without any of the dreaded dead leg syndrome and headaches that had plagued me.
Living in Colorado, nearby yoga classes are a dime a dozen. I started attending, learning simple yoga poses to supplement outdoor treks. Taking yoga outdoors became a quest - surely if I could practice on a mat, I could on the trail as well.
Not only is outdoor yoga beneficial for the body, it is downright fun!
The many benefits of hiking can keep you outdoors for years, building strong bones, giving you a solid cardio workout and best of all, a front row seat to nature’s beauty. Add in yoga and you’ll feel like you’ve taken long sips from the fountain of youth.
In recent years, I’ve found adding yoga to hiking has upped my hiking game in ways never expected.
My joints don’t ache as much, my ligaments are more flexible for diversived climbs. I’m stronger, making backpacking Colorado trails downright enjoyable. My immune system fights harder while my breathing on uphill climbs is easier.
Practicing outdoor yoga has been a game changer on overnight backpacking trips. Proper breathing techniques for hiking will get you up 14ers keeping the challenges of altitude at bay. Bringing basic yoga poses on the trail keep your body loose and limber.
Perhaps, like me, you’ll find a dancer pose on a frozen Colorado lake. Or put your legs up a tree after the most satisfying day backpacking Maroon Bells hiking trails. And just maybe, you’ll cross your legs and breathe deep in the middle of Colorado campgrounds, and say thanks body for being the best partner in life.
Tips for Practicing Yoga Outdoors
Be prepared for changing temps *Know what to wear hiking for each season
Invest in gear - snowshoes and spikes
Hiking in winter burns more calories *Bring snacks
Carry a small lightweight cushion or foam seat for extended meditation sessions
If you move rocks, sticks, etc to make room for your practice, Leave No Trace and put them back.
Wear comfortable yoga hiking pants *Tanya loves her Khul leggings
Practicing outdoor yoga on Colorado trails is a fun and functional way to keep injury at bay!
Let’s Talk
We’d love to share with you the best Colorado trails for hiking and yoga. Book us today for a one hour consult.
