Yoga and Skydiving

Over a year ago I did a post about yoga and skydiving, so consider this the second, more elaborate installation.

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For those who have been following along, you likely are aware that I’m extremely passionate about yoga. As someone who has had a personal practice for 8 years, I’m a firm believer in the power of yoga.

Injury prevention and self-reflection, among other aspects, can truly be achieved through regular practice. What I’ve also found, in the 2 seasons I’ve spent skydiving is that, when I’m practicing yoga regularly, my skills in the air improve as well. There are a number of reasons why this might be – given all the facets of yoga that have the potential to improve quality of life.

I’m sure there are a number of you out there rolling your eyes at all this, but hear me out, you might be surprised how much a regular yoga practice could help you in skydiving. Check this out:

* Muscle memory and strength - If yoga and skydiving have one thing in common more than anything else, it’s muscle memory. The more you practice, the easier it gets. With both sports. In yoga, you’re elongating and strengthening your muscles which helps make the “postures” in skydiving that much easier to attain. Manipulating the air to get into a proper sitfly position is exponentially easier after hours spent in Utkatasana (Chair Pose).

* Mind/Body Awareness - yoga presents an opportunity to free your mind through meditation while practicing a set of physical postures. It allows you to focus your attention on you, to generate a greater sense of self and meld your mind and body into one during your practice. This can come in very handy in the sky. Lots of times all it takes is thinking about moving in a direction and then it happens. Knowing how your body reacts in each situation and/or posture you throw at it can only serve to benefit you in skydiving, as everything is happening so fast and there often isn’t time to give too much thought to your next move.

* Reflecting – that said, yoga helps not only to strengthen your body, but to strengthen your mind. Anyone who has practiced before has likely experienced the last pose (typically) of any yoga session called shavasana – also known as corpse pose. It’s often referred to as the most difficult pose of the practice, even though it’s the least strenuous. I know, right, doesn’t make sense. But in yoga, it does because it’s the time where you’re supposed to take everything you learned in the 60 or 90 minutes of practice before that and reflect on it, learn from it. Quiet your mind and soak in what you learned about yourself while letting all other thoughts pass out of your brain. This comes in very handy after 60 seconds of freefall that seemed like a whirlwind. When you’re tuned into your senses on a higher level, it’s much easier to reflect on what took place and have a legit discussion with your fellow jumpers. Of course, GoPro playback also helps.

*Flexibility – this may not seem like a priority for most skydivers, but if you’re little like me, any belly jumps you do will require you to virtually fold yourself in half when arching to stay with the group. It also helps if you’re considering dipping your toe into the world of freestyle.

*Awareness of Breath - okay how many times have you heard instructors telling their students (or how many times were you told) to breathe, it’ll help you relax in freefall. Well, this is another area where yoga can help. Each posture and flow is determined by the breath, that’s your focal point for most of the practice. If you take a few moments before every jump to breath deeply, bring your attention to your breath just as you would in a yoga practice, you might be surprised how much easier the exit comes off. Relaxing into the skydive is just as important for your performance as relaxing into a yoga pose.

So how about that, did you think yoga and skydiving could have so much in common? From my point of view, for what it’s worth, practicing yoga in tandem with skydiving can be beneficial for both your skydiving and your yoga practice.

Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it, here’s an article from Nadene Bayerbach over at Dropzone.com that delves a bit deeper into how specific aspects of yoga can be beneficial to your time spent in the sky.

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

Practice for Muscle Memory

Hard to believe it’s Thursday already. With the extended Memorial Day weekend I’m all thrown off.

On weeks like this I find time to be at a premium, what with trying to fit five days of work into four. And this week, I’ve had a hard time finding any additional time to practice.

Yep, practice!

Just like any other sport, skydiving requires regular practice, too. And not just in the air. Exercising the muscles you’ll use during free fall on the ground will only help build up the necessary muscle memory to perform a perfect skydive.

This muscle memory is critical, speaking as a new skydiver, since when the adrenaline is flowing and you’re dealing with sensory overload while plummeting to the Earth at 120 mph it can be difficult to remember proper body position and free fall progressions.

(Practice touches are a lot easier when you’re not focusing solely on proper body position for balance.)

My instructors at Cleveland Parachute recommended that I practice my arch while watching TV – which naturally helps bring my head up as my eyeballs are glued to reruns of Seinfeld.

Personally, I’m also practicing a little more yoga than usual to strengthen and elongate my muscles for a smoother skydive all around.

What are some other exercises that you experienced skydivers out there practice for optimal skydiving?

Blue Skies!

Ashley