Mental & physical well-being from practising mind-body exercises by the ocean
Are you interested in beach yoga? Then you should be interested in this post. Below is how it is structured.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Benefits of Beach Yoga
2.1 Outdoor Exercise is good for you
2.2 Sea Air
2.3 Boost of Energy and Happiness
2.4 You do alot more of a workout
2.5 The sand is a cushion
2.6 Enhances Your Creativity
2.7 You can reconnect with nature
2.8 You get a deeper sense of relaxation
2.9 You’ll get a boost of Vitamin D
2.10 You can take Insta worthy pictures
2.11 You Can Combine Workouts
2.12 You can cool off in the ocean!
3. FAQs
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Read Time: 8 Minutes
Introduction
Yoga is well known for its amazing health benefits. Not least because it helps calm your mind and sharpen your focus.
Yoga practice involves breathing techniques that relax the body’s movements and brings you back to a more peaceful state.
A terrific way to keep up your levels of physical active, especially for people who like to do exercises that are low-impact, it can also help to make your body stronger without putting excessive strain on your joints.
But did you know that doing at Yoga at the beach can be even more beneficial to you than regular yoga in the studio?
The practice of beach yoga is great for both beginners and more seasoned yogis because it can help you challenge yourself, strengthen your body, deepen your poses, improve your outlook on life, and generally stay healthy.
Whether you are looking for a more challenging workout, or simply just want a change of environment, doing your favorite yoga poses, in your favourite yoga gear at the beach can be a very enriching experience.
Outlined below are 12 reasons why.
Best Moves for Beach Yoga
Benefits of Beach Yoga
Are you interested in doing beach yoga on a regular basis? Here are 12 benefits associate with the practice.
Outdoor Exercise is good for you
According to numerous studies, including one published in the Environmental Science and Technology Journal, outdoor exercise in a nature setting helps reduce stress, tension, anger, and depression. It can also increase happiness, satisfaction, and your energy levels too.
This is especially the case if the exercise takes place near water.
Furthermore, the benefits of outdoor exercise tend to last longer, as the body receives a healthy supply of fresh air.
Even 5 to 10 minutes of outdoor physical activity is believed to have a positive effect in improving our health and well-being.
So imagine how good you would feel after completing a 60 to 90-minute beach yoga session.
Sea Air
Breathing in ocean air has many well-documented health benefits, which are particularly enhanced by beach yoga.
Salty ocean air is replete with negative ions that are very beneficial to you. Abundant in nature, and particularly around water, negative ions take the form of oxygen atoms with negatively charged electrons. These ions help your body absorb oxygen easier.
So by deeply breathing in the fresh ocean air, it helps to clean out your lungs, relaxes your chest muscles and boosts your energy.
As an additional bonus, antibacterial properties are present in salt. It means that if you do beach yoga, or simply enjoy the beach lifestyle, the ocean air should assist you to a quicker recover from any bacteria or infections you may have recently picked up.
Boost of Energy and Happiness
Many yogis believe that the main benefit of performing yoga is that it increases their mood.
This is especially the case when doing beach yoga.
The negative ions of the ocean air can also help naturally boost your levels of serotonin (the hormone which makes you feel happy). Which in turn can help you feel more relaxed and happier during your yoga session.
Likewise, the sights and sounds of the ocean work to induce a meditative state of calm focus and gentle awareness whilst doing beach yoga, which ultimately generates more inner peace and happiness.
You do alot more of a workout
Doing beach yoga actually gives you a lot more of a workout than regular yoga in the studio does.
On the sand, your body has to work much harder than it does on a hard floor surface. It requires significantly more balance, concentration, and strength to hold yoga poses on sand that can be unstable.
Not only do you need to find a way to balance yourself on the contours of the sand, you will also need to hold your pose, find your footing and make sure your hands don’t give way from underneath you.
As a result, you work your legs, hips, feet, core, shoulders and knees much more than normal, as the moving sand forces your body into making tiny adjustments to enable you to stay in the pose.
For this reason, the first time you do beach yoga don’t be surprised if you really feel the effects of it afterwards.
The sand is a cushion
While doing beach yoga might add a bit of a challenge to your workout, you will get the benefit of having a soft cushion of sand underneath you for support.
Anytime you sit on the sand, you may find your hips and backside are supported by it. By contrast in a yoga studio, you will need to surround yourself with blankets and cushions to get that kind of support.
Given such support, you may want to test yourself on a few more challenging poses during your beach yoga session. For if you lose your balance you won’t need to worry about falling on a hard wooden floor.
Perhaps you can do a tree or triangle to test the lay of the sand and establish firm footing within it. Then you can attempt asanas and other tough yoga poses.
Sand tends to be significantly more shock-absorbent and therefore easier on your joints and knees. So when doing beach yoga you might find it easier to work on improving your overall balance.
Sand is also a lot warmer than the studio floor. So laying down on the beach will also assist you to keep energy flowing through your body seamlessly to ensure it is relaxed and warm.
Enhances Your Creativity
Exercise in general provides a great boost to your creativity. But this is especially the case when doing beach yoga.
In a book entitled ‘Blue Minds‘, a marine biologist from the Ocean Conservancy called Wallace J. Nichols, posits that whenever we exercise near water this could trigger “a mildly meditative state characterised by calm, peacefulness, unity, and a sense of general happiness and satisfaction with life in the moment”.
Other research has shown that whilst generally exercising for at least 20 minutes per day, the hippocampus (a part of your brain) can help your cells regenerate faster than it otherwise normally would.
During this time our brain becomes relaxed and focused. Which in turn helps the creative process by increasing and directing the flow of thoughts.
So after doing beach yoga don’t be surprised if you find yourself flowing with ideas!
You can reconnect with nature
Life can be busy.
Long hours in the office. The routine of housework. Looking after the kids and doing the school run twice a day. The addiction of scrolling through your phone.
We all have so much to do that we can sometimes not take the opportunity to reconnect with nature. Much to our detriment.
Doing yoga on the beach is a great way to get in tune with nature.
Not only do you get to enjoy the benefits of sunshine, fresh air and scenic beauty – all of which can help your mind and body in different ways. You also get to go back to our evolutionary roots and ground yourself in your yoga practice.
Sometimes we all need to get off the treadmill of daily life every now and then. Doing beach yoga allows us to do just that.
You get a deeper sense of relaxation
Many experienced yogis believe you get a deeper sense of relaxation when you practice beach yoga.
The sensory experiences of the sound of the crashing waves, the rustling of palm trees and the chirping of the odd bird naturally puts you in a meditative mood.
It can also significantly help with your breathing too, as you tend to replicate the rhythm of the ocean as you complete your yoga session.
This in turn leads to both a calmer mind and your system delivering more oxygen to your muscles.
Thus putting you in a more relaxed and stoic state than you were previously in.
You’ll get a boost of Vitamin D
Even on a cloudy day, any exercise you do outside is going to give you a big boost in Vitamin D.
Vitamin D is essential for regulating the calcium and phosphate levels in your body. To maintain a happier, more energised and healthier disposition you need a regular dose of it.
A lack of vitamin D can lead to autoimmune diseases like Multiple Sclerosis. So it is important that you spend a bit of time in the sun on a regular basis to ensure your skin absorbs it. At least 30 minutes is considered a good amount.
Vitamin D can help keep your bones and muscles healthy, which is important for yoga. It can also improve your sleep quality too which has an holistic effect on your overall health.
So there are plenty of benefits to doing yoga at the beach.
You can take Insta worthy pictures
If you use Instagram, you will surely have noticed all the great yoga selfies people post every day.
Doing yoga at the beach provides you with an excellent opportunity to take some Insta worthy pictures.
Who wouldn’t like a cool photo of you doing a challenging yoga pose against the backdrop of a stunning Queensland beach location?
The beauty of being down at the beach is that you can combine your yoga session with another type of workout.
Why not take the opportunity to go for a jog, swim, or a long beach walk before your yoga practice?
Some beaches even have outdoor gym equipment you can use too.
If you decide to do another workout before your yoga session, this can help you warm up and prepare your mind and body for the workout ahead.
It will also allow you to simultaneously work on your leg and core muscles too.
You can cool off in the ocean!
Usually, after a yoga session, you might take a shower to cool off. But at the beach, you can jump straight into the ocean!
The beauty of doing this is that you can remain time in the water and absorb all the benefits of the practice you’ve just done.
If you do have a dip, just remember to wear Lycra clothing. This will ensure your skin won’t feel chaffed from synthetic materials and sea water rubbing onto it.
After the ocean dip, if you have some more spare time at your disposal, you can even relax in the sand for a while longer to contemplate and extend the experience of your yoga session.
FAQs
What is the meaning of beach yoga?
As its name suggests, beach yoga is the act of performing yoga moves in a coastal setting such as a beach. In essence, it fuses the relaxed vibe of ocean waves with the energising, yet calming practice of asana.
Is it good to do beach yoga?
Yes! Doing beach yoga is an excellent thing to do. During the practice, your body absorbs oxygen much easier than it otherwise would due to the ocean air being full of negative ions. These ions can significantly boost your levels of serotonin, which subsequently makes you happier and more relaxed whilst you are doing your yoga session. Moreover, the salt also has very beneficial antibacterial properties.
How do you do beach yoga?
The best way to do beach yoga is barefoot. This enables you to feel the sand underneath your feet, which improves your stability and balance.
