Give Your Riding a Lift

It’s fall, the time every shredder and skier is hitting the gym and doing endless amounts of squats. What about working out the mind? It’s a neglected area for most riders. Competitors know the importance of being as mentally in the game as physically. It could be just the thing to give yourself that edge this season. Yoga celebrity Padma from Vancouver, BC is providing the guidance you need this Sunday in Whistler to be relaxed and ready for winter 2013/14.

In her workshop “Get Some Altitude,” October 27th in the Yogacara studio, Padma will teach students how to elevate their athletic performance through meditation. Attendees can expect to learn breathing techniques and mantras to get you in the right state of mind for trying that new trick. The allusive state we call being “in the zone.” It comes and goes but in this workshop one can learn to control the mind and get to that place. “The mental aspect of snowboarding is important, and yoga and meditation is a great way to harness the power of the mind and achieve your goals,” says Yogacara’s Whistler studio owner Emily Kane, “If  you’re holding your breath (while riding) it can have a negative impact in your nervous system and affect the choices you make while you ride.”

Anyone who shreds knows that things happen quickly. Having the ability to make quick, almost sub-conscious decisions is important. It could be a jump that’s never been hit or the start gate at the race, the nervous, panicky state can defiantly throw you off your game. Control, (even a little) is within your grasp. Kane, a snowboarder from Courtney, BC knows this. “Before I do something that stresses me out I take a few deep breaths.” There are a few meditations that involve simple counting exercises, or mantras that can pump you up to go to the next level of your riding.”

There could not be a better teacher to learn these techniques from coming to Whistler this Sunday. Padma is a teacher so accomplished she only goes by one name. Holding a science degree from McGill, Padma also walks the walk, after attending a decade long retreat in the Himalayas between 1989-1999.* She co-produced and hosted  her own TV series and has a meditation tape that Air Canada uses for nervous flyers. She has taught A-list stars including Uma Thurman and Heather Graham*.

Yogacara is a studio based out of Vancouver with a Whistler space in the St.Andrews building, central in Whistler Village. If you’d like to sign up for the workshop visit http://yogacarastudios.com/eventsworkshops/