Simon Campbell

Posted at 1039 hours on 16/02/09 | Posted in Life, Diving

Yoga: friend of the diver

OK call me soft and a real Jesse, but Yoga is improving my flexibility, breathing and general control over my body! My goodness, I need it…

When we moved to the Isle of Man in October, I planned to do more regular exercise. The sort of diving I am doing is tough and my body is not getting any younger :-0

I had been to one Yoga class when I was living in the UK, but it was a bit of a distance to travel and although I really enjoyed it, couldn’t make the commitment to go every week. When Angela, my long suffering wife, found a class in Port Erin (1.8 miles from our house) I decided to go along.

As it is during the day, it’s full of older ladies – I am the only bloke, which I find very funny. It is of course a beginners class and our instructor, Jane, is as mad as a fish. Having said that, she is really careful, demonstrates everything very well and understands her audience’s abilities. Over the weeks the lessons have become increasingly demanding (nice and progressive – sounds familiar to all you BSAC Instructors) and last Monday I was actually stretching parts where I didn’t know I had parts!

A week ago, two of our Erskine Design guys (Greg Wood and Glen Swinfield) came over to ‘work’ from the Isle of Man for a few days. They are both in their 20’s, joined in and apparently enjoyed it! This has however, led to the following recommendations:

• Do not eat curry and drink Bushy’s bitter the night before the lesson for fear of embarrassment
• Ensure you are wearing suitable underwear to accommodate the stretching and avoid entrapment or strangulation of any dangley bits
• Make sure you have a soft mat with you otherwise your bum gets numb
• Do not fall asleep during the deep relax, you will snore
• Don’t do it in front of a mirror: you look like a total nob…

Seriously though, I think it has improved my diving already. The breathing exercises especially assist with gas consumption, stress control and your ability to relax underwater (having said that, people who dive with me regularly know that I am virtually asleep when diving anyway :-); the ‘moves’ tone the muscles and really aid flexibility.

As you can see from the picture above I will soon be able to don my fins in any situation…

Couple of photos for you: Greg Wood is cold and the later adopts the deep relax position.

4 comments

1. Mat Witts on 12/04/09 at 1744 hours

   Ever thought of starting a new trend - UNDERWATER YOGA ? I think it could catch on ...

2. Jason Cale on 13/05/09 at 0726 hours

   I’ve wanted to get into yoga for years .. and have only recently started actively doing it. But its flipping fantastic .. I’m rather stiff and wobbly but I can feel it working already.

3. Clair on 30/06/10 at 1501 hours

   Where? I have just moved to Port Erin and I want to get into yoga properly!

4. Simonski on 30/06/10 at 1505 hours

   We have lost our original person. Just looking for a new place at the moment!

RSS Feeds

View available feeds

RSS feeds allow you to see when websites have added new content. You can get the latest headlines and video in one place, as soon as its published, without having to visit the websites you have taken the feed from. More about RSS