Yoga tips for cycle tourers

Two good friends of ours have just left on a trip to Japan. Bizarrely enough, my girlfriend and I are also going to Japan this week too (for a Zen retreat). We'll be flying there, but our friends, Claire and André, will be taking a slightly longer route... They are cycling!

They asked me a while back to write a guest blog article with some yoga tips for their ride. Here's what I sent them. You can follow their journey via their blog here and see my guest article here (http://www.puncturesandpanniers.com/2014/06/25/tip-yoga-cycle-tourers/).


If you're a regular cyclist you'll probably have noticed your leg muscles are bigger than before you were cycling! The primary muscles needed for cycling are the quads and hamstrings (front and back of the thighs), plus a bit from the calf muscles. The question is for Claire and André: do you think your thighs and calves will be bigger or smaller by the end of your trip?

So the main danger with long-distance cycling is these muscles getting over-developed, pulling the rest of the body out of alignment. This has a number of effects. If the oversized flexor muscles in the thigh start to pull the knee joint into inward rotation, this torques the leg bones, putting pressure on the knee, then the foot and the hips (see image to the left). If the hamstrings (back of the thigh) and psoas muscle get too tight, they can pull the hips out of alignment. You can spot people with this issue when they start walking with their bum sticking out too much!

A cyclist's spine is constantly flexed forward over the handlebars, and the head often tilted up to look forward (hopefully!). If a good posture isn't maintained, it can result in muscle pain and strain in the back and shoulders. So as you're cycling, it's important to make sure your spine is in as neutral position as you can get it, and your shoulders are as relaxed as possible. (See here for a great article on cycling posture.)

Another danger is iliotibial band friction syndrome, apparently one of the most common causes of knee pain in cyclists (runners, hikers, etc.). The iliotibial (IT) band is a very important band of fascia that runs from the outside of the pelvis, down the outside of the thigh, to just below the knee, and provides crucial stability for the knee joint. Pain and swelling in the knee area can happen if it starts to rub against a projection at the end of your femur as it moves during moving and cycling.

So what can Claire and André do to help prevent all this happening on their long trip?

I would suggest starting with 5mins in what's called the "constructive rest position" – see image below. This helps the lower back and psoas muscle relax and is very restful for the body.

Constructive rest position

Then spend some time stretching the quads and hamstrings.
A good one for the quads is to sit with your legs bent underneath you (sitting on your heels). Lean back on your hands, fingers facing forwards, then begin tucking your tail bone underneath (hips forwards) until you begin to feel the front of the thighs stretching.
For the hamstrings, a simple forward fold with your knees bent and feet separated can work well, or try this one (see image below). Feet both face forwards, hold your elbows behind your back then fold forwards keeping that front knee slightly soft (i.e. not locking). Make sure to do both sides.

Take some time in down dog to strengthen, stretch, and open the shoulders. Make sure to keep your knees bent (even if it's just slightly). You can also vary it by treading back into your heels to stretch out the calves and achilles heels.

Downward facing dog

A great one for opening into the thighs and giving that IT band some attention is what's known as the "threading the needle" pose. Lying back, cross one ankle over the other knee then draw that knee up towards the chest. You can hold the thigh, just behind the knee, or the front of the knee on your
shin. So called because you thread one arm through the gap between your legs! Do on both sides.

Eye of the needle pose

One to finish would be revolved belly pose. This one helps to release tension in the spine, hips, shoulders, and – critically for cyclists – the pecs across the chest. Pulling up hills with the arms can strain the pecs more than you might think! Lying on your back with your arms out to either side and knees bent. Let your knees fall to one side, down to the floor, keeping your knees and ankles together. If the shoulder lifts, let it, then work on softening it towards the floor. You can add a twist in the neck by rolling the head looking in the opposite direction from your knees. Do both sides.

Finally, I'd recommend doing all these exercises with as much awareness and presence as you can. Treat this time doing your yoga as time for yourself, time to relax, to connect with how you're feeling, and an opportunity to breathe out any stresses from the day.

Is yoga all about stretching?

The most common reason I hear for people not doing yoga is that they feel they aren't flexible enough - "I can't touch my toes...!"

So do you have to be flexible to do yoga, and is yoga all about flexibility? Well, I'd say flexibility is a by-product of doing yoga, and bendiness is by no means a pre-requisite.

What is the point of doing yoga then?

To me, yoga is about awareness, it's about re-connecting the mind and body, and tuning in to how we are in each moment.

The thing is, most of us are quite inflexible. Too much sitting, not enough exercise, a dodgy diet, all causes the body to stiffen and to lock in tension. We also spend so much of our time in our thoughts, not feeling but thinking, not being but doing - we literally think ourselves stiff! Our culture doesn't help either – we're encouraged to ignore those knots in the shoulders, that little niggle in the lower back, and keep on working.

The less aware we become of our bodies, the less we notice how tight and tense we get. The tighter we get, the more it gets locked in to the body and the harder it is to feel anything beyond that tension. Our sensitivity to the body becomes more and more limited.

Massage can bring temporary relief and is highly recommended! A trained masseur skilfully guides our muscles to relax - and it feels fantastic. Ah the relief! But it's only temporary... whatever habits and patterns that caused the tightness in the first place haven't changed.

You see, the flexibility we learn in yoga isn't just about he muscles. Fascia – the tissue between the muscles, bones, organs – can also tighten up and hold stress. And since many of our nerves are embedded in fascia, this tension and stress gets felt by our nervous system and ultimately our brain.

Yoga works on many levels to stretch, lengthen, and release. It also teaches flexibility in the way we think. Thoughts like "I'm not someone who does yoga" become "let's try it and see what I feel". Developing a sense of curiosity, interest, and playfulness can work wonders to free up the mind!

So in a sense, yoga is all about stretching, but not just in the obvious way. A flexible, strong, grounded, aware, and adventurous body and mind means a healthy, content, productive and happy one!

I applaud companies offering yoga at work

This last couple of weeks I've been covering for a yoga teacher friend of mine Lucy Bannister while she's been away teaching a retreat. She's let me loose on some of her corporate yoga classes – classes that are offered in the work place for company employees – and it's been great fun!

One of the things I've noticed is the unusual demographic of the people at the classes. A proportion of them are perhaps a bit older, are unfit, or have certain injuries. I'm sure this is a testament to Lucy's lovely, accepting, gentle manner, and the rather therapeutic style of the yoga she teaches. But I'm also sure that by offering yoga cheaply or for free at a convenient time and place, allows people who wouldn't otherwise go to a gym or studio class, to come and do yoga. For this alone, I applaud any company that offers yoga to their employees at work!

And from talking to the people coming to the classes, one of the main reasons they come is to relax and de-stress.

Having a city job means stress. Doesn't it? "If you're not stressed then you're not working hard enough...!" It's almost rite of passage in the city to feel stressed. "Can I speak to John in derivatives please? I'm afraid he's been off for the last month with stress."

And how often do you hear the term "burn out" these days? Burn out, also known as chronic fatigue, is what happens to your system when you've been in a state of hyperarousal and it just can't take it any more.

Our bodies are hard-wired to respond to a situation of danger or vulnerability in a very particular way. Let's say we meet a bear in the forest, or perhaps more likely these days get asked at the last minute to do a board presentation. In both situations our body responds In the same way: it redirects energy and resources from our non-essential systems like digestion and our immune system to things like our muscles and heart (flight or flight). Adrenaline and cortisol are released that raise the heart rate, raise body temperature, and narrow your mental focus.

Getting that stress reaction once is a while is fine - in fact good! It can be exciting, adding a sense of thrill to giving that presentation! But the problems come when you live in a constant state of low-level stress, with those occasional big stresses thrown on top. There's always a deadline looming, your work phone keeps buzzing with emails from the LA office one moment and Hong Kong the next, someone in your team not performing, your partner keeps reminding you that you need to get the car fixed... Like this your body never gets a chance to return to normal, to come off orange alert. You're in a state of "hyperarousal".

Often the first things you might notice is that your digestion isn't working so well (the energy is constantly being diverted to more 'important' areas), you struggle sleeping (the mind is on alert mode), you keep getting colds or infections (your immune system is low), and maybe you have a low sex-drive (reproduction is another system that's compromised in the stress response). You may get sweaty palms, cold feet, headaches.

So what do we do? Our ambition and desire says keep going, work harder - it'll pass. But underneath that you might hear a quiet voice saying you need to relax. And that's where yoga can really help.

Stress brings tension, so yoga helps by lengthening and flexing the limbs so that they can soften and relax. You learn how to focus your attention on the body and sensations so intently so there's no space left in your mind for all those to-do lists and job worries. You learn how to let the movements unfold from moment to moment, and with as you notice that everything is in a constant state of change, and what you thought was fixed actually isn't, you build up a softness and resilience to difficulty, pain, and stress. So how wonderful it is to have it on offer at work!

If you listen really carefully after your class, you might hear your body saying a quiet, heart-felt thank you!