I had a fun new experience today. Right now, Kelly is in the midst of a 31 day challenge at her yoga studio, Haute Yoga. In this challenge, she must take 31 classes in 31 days. It’s great to have the goal, and the challenge has taken her on a journey similar to what I’m experiencing with the hiking goals. The challenge has created a fun, educational, and enlightening narrative that you can read about here.
However, taking 31 classes and 31 days presents a fair amount of challenges, not the least of which is overcoming the boredom of taking the same old vinyasa flow classes every single day. Fortunately, Haute provides a variety, including a brand new class that merges hiking and yoga.
This class, led by Jean-Christophe Haskell, takes you through Torrey Pines Reserve Extension and mixes brisk hiking, some education about the local flora, and four separate yoga sequences. Jean brings a wealth of natural knowledge – for instance, identifying lemonade berry and explaining that you can make a sort of ad hoc lemonade by placing the berries in your canten. Likewise, he brings yoga expertise and finds a way to mix the two together for a completely different experience than a yoga class or hike alone.
The genius of this experience becomes clear when you consider that yoga was most likely developed by yogis on mountainsides or river banks attempting to master their bodies on the way to enlightenment, fitness, and discipline. Most yoga classes take place indoors in either heated or non-heated rooms. There’s always some kind of music, and people line up in linear rows and go through the motions, so to speak. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this arrangement, and I’m not offering a critique. However, considering that yoga can have the effect of opening senses and waking up the body, a hike in a lovely place like Torrey Pines Extension intermixed with yoga makes a hell of a combination.
I recommend this class or something like it, even if “it” is just taking ten minutes and doing a few hammy-stretching poses halfway. It’s a different kind of experience from the slog up the hill, and both practices can reinforce and complement each other.
Thanks, Jean, and thanks, Kelly, for opening up a new kind of experience!
May: 96.8 Miles
Year-to-Date: 604.5 Miles
scott turner hikes 