008: PEGGY HALL - 'Yoga for Surfers' founder details what Yoga can do for your surfing.
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Show Notes for The Surf Mastery Podcast: The Power of Yoga for Surfing with Peggy Hall
Can yoga transform your surfing performance, prevent injuries, and help you enjoy every moment in the water—even on challenging days?
In this inspiring episode, Michael Frampton sits down with Peggy Hall, surfer, yoga instructor, and creator of the Yoga for Surfers series, to explore the profound connection between yoga and surfing. Whether you’re a seasoned surfer, just starting out, or overcoming physical challenges, Peggy shares how her tailored approach to yoga can help you surf longer, with more confidence and joy.
Learn the four essential principles—breathe, relax, focus, and enjoy—that can improve your surfing and your life.
Discover how yoga can help alleviate common surfing injuries like shoulder pain, hip tightness, and lower back issues.
Find out why even 10 minutes of yoga a day can enhance your flexibility, energy, and overall surfing performance.
Start incorporating yoga into your routine today with Peggy Hall’s Yoga for Surfers. Visityogaforsurfers.com to access free resources, videos, and tips tailored specifically for surfers.
Notable Quotes:
"Yoga is about staying calm in the center of chaos—on the mat, in the ocean, and in life."
"Surfing isn’t just about the waves; it’s about the experience, the connection, and being present in the moment."
"The pose is just a gateway—it’s about learning to relax, focus, and enjoy in the midst of challenges."
"Even Kelly Slater finds joy in sessions without waves—because just being in the water is a gift."
"Consistency beats perfection: 10 minutes of yoga a day can make a huge difference in how you surf and feel."
Peggy talks about how Yoga can increase your surfing performance, help avoid common surfing injuries, and much more.
Show Notes:
http://www.yogaforsurferstv.com/
www.PeggyHall.com
Breath of fire: https://vimeo.com/104648477
Peggy's Surf-Specific Nutrition
Key Points
Peggy Hall introduced herself as a health coach, wellness coach, entrepreneur, surfer, yoga instructor, and creator of the 'Surfing for Yogis' DVD with pro surfers Tom Carroll, Taylor Knox, and Garrett McNamara.
Peggy explained how practicing yoga helped heal her shoulder tendinitis and improve her surfing, leading her to create a surf-specific style of yoga.
Peggy's surf-specific yoga focuses on opening up the shoulders, back, and hips, and strengthening the neck and knees, which are key areas used in surfing.
Peggy discussed the importance of breathing, relaxation, focus, and enjoyment in both yoga and surfing, and shared techniques like 'breath of fire' to stay calm in heavy surf situations.
Peggy recommended doing 10-15 minutes of yoga daily, mixing up different poses and styles to avoid repetitive injuries and see benefits like improved sleep, energy, and mental attitude.
Peggy emphasized the importance of nutrition and bringing yoga principles into everyday life, such as eating foods that provide energy for surfing and maintaining a positive outlook.
Peggy shared her favorite surfboard (a Dahlberg and now an Almeric template), surfing film (The Occumentary and Loose Change), and surfer (Taylor Knox and her husband David).
Peggy recommended revisiting yoga with an open mind, trying different classes and teachers, and listening to one's body to find a suitable style.
Outline
Introduction of Peggy Hall
Peggy Hall is introduced as a health coach, wellness coach, entrepreneur, surfer, and yoga instructor.
They are the creator of the 'Surfing for Yogas' DVD, which features professional surfers Tom Carroll, Taylor Knox, and Garrett McNamara.
Yoga is described as a vast and diverse practice, similar to how surfing encompasses various styles like shortboarding and longboarding.
Their approach to yoga focuses on feel-good movement, breath awareness, and practical benefits for surfers.
Emphasis is placed on yoga being a toolkit for improving overall well-being and surfing performance rather than a religion.
Peggy's Background and Introduction to Yoga
Peggy shares their background as a competitive swimmer who developed severe shoulder tendinitis.
This condition initially hindered their surfing experience as an adult.
Their boyfriend (now husband) introduced them to yoga, which they were initially skeptical about due to a previous negative experience.
Finding the right class that focused on practical stretching and breathing techniques led to significant improvements in their surfing performance and overall well-being within weeks.
The yoga practice helped heal their shoulder issues, allowing them to cancel a scheduled surgery and continue surfing.
Creation of Surf-Specific Yoga Program
Recognizing the lack of surf-specific yoga resources, Peggy decided to become a certified yoga instructor and create a program tailored for surfers.
Their goal was to help surfers alleviate pain, increase energy, and build confidence in the water.
Initial skepticism from the surfing community did not deter them from promoting the benefits of yoga for surfers.
Over time, the concept gained popularity, leading to the commonality of surfing and yoga retreats worldwide.
Peggy takes pride in being a pioneer in combining yoga and surfing in a popular, accessible format.
Benefits of Yoga for Surfers
Yoga helps combat overuse injuries common in surfing, such as shoulder, lower back, and knee issues.
It improves flexibility, balance, and body control, which are crucial for surfing performance.
Enhancing mental focus and breathing techniques allows surfers to stay calm in challenging situations.
Yoga for surfers is designed to build and replenish energy rather than deplete it, making it different from traditional hot yoga styles.
Approach to Yoga for Surfers
Opening up shoulders, back, and hips is a key component.
Strengthening and healing neck and knees is emphasized.
Developing power, balance, and mental focus is integral to the practice.
Incorporating breathing exercises is essential.
Visualizing surfing scenarios during practice aids in preparation.
Cultivating patience, trust, and enjoyment in surfing is encouraged.
Programs range from beginner to advanced levels, each focusing on different aspects of surfing-related fitness and mental preparation.
Mantra for Surfing and Life
Breathe: Practice deep abdominal breathing to calm the nervous system and provide energy.
Relax: Maintain good posture and release tension in the body.
Focus: Stay present and avoid distractions, especially in challenging surf conditions.
Enjoy: Remember the overall experience of surfing, not just wave count.
Personal anecdotes illustrate the importance of each element and how they contribute to a better surfing experience.
Breathing Techniques for Stress Management
A specific breathing technique called 'Breath of Fire' involves short, sharp exhales through the nose, helping to balance excess adrenaline.
Counting breaths and using different inhale-exhale ratios promote calmness and energy as needed.
Addressing Skepticism About Yoga
Many people, especially surfers, may be skeptical about yoga.
Trying different styles and instructors to find a suitable practice is advised.
Listening to one's body and modifying poses as needed is important.
Professional surfers demonstrating poses show that even experienced athletes may struggle with certain aspects of yoga.
Recommendations for Yoga Practice
Consistent, short yoga sessions (10-15 minutes) are recommended rather than long, infrequent practices.
Varying poses and focusing on different aspects (stretching, balance, strength, breathing) prevent repetitive stress injuries.
Integrating yoga with surfing sessions includes avoiding intense yoga immediately before surfing and recommending post-surf stretching for recovery.
Importance of Nutrition and Positive Outlook
Nutrition supports surfing performance and overall well-being.
Awareness of how different foods affect energy levels and mood is encouraged.
Maintaining a positive outlook and bringing yoga principles into everyday life enhances surfing experiences.
Personal Preferences and Inspirations
Their favorite surfboard is a Dahlberg, and they are now using an Almeric template.
They enjoy surfing films including 'Occumentary' and 'Loose Change.'
They admire Taylor Knox for power surfing and find personal inspiration in their husband David.
They enjoy listening to the soundtrack from 'Blue Crush' before surfing sessions.
Transcription
I noticed that my surfing got so much better. I remember Kelly Slater telling me.
Welcome to the Surf Mastery Podcast. We interview the world's best surfers and the people behind them to provide you with education and inspiration to surf better. Focus on your relationship with the ocean. Focus on your breath. Welcome to the Surf Mastery Podcast. I'm here with Peggy Hall. Peggy is a health coach, a wellness coach, an entrepreneur, but more importantly, she's a surfer and a yoga instructor and the creator of a Surfing for Yogas DVD. Now, this was done with Tom Carroll, Taylor Knox, and Garrett McNamara, am I correct?
Peggy Hall
Yes, absolutely. It was really a lot of fun to bring all of the benefits of yoga to the surfing world.
Michael Frampton
So can you tell me, in your own words, what is yoga and how would practicing yoga help me to surf better?
Peggy Hall
Well, yoga is as vast and kind of undefinable as if somebody asks you, what is music? There are so many kinds of music. There are different styles, different preferences.
So the world of yoga is vast. Even like surfing, you've got shortboarding, longboarding, you've got tow-in surfing, you've got people on soft boards and the whole gamut.
So the kind of yoga that I practice and that I teach is a feel-good style of movement and breath and awareness. And so, at its most simplest, yoga, it's not a religion. It is more of a toolkit for feeling better, living better, and of course, surfing better. And a lot of people, like myself, may have tried a yoga class here or there and been disappointed. My very first class I went to many years ago just was not a good fit for me. I ended up leaving after the first class. It was more of an esoteric sort of chanting, and we didn't do a lot of stretching. I was really there for stress relief and to get rid of back pain and so forth.
So what happened is, I'll just launch right into my little backstory here. I grew up as a competitive swimmer.
So I spent a lot of time in the water and in the ocean, and I developed severe shoulder tendinitis, which probably some of our listeners know exactly what I'm talking about. You can't raise your arm, it hurts to reach overhead, you've lost strength, it's extremely painful. And as an adult, I started to learn how to surf, and my shoulder tendinitis was causing me more problems.
So I was dating, who now is my husband, my boyfriend at the time, David, who was a surfer. And he said, you know, let me... you should come to yoga with me, and you'll get some good stretches, and it will make you feel better, I promise. And I'm like, no, I went to yoga, I didn't care for it. It's just, I'm not really into all that yoga stuff. And he said, no, really, trust me, just come to this class, you'll really like it.
So we went to the class. Of course, I was dating him, so I was happy to go and show my good spirits and all. And it turns out the class was just what I needed. It was pretty practical-oriented. In other words, it was not... there was no chanting or crazy poses or any type of intimidating atmosphere. It was very welcoming, and I learned how to stretch and I learned how to breathe. And most of all, Mike, I learned how to relax, and I slept really well. And I started going to class a couple of times a week.
And then, over a period of a few weeks, I noticed that my surfing got so much better. And like, the only thing I had done differently was yoga. I hadn't done any surf coaching or strength development or whatever. And I could not believe how much better I felt. In fact, I had been scheduled to get my shoulder operated on. I got two opinions, and both surgeons said, we need to get in and clean out the inflammation and get back your mobility. But after a couple of months of yoga, I canceled my surgery. I never had the surgery. My shoulders have never felt better.
And I was about to... I was gonna have to give up on surfing. It irritated my shoulders so much, and I was not having fun in the water. I was frustrated, I was angry. I was only like in my 30s, and I thought, my gosh, my surfing career is over before it even got started. And the only thing that healed my shoulders completely was yoga.
So I, being a surfer, thought, let me look around and find something that's specifically geared towards surfers. There must be something. I saw that there was a... keep in mind, this is like 20 years ago or maybe 15 years ago. And I found there was nothing for surfers. There was yoga for horseback riders, there was yoga for seniors, and there was yoga for pregnancy, but nothing for surfers. And I said, you know what? I am gonna become certified as a yoga instructor, and I am going to share my love of yoga with other surfers to get rid of back pain, to have more energy, to get rid of the aches and pains, and most of all, to have more confidence in the water.
We're out... surfing can be a life-threatening sport. It's not like we're playing golf. And you can get in some heavy situations. I was in Hawaii and in Tahiti and even in Australia. It was like, there's some pretty heavy surf, and you've got your heart in your throat. You've gotta be able to breathe and relax and focus on what you're doing and stay calm. As Tom Carroll told me when we were filming one of the videos, he said, "Yoga is about staying calm in the center of chaos." And I just love how he put that.
And so, it was my goal and my dream to bring this tool of health and longevity and well-being to the world of surfing. And so, I really was the pioneer of putting yoga and surfing together in a popular method because when I would first tell people about it, especially surfers, they would laugh and say, what is this yoga?
You know, you have to be vegetarian or Indian or something. I said, no, it's a system of exercise that gives you more strength and flexibility and balance and concentration. And I sort of... I kind of fought my way up the ranks with, you know, the surf shops didn't wanna carry the videos. And I got, you know, people sort of raised their eyebrows, like, what is this crazy stuff you're showing us?
And then, as the years went by, it became more popular. And now you can't, you know, you can't throw a ball without hitting a yoga camp. Yoga for surfing camps, surfing and yoga have just exploded around the world. And I was so glad to be the inspiration for that.
Michael Frampton
Yeah, awesome. So what did you do to yoga that made it more surf specific?
Peggy Hall
Well, being a surfer myself, I realized that we need to not only stretch, but we need to stabilize and strengthen the muscles that we use for surfing. So many surfing buddies have told me that they've got problems with their hips, especially, because think about it, you're sitting on a surfboard, you know, in between sets, and your hips start to lock up. The hips pull on your low back, and that leads to low back pain. A lot of surfers, I call it slunching. They slunch over their surfboard, they hunch, and they slouch their shoulders, and that gives them back pain, collapses the chest, and they can't breathe adequately. Paddling... there's a lot of issues with the shoulders. A lot of surfers get cramps in their lower legs, their feet. A lot of surfers blow out their knees from the repetitive movement of surfing.
Now, traditional yoga, the way it came to the United States anyway, from India, was a style of hot yoga that was very vigorous, and you performed it in a room that was artificially heated to dissipate a lot of excess energy. Because, interestingly, yoga kind of started out... it was popularized for teenage boys who had a lot of excess energy, and so they thought, we'll deplete all their energy, they'll be able to be calm and relaxed, and they'll do better in their studies.
Well, in yoga for surfers, we don't want to deplete energy. We want to build energy. We want to replenish energy so that we can go out and surf our best.
So what I created was a feel-good style of yoga that is focused on opening up the shoulders, the back, and the hips, and then strengthening and healing your neck and your knees, because those are all the main areas of the body that we use while surfing. So I have a whole series of programs that go from more of an introduction kind of entry to yoga for people who've never done it before, and then it goes all the way through to the more advanced stuff, which focuses more on power and balance and a lot of mental focus, breathing exercises.
Now, you can find a lot of those exercises in other kinds of yoga, for sure. But what I did is I brought in, and I tied in, the surfing yoga element. So when you're doing a pose, I explain specifically how it helps you in your surfing. I help you visualize yourself in the water, on the board, sitting tall, breathing deeply, excited, and confident about enjoying yourself in the water. You learn that sometimes the wipeout is the ride.
Like, I was really frustrated as a new surfer. I would just get angry if I didn't have a good session. I'm female, so there were a few times I shed a few tears when I couldn't get out through the lineup in heavy surf. And when I started practicing yoga and my style of yoga, I focused a lot, not just on the physical, but on being patient, on trusting yourself, on trusting the ocean, on enjoying this amazing power of creation.
Surfers, we're a very unique breed. We're out there not for exercise. At least, I don't think you and I are. Most surfers aren't. We're out there to experience, like, a different dimension of life, of being alive in the moment, of challenging ourselves, of surfing and wanting to freeze time. And for a moment, we do, and then we paddle back out to try to experience it again. And there's no other exercise I've found. And I'm certified as a personal trainer. I've done a lot of strength training, and I swim. But yoga gives you an opportunity to kind of freeze time and to challenge yourself beyond your comfort zone. And the side benefit is you're strengthening and developing all those same muscles that we use in surfing.
So to summarize, yoga for surfers is unique in that it specifically ties yoga and surfing together. And being that I have suffered injuries and that I am a surfer and I am a certified yoga instructor, I've brought together, over my years of experience, a very unique and enjoyable blend and kind of a choreographed sequence of poses that leave you feeling exhilarated and not exhausted.
So you can do yoga, you can still get out there and surf. And then, at the end of the day, whether you were surfing or maybe just had a long day at the office or something, or maybe you were traveling and spending time seated, you can stretch and refresh and get ready for a good night's sleep so that the next day you've got energy and you're ready to go.
So that's my hope. And I've made friends with thousands of surfers all around the world who have benefited from the programs, and they've told me the same thing. So I couldn't be happier to do what I love and to help people improve their health and their longevity.
And the other thing, Mike, is I found that when people are doing yoga for surfers, which is a very positive, upbeat type of experience, they feel better in the water. And they're not grumbling and trying to snake somebody on a wave, but they're like, "Hey, mate, go ahead, it's your wave." And they hoot for each other, and it makes the experience in the water so much more enjoyable. And everybody shares the stoke.
Michael Frampton
So practicing yoga for surfers is gonna help combat some of the overuse injuries like surfer's shoulder and lower back and knee issues.
Peggy Hall
Absolutely.
Michael Frampton
Yeah, and another thing I really like about yoga is, from a physical perspective at least, you're very much exploring your full range of motion and your capability to balance and control your own body and getting into some awkward positions, which essentially is what surfing is.
Peggy Hall
Yeah, it really is. You think about it, you get a nice long ride, and you're feeling it in your quads, your knees have been bent. Hopefully, you've got a nice strong stance. It really takes it out of you. And surfers around my area, my break, and so forth... a lot of them, they're in their 40s and older.
My local break is Trestles. Most people know it as Lowers, Lower Trestles. It's where the pros surf. And there's a break just a little bit south of that called Middles, and that's where I surf. And so, most of the people in their 40s and 50s and beyond, it's a really great break. It's pretty high performance, but a lot of these guys now are going from shortboard to longboard because they just don't have the power. They don't have the flexibility in their hips to get a quick pop-up.
So their boards are getting bigger and heavier. And the friends and so forth I have, they kind of complain about it. Like, they want to have the high-performance shortboard. They want to feel more powerful, and they want to surf the more high-performance breaks. And I'm telling you, yoga is all those things you said. It gives you the full range of motion.
And the other thing, Mike, that I like about yoga... and surfers, by and large, have a competitive streak in them, I'd say, or a, you know, there's that little bit of the aggro because you've got to get in the wave, and you've got to paddle hard, and you've got to get back out before the next guy does.
So sometimes we bring that mindset to our exercise. And I can speak personally, and I know a lot of people who have overdone it in their strength training, and they've blown out their shoulder, not from surfing, but from lifting too heavy of a weight, from doing a workout that wasn't suitable. We've got something out here called CrossFit, which is really controversial because either people just push themselves.
Whereas my style of teaching is, it sounds like a cliché, but it's true. Listen to your body. Work in a way that feels good. Modify, adapt, and adjust the exercises so that they serve you.
So you take that awareness in yoga that you learn like, man, that hurts my shoulder a little bit. I'm going to lower the arm, or I'm going to do fewer repetitions or something. And you take that into your everyday life, and you're more aware of yourself and how you're moving and what you're eating, and if you need more sleep or more positive activities or influence in your life.
So it's the physical body, and it's so much more.
Michael Frampton
You mentioned something before, it was breathe, relax, focus. Is that what you said?
Peggy Hall
Yeah, and there's one more part to it. So my mantra is breathe, relax, focus, and enjoy. And I had an experience in Hawaii when we were filming one of the DVDs out there. I forgot the focus aspect, and I was having a great session. I'm paddling, you know, the waves in Hawaii are pretty powerful. And you know when you have those days where you're feeling really good, on top of the world, and you're catching every wave you paddle for, and you've got the energy, and you're just on, you're in the flow, you're in that flow state, as they call it.
Well, I was having one of those days, and I was getting a little cocky. I was getting a little overconfident, and I paddled late, and I got distracted, and I didn't focus on riding the wave. I was almost kind of focused on the next wave, if you can believe it. And I had a pretty powerful wipeout where I hit the reef, and it shook me up, and I didn't catch another wave that session. I paddled back out, but then I just couldn't do it. And I realized I had forgotten to focus.
And then a few days later, I got my confidence back up, I paddled back out, and I was so nervous that I forgot to enjoy myself. So, in my mind, these elements are the bare bones of what we need in our surfing, what we need in our yoga, and most of all, what we need in our life.
So, to just kind of take each one of those... the breathe, in yoga, we do abdominal breathing. So, we don't do short, shallow breaths out of the upper part of the lungs. It's a relaxed abdomen that inflates as you breathe in, the belly expands a little. And then as you breathe out, it's like emptying out the air from a balloon, and the belly drops in. It's nothing that's forced or strained, but it's a natural deep breath.
And the reason the breath is so important is not only does it bring us oxygen, which we need to stay alive, but the abdominal breathing exerts stimulation on an important nerve called the vagus nerve. And that's the 10th cranial nerve. What it does is this nerve regulates our breathing, our heart rate, our blood pressure, and our digestion.
You know when you're nervous, you get butterflies in the tummy, and you get a little upset stomach, or you wanna give a speech, and you feel tightness in your throat? This nerve regulates everything, our breathing nerve. So, when we breathe deeply, we calm ourselves naturally. And when we calm ourselves, the body can reduce anxiety. And I don't know about you, but there are some days I'm out in the water, and I'm like, why did I even paddle out? These conditions are a little too heavy, you know, a hurricane coming in or something.
And so, the deep breathing is gonna keep you calm, and it gives you energy. So, especially while you're paddling out, a lot of people hold their breath. So, breathe deeply while you're paddling out, but don't force the breath because that can lead to too much oxygen in the blood. So, you wanna exhale a little bit longer than your inhale. And that gives you what I call calm energy. So, it's energy, but it's not frantic aggro energy. It's calm energy, just the amount of energy you need for that moment.
So that's the breathe, and then the relax. So, right now, people who are listening, I invite them, you know, relax the shoulders, draw the shoulders back so you're sitting nice and straight. You're not holding tension as you sit upright, but it's a relaxed manner with the shoulders rolled open, the neck long. There's no slunching, as I call it, forward of the shoulders. And when you're in between sets, you wanna sit in this... in yoga, it's called mountain pose. You've got shoulders back, the torso is long, and this allows the lungs to work the way they're designed, with space and movement.
So that's the relax. And when we're relaxed, we actually feel better. The brain feels better, we can concentrate more, and we have more energy. An easy way to relax is to just have a pleasant expression on your face. You don't have to have a fake smile or something, but a pleasant expression, like you just heard somebody say you heard some good news and you're having a good day. And that facial... the facial muscles send feedback to the brain that tells the brain everything's a-okay.
So, breathe, relax. The third point is focus, which is where I fell down that day, literally, in Hawaii. I was distracted by the other surfers. I was being affected by how well they were surfing, how many waves they were getting, how many waves I wasn't getting.
So, focus is the antidote to distraction. And I surf in a really crowded lineup. It's a well-known break, there's lots of people, a lot of them, they're trying to get some waves before they have to go to work or whatever. The atmosphere can get really tense. So, focus on your relationship with the ocean, focus on your breath, focus on what's going on in the moment.
So, if you just had a wipeout, or you didn't catch the wave, or you didn't surf it as well as you thought you could, how many of us hang on to that and let that affect us for the rest of the session? So, my recommendation is focus on the moment, focus on the beautiful environment around you, focus on the totality of the experience. Surfing is not about how many waves you catch.
How many of us make it just about the waves? Surfing is about being out with your buddies. It's about being out in nature, getting fresh air and sunlight, enjoying the beautiful surroundings. What a gift to celebrate your own self. You know, you've got health enough and wealth enough to be able to go and surf. Those are blessings.
I wanna share the last point, which I think is the most important, and that's enjoy. Why are we out there surfing if we're not enjoying ourselves? And there have been times when I've paddled back in because I realized I was not enjoying myself. Either I was too cold, I didn't have the right wetsuit, maybe I didn't leave myself enough time to get out, to get to my next appointment, and I was trying to rush.
So, enjoy. I remember Kelly Slater telling me that he had a session where he didn't catch any waves. No, zero waves. It was just the conditions or whatever or his mindset, and he was about to get down on himself, negative, and he thought, you know what? At least I'm out in the water. And I always remember that, and I thought, if Kelly Slater can enjoy himself without catching a wave, so can I.
And you know, Aki was one of my surf heroes, and from your neck of the woods there, and his movie, The Aki Ventry from years ago, he said he would go out and tell himself, "I'm gonna catch five waves, and I'm gonna surf them the best I can, and I'm gonna enjoy them, and I'm gonna get out of the water." And now, my husband and I have our little tagline where we say, "Let's get our Aki five." And if we can get our Aki five, the rest is just icing on the cake. And it allows us to enjoy ourselves without putting pressure on having to surf perfectly.
So, those are my four magic words. I hope they'll help other people. I say them to myself as I'm paddling out. I say them as I'm surfing. Sometimes I'll add in a couple of other elements that I wanna bring in that day. Maybe I need a little more courage, or maybe I need a little more joy, or what have you. And it may sound simple, but our thoughts help create our reality.
And the most amazing thing about our reality is we can choose our thoughts. We can't always choose our circumstances, that's for sure. We've got people in life and events that we don't have control over, but we can control what we choose to think. And I choose to focus on the positive because there is good to be found, and there's a lot of goodness out there. Yoga is one tool that has helped me move in that direction.
Michael Frampton
When you're sitting out the back in, let's say, a semi-heavy situation and you feel yourself sort of tensing up and your focus is moving away from the present, do you have a particular breathing sequence or breathing time signature that you use to bring yourself back?
Peggy Hall
Yes, I do. And this is something called breath of fire. And it's a short, sharp breath. You know, like if you're gonna blow out a candle and you just do a short puff like this. This breath of fire is a series of short exhales through your nose. You don't focus on inhaling. You just do a short exhale through your nose, short, sharp exhale.
And what that does is it will help balance that excess adrenaline that's coming in when you've got that heavy set coming behind you. I'll do that for about 10 to 15 rounds. And I've got this... in fact, anybody who is listening, if they want to just email me at Peggy at yogaforsurfers.com, I'll give them a free link to this breathing exercise. Or maybe we can pop it up there, Mike, on your website. And I walk them through it. And the lung capacity exercises are really a game-changer.
So, I will do some type of breathing, even if I just count my breaths, or I'll tell myself, breathe, relax, focus, enjoy. You know, maybe inhaling for a count of four, and then exhaling for a count of six to calm the energy. The most important thing is to breathe. A lot of us hold our breath when those heavy situations appear.
Michael Frampton
Yeah, okay, yeah, I'll definitely put a link to that in the show notes. Great. Yeah, that's easy. Okay. Now, a lot of people have been put off by yoga. What would you say to them?
Peggy Hall
Well, I would say I totally get it because I was put off by yoga. In fact, my husband and I have some real close surfing buddies, and I hope they're listening because they need to do yoga. And you are right in thinking carefully about the type of yoga that you practice because the last thing I want somebody to do is to listen to this podcast and then just go out and join a class that might not be suitable for them.
So how do you know what's suitable for you? Well, you wanna talk to the instructor, you wanna find out what style of yoga they teach, you wanna read the description if at all possible. And no matter what yoga class you go to, whether you do the DVDs I have, you do them in the comfort of your own home, or you go to a class, you always need to let your body guide you because if something doesn't feel right, that means it's not right.
So you could ask the instructor for an option, you could try to adjust to make sure that it suits you, especially people that had surgery. Maybe they had shoulder surgery, or they had back surgery, or they've got a torn meniscus or something. Not every yoga pose is suitable for everybody. I mean, there are some poses that I have on the Yoga for Surfers programs that I don't even do these days because just things change.
So my advice is be open. I gave the analogy that yoga is kind of like music, and there are so many styles and traditions and so forth. Yoga is like food. You might have gone to a restaurant, and you're like, I didn't really like that one dish they served, but you go back, and you liked a different one.
So my advice is keep at it. Try different classes, different teachers. You can get free stretches at yogaforsurfers.com and try out my style. I've got a bunch for you to sample for free and give it a go. You've got nothing to lose if you go at it with a healthy dose of caution. And keep in mind that one yoga class and one teacher does not define all of yoga. So keep at it.
And in your area now, I've had several people who have gone through my Yoga for Surfers teacher training, so they are teaching my style of surf-specific yoga. So that would be another thing to go for. And see if you can benefit from that.
Michael Frampton
Okay, so do you have a list of practitioners on your website?
Peggy Hall
Yes, I can make that available to folks as well. I know we definitely have some, boy, scattered all over. We've got the Gold Coast, we've got Victoria. I'm certain they're in Sydney, Manly area, which I've been to many times, I love. And it's just exploding now, which was my goal when I set out in 2002, believe it or not, when our first program came out. And I just did it as a hobby to help people, and it turned into a full-time business with more and more titles coming up.
And my goal was to get as many surfers doing yoga as possible. And with help from people like you, we're spreading the word. And it's better in the lineup because of it.
Michael Frampton
Yeah, I mean, yoga is awesome, I agree. But I will second your point of, yeah, you've gotta enter it with a little bit of caution. And you really have to listen to your body. Just because the instructor is holding an amazing pose with ease doesn't mean that you have to try and emulate that. You need to go towards that and listen to your own body.
Peggy Hall
Yeah, absolutely, Mike. I've got Tom Carroll, Garrett McNamara, and Taylor Knox — three of a handful of pro surfers that I have in these videos. And they wanted to work with me to bring their love of yoga to the surfing community. Because again, they were pioneers. They were doing yoga back when people thought it was really weird, and strength training was much more the focus.
And frankly, a lot of surfers just didn't do anything other than surf because that's all we wanna do — surf. So we weren't in the gym or working out, we were in the water. But the feedback I got from people who saw these videos was they liked to see that Garrett McNamara was kind of wobbling in the pose. And there's a little sequence there where Tom and I, we were doing a thing, and we fall.
That's part of it. Yoga is not about executing a perfect pose. The poses are the least important part of yoga. The poses give you an opportunity to breathe, relax, focus, and enjoy in an awkward situation so that you train your brain and your nervous system to stay calm and focused. So you don't freak out, you don't panic.
And then in those heavy situations, you're able to draw upon that. It's like putting money in the bank. You're doing your yoga, and you're putting money in your bank account. And then when you're out there surfing or having difficulties in stressful situations in everyday life, you can withdraw from your bank account of yoga, and that's how it works. The poses are the least important part.
So experiencing yourself in the pose is what we're after.
Michael Frampton
So the pose is a gateway or a method. Let's say you're in a pose, and it's difficult, it's stressful. Like, holding that pose is challenging your strength, your balance, and your range of motion. So it's a stressful situation. And there, yoga is about learning to relax and focus and enjoy the moment and stay calm in that stressful situation, right?
Peggy Hall
You got it exactly. Yeah, I couldn't say it better. I love that — the poses are a gateway. And what that does, Mike, is it takes the stress off thinking, am I doing this right?
So there's no right or wrong, in my opinion, in yoga. There's no good or bad. You can't really be bad at yoga as long as you're breathing and paying attention. Now, I used to take piano lessons, and my brother and sisters took karate lessons when we were kids. They were trying to make you do it perfectly, right? Like, you would have to do it over and over to get it right, to get it perfect.
Yoga is not like that at all. You're not trying to get it perfect. You're just experiencing what's going on. And I think for me, that is where it really translated into surfing.
You know, surfing is... it's kind of a spectator sport in that you have people around you watching, you know? And some breaks are really visible. People on the beach can see you surfing, and people in the lineup can see you surfing. And so, there's a little bit of performance anxiety, like, are they gonna think I'm a kook? Are they gonna drop in on me because I didn't catch that wave?
And for me, that prevented me from surfing my best because I knew people were watching me. So with yoga, when you learn that the pose — the perfection of the pose — is not the goal, I learned to just go and surf and have more fun and enjoy myself. And then the strange thing is that I actually surfed better because I wasn't so worried about it. And yoga helped me make that switch in my own mind.
And trust me, I work on it every day. I do yoga every... well, maybe four to five times a week. You don't have to do an hour a day. That's the other thing. I can do 10 minutes of yoga, and that will set me up for the day. And I can come home at the end of the day and do 10 or 15 minutes if that's all I have time for, and I feel amazing.
In my programs, I have them divided up like that — 15 to 20-minute sessions. And you could do them all together if you want for 45 minutes or an hour, or you could do 15 minutes this morning, then 15 minutes tomorrow, and then 15 minutes in the evening. Because you don't wanna have an obstacle.
Many people don't, especially if we've been surfing all day, we don't have time to do another workout. I don't, and I don't want to in particular. So I find that if I can do regular yoga on a consistent basis more frequently, I feel better, I sleep better, I feel more relaxed, I have more energy, my mental attitude is more upbeat, and I see the silver lining more easily.
And then that translates to my surfing. So if I get my Aki-5 or I don't get my Aki-5, I don't let it bother me as much. And as I say, I work on this on an ongoing basis. It's not like yoga has miraculously made me... I'm not a pro surfer, I never was. I'm just a passionate surfer.
And I think one thing we all have in common is we all wanna enjoy ourselves more, we wanna surf longer, we wanna have more time in the water without getting fatigued, we don't wanna stay out because of aches and pains, and we wanna surf for the rest of our lives. The clock is ticking. Everybody's a day older today than they were yesterday. And we wanna keep that energy and longevity and make the most of our precious time. That's the way I look at it.
Michael Frampton
Okay, so 10 to 15 minutes a day is enough to see some results?
Peggy Hall
Absolutely. The consistency is important. And then the other thing I would say, and I'd like to know your opinion on this as a movement coach, I recommend doing different poses. So don't just do the same pose every day because you could have the repetitive injury. I know people that love yoga so much, they do it seven days a week, and then they're at the chiro because they've got injuries from yoga.
So mix it up. And I've got several different sessions. Some are more for stretching deeply, some are more for balance, some are for strength, some are for breathing, some are for more power, and others are more relaxation. So mix it up according to what you need, and you'll feel better after one session. That I guarantee. If you take some time to breathe and relax and focus and enjoy, you will feel better, it's guaranteed.
Michael Frampton
Yeah, yeah, definitely mix it up. You wouldn't wanna do the exact same routine every day because that's repetitive stress, isn't it? Yeah.
Peggy Hall
It is. And no harm, you wanna go every other day or something like that, it's fine too. You wanna consider what else you're doing. If you are surfing, I've got a short warm-up that, I mean, it takes me like five to seven minutes, and it literally is a warm-up. This is not the time to be doing heavy yoga before you paddle out.
So I disagree with... there are some surfing yoga retreats where you're doing a traditional 90 minutes of yoga, and then you paddle out. I would not do that personally. I would warm up the body with some more rhythmic movement, not holding the poses static, just to get the blood pumping, to get the breath flowing, to start setting your mind toward your session at hand, get your mental focus going, your anticipation, and excitement for the session ahead.
And then I would do the rigorous conditioning yoga on the days you don't surf. Let's say the surf is flat, or you're traveling, or you're working. That's the day you do the more power yoga, so to speak.
And then after you've surfed all day, you could do another 15 to 20 minutes of some deeper stretches on the floor where you're doing the counter poses, stretching your shoulders in particular, your back, and your hips. And then you're gonna get a really good night's sleep. You're gonna release the lactic acid buildup in the body. You're gonna help the body repair. And that's the kind of thing I do.
So I mix and match quite a bit, taking into consideration, if you're doing a strength-building type of resistance training or something, if you're lifting weights, for example, I'd probably do that first and then do the yoga later as a recovery. It's kind of common sense to me. And people can figure that out. I've got some guidelines on how to mix and match yoga into your other fitness routine because it's a good component.
I don't think it's the only component. I personally like to walk, I swim, of course, I surf. I do some resistance training. And then yoga is kind of one of those factors that bring it all together.
And Mike, the other thing that's important is, I'm sure you share this with your clients, the importance of nutrition. And yoga can be kind of done in the kitchen, so to speak, in terms of... think about foods that are gonna bring you energy. And think about foods that... in my experience, when I eat something, it either gives me energy, makes me, you know, or makes me feel calm and relaxed. Or sometimes it makes me feel horrible.
Like if I overate it, or it's too much sugar or caffeine or fried foods, I actually don't feel good. So yoga is the practice of awareness. So let's bring our yoga into our nutrition and eat foods that will give us energy for surfing. And that's another important aspect when we look at the whole picture. Your food and your sleep are super important.
And then your outlook. Are you always grumbling and complaining? That's negative energy inside your body, actually. And that is a sure recipe for a bad surf session. And I can speak from experience.
So leave that stuff behind. Bring in your yoga into your everyday life as well.
Michael Frampton
Okay, I see you've got some free downloads in regards to nutrition on your website. So I'll put a link to that in the show notes as well.
Peggy Hall
That'd be excellent.
Michael Frampton
Yeah. Okay, Peggy, this has been awesome. We are running out of time, but before we go, I wanna ask you four quick questions. What's your favorite surfboard?
Peggy Hall
Well, my all-time favorite surfboard actually was by an Australian shaper. And it was a Dahlberg. And I rode that thing into the ground. You know, it got all squishy and soggy and all of that. And that was, at the time, I think that was like a six-five, it was what I was riding. Beautiful board.
These days, I'm going a little heavier in the... well, I had to go up a little. Remember I was talking about going up in the size of the board? The board is probably still like a... maybe it's like a five-eleven, but I went a little heavier in volume. And it is basically a template that comes from Al Merrick. So that's what I like right now. So I've always been a shortboarder. I like it. I like to be loose and free. And I learned shortboarding, and I hope to shortboard for as long as I can.
Michael Frampton
Cool. And what's your favorite surfing film?
Peggy Hall
Well, you know, I mentioned The Occumentary. Really has to be up there. That's one of my favorites. And then another one that features, you know, my other surf hero, Taylor Knox, and that is Loose Change. That is a real fun one. It's kind of campy with some funny skits and everything, but there's good surfing in it as well. And Blue Crush, the surf film, is one of my favorites with Rochelle Ballard, who's in the Yoga for Surfers programs.
Michael Frampton
Okay. And your favorite surfer?
Peggy Hall
My gosh. That does kind of put me on the spot. Well, you know, I'm gonna have to say for sheer power, cause I'm kind of from the old school, the power carve and all, I'm gonna go with Taylor Knox. But really, my favorite surfer would have to be my husband, David, because he got me into surfing. And he is in his late fifties, and he is still ripping on a shortboard, and he is my ongoing inspiration. And it'd have to be yoga.
Michael Frampton
What's his secret for still ripping at 50? Well, cool. Okay. Do you have a favorite album or song that you like to listen to before you surf?
Peggy Hall
Gosh. You know, the soundtrack from Blue Crush — there's a number of Australian artists on that, and one is Morcheeba. And that's probably... we usually have that playing in the car when we're driving out to surf.
Michael Frampton
Cool. Well, thanks so much for the interview, Peggy. I'm definitely inspired to do some more yoga. And I encourage anyone out there who hasn't tried yoga to go to Peggy's websites and check out her style of yoga. And if you have done yoga and you've been burnt in the past by an inexperienced yoga instructor, let's just revisit it. Go and check out yogaforsurferstv.com. There are some free yoga workouts there. It's got some videos and photos of Peggy doing her style of yoga, and you can check it out.
I just encourage people to revisit it if you have been put off before or to check it out if you haven't tried it before. And of course, if you're an experienced yogi, I think there's some stuff to learn from Peggy's surf-specific stuff as well. Do you have anything else to add, Peggy, before we go?
Peggy Hall
Well, it is my pleasure. My passion is to help people live a healthy, vibrant life. Surfing and yoga are certainly two great ways to do so. So I'm all on board to help promote that in any way I can.
Michael Frampton
Again, thank you so much for your time, Peggy. Awesome, thank you.
Peggy Hall
My pleasure!
Michael Frampton
Thanks for tuning in to the Surf Mastery podcast. Again, I'm your host, Michael Frampton. Make sure you subscribe so you can keep up to date with the latest interviews. Please share with your friends. Check us out on Facebook at Surf Mastery Surf. And if you're on iTunes, please go and give us a little rating. That'd be awesome. Until next time, keep surfing.
08 Peggy Hall - Yoga for Surfers
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