There are the obvious reasons... the gain in flexibility to bring your feet up higher on the rock. Maybe you have seen other climbers on the wall and appreciated how their ability to use flexibility can adjust their climbing style away from brute-force pull-ups often seen by strong men just starting out. Maybe you just want to release your tired and sore muscles.
And then there are the not so obvious reasons...
Breath. Often when we work at a complex problem or do something physically demanding, our response can be to hold our breath. I see it all the time in yoga classes and in climbers. The ability to engage in deep, mindful breathing allows our body to stay calm in stressful situations. This can be extremely useful when we are off the ground and feeling unsafe. In this situation, our body switches to the sympathetic nervous system, the 'fight or flight' response, our heart-rate increases, palms get sweaty, muscles tense and we struggle to think clearly or logically.
Instead of giving in to this response, we can lower and sometimes eliminate these effects by controlling the breath. Yoga classes provide an environment to learn breathing techniques and to learn to flow breath with movement.
Body Awareness. An often overlooked advantage when clinging to the side of a rock. If you know exactly where your body is in space, you can figure out how to move it to the most optimal position, or how exactly to reach for that hold without tipping your balance. As climbers, you probably know the optimal movements already. Yoga can help create awareness in the body by the subtleties of movement required to have correct alignment in a posture.
Balancing the body. Most climbers forget that climbing creates extreme tension through the front of the body. Even if you stretch, if you are hunched over while stretching, you are still collapsing the front-body. Yoga incorporates postures which open through the front-body, helping to release that tension.
Beta Yoga, which I am teaching from now till Christmas, is designed to help climbers improve or keep-up their flexibility, strength, balance, awareness and breathing techniques.
See the classes tab for more details.
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