Physical fitness has many benefits for birders, and practicing yoga – including bird-themed poses – can be an easy, relaxing way to stay fit and improve your birding. While I may not personally subscribe to certain yoga beliefs and practices – I’m more of a “stretching” kind of gal – there’s no denying it can be physically beneficial, and can even help you be a better birder!

What Is Yoga?

Yoga is a broad term that encompasses a range of physical, spiritual and philosophical beliefs. The most familiar type of yoga, hatha yoga, is a series of physical postures that are popular for exercise. Meditation, breathing patterns, stretching, balance, and overall mindfulness are also part of many yoga techniques. For many people, yoga is a way to enhance personal clarity as well as increase general fitness, and there are many ways yoga can make an impact on birding.

How Yoga Can Help Birding

The exact birding benefits yoga can provide vary depending on the individual practice, personal dedication, and one’s overall health, but common physical and mental results after practicing yoga include…

• Improved Concentration: Yoga encourages in-the-moment contemplation and better focus. This can help birders improve their identification skills to focus on subtle colors, small field marks, and other traits that distinguish bird species.
• Increased Patience: Part of yoga practice is holding poses for specific lengths of time and focusing deliberately on each action. This improves patience, which can be useful when waiting for birds to come into the open for better views.
• Better Sleep: Many people who practice yoga report deeper, more restful sleep and feeling more energized each morning. This is ideal for birders who get up early and plan to go birding when birds are first active each day.
• Improved Flexibility: Yoga helps reduce joint stiffness and improve flexibility, leading to smoother, easier range of motion. Birders can appreciate those benefits when they crane their necks or twist around to see birds.
• Increased Strength: Better physical fitness through yoga can increase muscle strength, helping birders have greater endurance for longer hikes or when carrying gear such as spotting scopes, field guides, and other equipment.
• Better Posture: Birders can have posture problems when they are weighed down with binoculars around their neck and a field bag over their shoulder. Practicing yoga can help improve posture to minimize aches and pains.
• Improved Circulation: Dedicated yoga practice can improve overall circulation, helping better regulate body temperature so birders are more comfortable when birding during the coldest parts of winter or hottest parts of summer.
• Better Balance: Birding trails can be uneven, and yoga practice can help improve balance to minimize the risk of slipping and falling. This can help prevent injuries that can keep a birder out of the field for weeks or months.

Bird-Inspired Yoga Poses to Try

Many yoga poses are inspired by nature, including birds. Using bird-themed poses can help birders not only enjoy yoga, but they can focus their minds on the birds each pose represents, creating an even more unique connection to birding.

Not all of these poses are suitable for beginners, and it is important to always consult a physician before beginning any exercise or fitness regimen. For better clarification on each pose, contact an experienced yoga instructor.

• Eagle Pose – Balance on one foot with the arms and legs twisted together and hips pushed back.
  Improves balance and concentration while strengthening the thighs, hips, shoulders, and upper back and stretching the calves.
• Peacock Pose – Balance only on the hands while holding a level plank above the floor.
  Strengthens the wrists, forearms, abdomen, back, and torso, improving balance for the entire body.
• Bird-of-Paradise Pose – Balance on one foot while the other leg is stretched to the side.
  Strengthens the legs and opens and stretches the groin and hamstring while improving balance.
• Crane or Crow Pose – Balance only on the hands while the legs are tucked tight to the chest.
  Strengthens the arms, wrists, and abdomen while stretching the upper back and groin.
• Heron Pose – Sit on the ground with one leg bent in front and the other stretched vertically.
  Stretches the hamstrings and glutes as well as stimulating the abdomen and strengthening the back.
• Pigeon Pose – Sit on the ground with the front leg bent while the other is stretched behind and the torso is upright.
  Stretches the thighs, groin, back, and hips, improving hip flexibility and range of motion and lengthening the spine.
• King Pigeon Pose – Kneel and stretch into a full backbend touching the head to the toes.
  Strengthens the back and improves posture while stretching the thighs, groin, abdomen, chest, and throat.
• One-Legged King Pigeon Pose – One leg is bent in front while the other is bent behind, elevating the rear foot and arching the back.
  Stretches the thighs, hips, quads, abdomen, chest, and shoulders to improve overall flexibility.
• Feathered Peacock Pose – Inverted pose balanced on the forearms with the legs vertical.
  Strengthens the shoulders, arms, and back while stretching the chest and abdomen.

Staying fit can improve birding in many ways, and yoga can be a great option for birders interested in not only improving their physical fitness, but improving their birding as well.

Has yoga improved your birding? Share your tips in the comments!