Yoga

YOGA is the key

Learning a hand roll takes many hours of sunset meditation.

No, nonsense - just kidding :-)

I had no idea about seakayaking or Greenland Rolling when Trenk (Seakayaking Germany) spontaneously taught me the Balance Brace in a NDK Pilgrim in the swimming pool. I was totally fascinated by this exercise and my first association was: "It's like yoga in a boat" - I was fired up by Greenland rolling; I had been doing yoga for a few years anyway.

I the meantime I know that Greenland Rolling and yoga belong together almost inseparably. This was also the opinion of Cheri Perry & Turner Wilson and Helen Wilson.

So if you want to keep improving your roles or learn more roles like me, you might find the answer in yoga.

Yoga gives you the necessary body awareness and (with regular practice) leads to greater flexibility - which is a not insignificant key to successful Greenland Rolling.

Yoga also offers valuable skills for staying relaxed and focused under water.

For rolling, elastic muscles, trunk stability and a flexible spine are extremely helpful. This is not meant to be a deterrent, because my intervertebral discs are not a blank slate either, and I too know shortened muscles from working at the PC and the stiff neck that also results from this.

A regular yoga practice can also have a positive effect here!

But yoga is not just physical activity or a series of exercises, it is a holistic alignment of body, mind and soul.

The ease of rolling depends largely on body awareness, state of relaxation and self-confidence. But it also depends on your trust in the element water, whose power can be used when rolling.

As children, many of us loved to play "dead man" in the swimming pool, lake or sea. This "floating on water" is also possible in the kayak in the Balance Brace. It is a body-focusing and at the same time very relaxing exercise to enjoy the buoyancy of the water. A wonderful feeling of "here&now" - simply BEING.

Yoga can also help us to relax before we get into the kayak, because tense (and also shortened) muscles do not allow the "effortless flow" with the water. Breathing exercises and relaxation techniques can also help us with stress, anger or frustration, which of course applies to everyday life just as much as it does to our time in the kayak.

Rolling in Greenland Style is like an asana in yoga: with practice it becomes easier and smoother, there is no end to it, it is a path, YOUR path.

We are all on a journey.

Greenland Rolling and yoga are also part of my own journey outside and inside, of my further development on many areas of life.

I am currently in training at "Yogawege" to become a yoga teacher.

Namasté