Yoga class with Jennie Lee is filled with laughter as well as poses. She has a direct, down-to-earth approach and a wry sense of humor that puts things in perspective.
Yes, going bottom-up in downward dog is good for you, but it looks ridiculous.
“Everybody, stop!” Lee cried in the first hatha yoga class I took from her. “Every single one of you ladies did the ‘chaturanga’ wrong!” she joked, putting us at ease as she gave individual corrections.
So I was surprised, the other day during a session in the park, that Lee became quiet and serious when I asked how she gets ready to surf.
“I pray every time before I paddle out,” she replied.
I used to see guys pray and cross themselves before they paddled out, but not so much anymore — maybe it’s because we’re all so rushed and stressed nowadays.
The only surfers who seem truly relaxed are the ones who hang out all day in the beach park, smoking pakalolo or whatever, waiting for the perfect moment to paddle out.
For the rest of us, yoga, which emphasizes living in the moment, can help make the most of our fleeting time offshore.
A Kaneohe resident who has been teaching yoga for 17 years, Lee is the author of “True Yoga: Practicing With the Yoga Sutras for Happiness and Spiritual Fulfillment” (Llewellyn, $16.99), a finalist in the inspirational spirituality category of this year’s USA Best Book Awards.
She recently began offering yoga training specifically for surfers after being invited to teach yoga classes at a World Surf League retreat.
Lee herself started surfing only two years ago, but although I’ve surfed on and off for 40 years — nearly as long as celebrity surfer and yoga buff Gerry Lopez — I can relate better to Lee.
Lopez, who now lives in Oregon but sometimes leads yoga seminars on Oahu’s North Shore, describes with disarming candor his own humbling experiences in his enjoyable memoir, “Surf Is Where You Find It” (Patagonia, $24.95 in paperback). But he also has peak experiences most of us will never know, like getting shacked at 8-foot Pipe.
BEFORE OUR first surf yoga session, Lee sent me a questionnaire asking me to identify any current injuries (a pinched nerve known as surfer’s neck, a torn ACL and meniscus in my left knee), areas of discomfort and tension, and how I’d rate my stress level (high).
She asked me to describe my goals in surfing, which are to be able to crank a sharp turn going left and a deep cutback going right without my left knee popping out, and to paddle into waves and pop up to my feet more quickly.
When we met at the park, beneath spreading shower trees, she started by asking me to deepen and slow down my breathing while she timed me. I took it down to three from eight breaths a minute. Goodbye, stress!
Next, “We have to open your neck and shoulders and thoracic spine for your paddling and to correct surfer’s neck,” Lee said.
She explained that, in general, I needed to keep my cervical spine — my neck — neutral, without arching my neck or letting my chin drop. “You arch your neck enough while paddling,” she explained, which can compress vertebrae and cause the debilitating numbness and weakness I’d suffered in one arm.
While paddling, Lee went on, it is important to arch and lift the upper back, not just crane the neck. She had me stretch out as if on my board and press one forearm and the tops of my feet into the ground while raising my head and the opposite arm to strengthen my arms, shoulders and the latissimus dorsi, rhomboid and trapezius muscles in my back.
At times she gently pulled my arms behind me to further open my chest and stretch my shoulders and upper back.
Popping up isn’t just about the shoulders and legs, Lee said. She told me to engage my core, or lower abdominal muscles, to lift my body into downward dog rather than just push with my hands and arms. Next thing I knew, while still in downward dog, I was lifting one leg to the sky and hopping up and down on the opposite foot.
Standing in a wide warrior lunge resembling a surf stance, Lee helped me lift my entwined arms to stretch my outer shoulders and shoulder blades. This also strengthens legs and helps with balance and focus.
While praying before surf, Lee also kneels with front leg bent, foot flat on the ground, and the other leg extended back to stretch the front hip flexor, or psoas, muscles.
“The psoas is really important for popping up,” she said.
After just a couple sessions of these and other simple exercises, I’m paddling stronger and faster, and popping up is a breeze. Even better, I’m breathing in the moment and feeling more spontaneous and centered as I find my path through the wild, unpredictable realm of the waves.
“In the Lineup” features Hawaii’s oceangoers and their regular hangouts, from the beach to the deep blue sea. Reach Mindy Pennybacker at mpennybacker@staradvertiser.com or call 529-4772.
