This post is about Mesa Rim climbing instructor Josh Higgins’ recent trip at Tuolumne Meadows and how practicing yoga on Lembert Dome was good therapy for the body and mind, especially after challenging his being with grandiose climbing endeavors.
Yin-Yang: two opposite, yet interconnected forces. This is how I view climbing and yoga. While climbing I pull, compressing my body, bringing a hand closer to my core so that I can attain the next hold above. In yoga I push, stretching my body, trying to make myself longer and extending as far as I can. These two activities are extremely complimentary. Combining them prevents muscle imbalances, keeping injury at bay, and yoga promotes flexibility, allowing a larger variety of climbing moves and positions. Also, the concentration of hard lead climbing and placing gear requires similar mental fortitude as holding a difficult or uncomfortable yoga pose.
After our huge day soloing 10,000’ of climbing on Mathes Crest, Cathedral and Tenaya Peaks, T.J. and I needed a “rest day!” T.J. and I are similarly minded, and our version of a rest day involves at least a few hours of easy exercise. T.J. and I had been regularly attending Mesa Rim Yoga Center and needed a fix, so what better way to have a nice chill day than to throw down some yoga on the summit of one of the amazing domes that are characteristic of Tuolumne Meadows? Sitting in the campsite, lounging until around noon, we settled upon Crying Time Again, 5.10a R (4 pitches), on Lembert Dome.
We eventually found motivation for the massive 10-minute drive and 5-minute approach sometime around noon, and we found ourselves alternating between looking at the guide and the nebulous knobby face above. Eventually, yoga mats in our packs, we decided we had probably found the route and T.J. cast off on some excellent runout knobs. We swapped leads up the route, laughing at each other’s yoga mats sticking out the top of our packs on a beautiful day.
While leading the last near-vertical pitch, I heard voices of a couple on the summit. At some point, searching for the next hold I saw a hand with a camera stick out over the top of the dome and retract. Next I heard a surprised voice, “Oh my God! There’s someone down there!” That gave me a good chuckle. They snapped a few photos of me leading the last pitch, and soon I was on top of the route bringing T.J. up.
As T.J. arrived at the summit, the couple wandered off down the dome leaving the summit empty except for our mats and us. We explored the summit looking for a flat area, and settled on a depression that might protect us from the wind a little. We emptied our packs and set up our yoga mats. Soon, we were warming up with our sun salutations under a perfect cloudy sky. The wind flowed over the summit of the dome, lifting corners of our mats, so we weighted them down by lining them with rocks and cams.
T.J. and I spent a spectacular 40 minutes on the summit silently practicing yoga, finding drishti’s in the clouds, stretching out our sore muscles from the day before. It was the perfect way to spend a rest day, flowing from pose to pose, building complimentary strength and flexibility. Experiencing yoga out in the wild was extremely cathartic and truly enjoyable. Just like climbing, perhaps we practice yoga in the gym to train and take it outdoors for a better experience?
I’ve found that yoga has improved my fitness in many ways. Due to inversion poses and other pushing poses, my pushups and bench press have both improved. The flexibility in my entire body has massively increased, and my core feels significantly more solid in everything I do. Recently, I’d even attribute a 5.13b redpoint directly to yoga. I was working on the route Enigma at the Riverside Quarry and found a novel sequence that worked well for me. It involved matching on a terrible sidepull, bringing the left foot under with a straight leg, and throwing a heel hook just past my hands. It was one of the craziest sequences I’ve done climbing in a while, and it looked unbelievably similar to utthita hasta padangusthasana, a pose that I had just recently attained the strength and flexibility for in yoga! I didn’t even realize it, until talking to a friend who pointed out the similarity between the new pose I could do and the move I was describing to him, and immediately I knew he was right!
For anyone who wants to take their climbing to the next level, come visit some of the yoga classes at the Mesa Rim Yoga Center. Perhaps it’ll help you send a climb that was previously out of reach. However, remember that the gym is the gym, and take it outside sometimes too!
-Josh Higgins • Mesa Rim Climbing Instructor and Certified Nurse
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