Essential Yoga For Hikers: Stretches And Flows For Before And After Your Hike

October 09, 2025 Updated: October 10, 2025

Yoga and hiking are a natural match, each strengthening and supporting the other. Yoga teacher Emily Williams shares essential pre-hike stretches to prepare your body and post-hike flows to aid recovery, helping you move with ease on the trail and feel stronger long after. Whether you’re setting out for a short day hike or a multi-day trek, these practices will keep you balanced, resilient, and ready for the journey ahead.

How did you [Emily Williams] start with hiking and yoga? What drew you to each?

When I was younger, I was quite literally dragged up mountains by my parents during holidays. I’m not sure I actually hated it, but as a kid, I definitely had a strong dislike for the “up” part - and I certainly didn’t consider it a fun activity.

Fast forward to now: I go on multi-day hikes for fun, live in the Rocky Mountains, lead yoga and hiking retreats in the French Alps, and... yeah, I actually love the uphill bits (as long as there’s a summit sandwich for the top and plenty of snacks along the way!).

I discovered yoga shortly after moving to the French Alps about 10 years ago. It all started with a 21-day online challenge - and I was hooked. My first teacher training was in Darjeeling, nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, where the view from our yoga shala looked out onto Kanchenjunga (the third-highest mountain in the world after Everest and K2). It was pretty surreal.

Since then, yoga has woven itself into every part of my life - on and off the mat. While it’s so much more than movement, I’ve found that movement is often the most accessible gateway into the deeper, richer layers of the practice. It’s those little fragments of magic - moments of connection, awe, and clarity - that keep me coming back again and again.

How do hiking and yoga complement each other?

Ooft. In every way?! Two movement practices that take you out of your comfort zone, offer new perspectives, and give you space to breathe - away from the rush and noise of everyday life. When combined, they complement and enhance one another, like magnets drawn together. Each strengthens the experience of the other.

Physically, a regular yoga practice improves mobility, functional strength, balance, and proprioception - it’s like full-body maintenance. Integrating yoga with mountain sports, including hiking, is a powerful way to support your body: warming up pre-hike, aiding recovery post-hike, and maintaining strength and resilience year-round.

Mindfully, both yoga and hiking can be forms of moving meditation. When we sync breath with movement, we often slip into a flow state - that’s where the magic happens - and it’s that feeling that keeps us coming back to the mat or the trail time and time again.

Practicing yoga regularly helps us connect more deeply to ourselves and our surroundings. On a multi-day hiking trip, moments of stillness - pausing to breathe, meditate, or move mindfully - allow the experience to settle and integrate. How often do we rush to the summit, only to turn around and head straight back down? To move slowly and mindfully in the mountains is a true luxury - and one I feel deeply grateful to help facilitate.

Every time I head out with a yoga and hiking retreat group, I never know exactly what will unfold. But there's always a lot of fun, plenty of laughter, sometimes tears - and in between it all, we create space for stillness, reflection, and deep connection.

Pre-Hike Warm-Up Flow

A pre-hike yoga practice doesn’t need to be long to be effective. A short flow can gently elevate the heart rate, warm the muscles, and prepare the body for the adventure ahead. It’s also a helpful reminder that yoga doesn’t have to be a full hour—sometimes 20 minutes is all it takes!

This sequence hits the key muscle groups we use for hiking, and creates time to connect with diaphragmatic breath, shift the nervous system into balance, and shake off extra energy so you step onto the trail feeling grounded, clear, and ready to soak up the fresh mountain air.

(Filming Location: Island Lake Lodge, Fernie, BC | Videographer: Nick Nault)

Post-Hike Mellow/Restorative Flow

This post-hike cool down is a real game changer for how your legs and shoulders feel the next day. By moving slowly and mindfully, you give your body the chance to release tension, settle into the breath, and recover with more ease. It’s both a soothing reset and a powerful way to support your muscles so you feel strong and refreshed, ready to carry the calm of the mountains back into everyday life.

Additional Practices for Hikers

Whilst walking is something most of us do every day, hiking usually asks a little more of the body. Steeper ascents and descents, uneven terrain, and the occasional scramble on all fours demand extra muscular engagement, balance, and stability. By working on functional core strength, balance, and proprioception on the mat, we fuel our performance on the mountain. Functional yoga naturally supports all of these areas - keeping the body adaptable, supple, and strong so we can go further with more ease.

Breathwork is another key tool we can carry from the mat to the trail. Nasal breathing, a common practice in yoga, has been increasingly studied for its powerful impact on athletic performance. From improving how the cardiovascular system delivers oxygen to calming the nervous system, it benefits both body and mind. Think about those moments on a ridgeline when adrenaline spikes, or when you’re facing big exposure and instinctively take a deep, grounding breath - that breath is backed by science. Training the breath and mindset in practice prepares us to stay steady, focused, and calm when challenges arise on the mountain.

For me, the most profound difference I’ve experienced from combining yoga and hiking is the ability to be fully present in the mountains. Soaking in their vastness, and sitting with the grandeur of the outdoors, gives perspective in a world that often feels fast-paced and overwhelming - the mountains remind us of the bigger picture. It’s truly a special place to be. I’m thankful to have carved out this path, and even more so to get to guide others along it.