With the sun beginning to tease us (finally!) with thoughts of outdoor fun, every man and his dog are looking to shake up the usual exercise regime—that includes those akin to a good yoga session. So why not try some breathing exercises atop a waterfall with a view of Perth city?
Yikes, or yoga hikes, are a mixture of various types of yoga practices broken up by easy to intermediate walks and hikes. Yoga studio Dia Yoga has been running yikes for a year, with founder Diana Madisson ecstatic to spend time sharing her two passions—yoga and hiking. You get a bit of strengthening and cardio thanks to the hiking up hills, while incorporating short meditations into the breaks allows you to focus on breathing techniques and calm the mind and body. Finishing with a (beginner friendly) yoga session means there are no aches and pains the next day. Sounds pretty good, right?
While Diana’s been teaching yoga outdoors for five years, yikes only started in Perth a bit over a year ago. After realising that locals were unaware of so many of the incredible destinations around Perth and wanting to help people reconnect with Mother Nature, it seemed like a no brainer.
From the top of the Ellis Brook Valley Reserve waterfall to inside Yanchep National Park’s Cabaret Cave, there have been some great spots around town to explore. “Perth is surrounded and packed with paradise like destinations,” Diana says. “We don't need to travel that far to find breath-taking beauty.”
While there are yoga retreats aplenty—in fact, there’s a whole bunch left to have a look at—these yikes are a lot shorter in length, usually a couple of hours to half a day, and usually fall on a weekend. So you’ll still have the rest of the day to do whatever you’ve got planned, albeit with a bigger smile.
Dia Yoga has a handful of yikes planned every month, but if you’re interested in a much bigger adventure, Diana is planning a huge one in March next year—a 16-day hike along the Annapurna massif in the Himalayas.
Want more? Here are 10 amazing walks and hikes near Perth.
Image credit: Dia Yoga