On being a student… I’ve spent the last few weeks in the Canary Islands studying the art and science of yoga. The movement and philosophy of yoga is something that’s always been attractive to me, but although I’ve dabbled in it for 13 years or so, I’ve never considered myself a yogi. So I decided to take a month off to dive head first into a 200hr yoga teacher training with @ravimargayoga and it’s everything I hoped it would be. This is much more than a movement practise. It’s a way of dealing with life. It’s the study of the self, through the self, to the self. It’s ancient pool of wisdom of immeasurable depth. And for me, it’s like all the things I loved rolled into one: Movement, breathwork, meditation, studying the self and the mind, philosophy and the Himalayas! Instead of answers to the questions. I’ve been given tools and practises to trust in… … and the joy of just surrendering to the process and completely detaching from any outcome…it’s truely beautiful. I took this on as a personal study, not as professional education. I’m not sure to what extent this training will influence my programs, coaching and content… I’d be interested to hear from the people who’ve followed me since the early days. So let me know! Much love, Shanti (peace) 🕉️ #yoga

Retreat to the Pyrenees… A few months back I joined @showup.barcelona RESET retreat for 4 incredible days of breathwork, yoga, meditation, hot tubs, saunas, cold dips and hiking around this spectacular spot in the Pyrenees. This November 23-26th we’re doing it again but this just just for men! We realise that mens and womens challenges are quite unique and so this time we’re calling up the men to get together for a weekend of bonding, brotherhood, self reflection and a LOT of growth. This is perfect for someone who’s just feeling a bit stale. Maybe you’re not moving forward in the ways you really want to. Maybe you’ve decided now is the time to break the cycle and learn some tools you can use to shift your state. Or maybe you just need a few days surrounded by nature and men who value the same things you do… We’re going for that perfect balance of ease and effort here, so whilst it will be challenging, there will also time to relax and enjoy the beautiful location we have arranged. For more info check the retreat section of my highlighted stories! Feel free to DM if you have questions! PS. I have been quiet lately and that’s because I’m on a 200hr yoga teacher training which is quite intense. Learning and integrating a lot of things I would like to share in the future both on the retreats and in my programs. But in a week and a half I will officially be a yogi. It’s been a long time coming 🙏 Hope you’re all doing well. 🕉️

If you were wondering how it’s done… this is it! I love rock climbing, but up until this point I haven’t really made any content around it because it’s just difficult to capture. You either need a climber/photographer who’s comfortable hanging from above or else you just get weird shots of peoples butts from below… It’s not too inspiring… So I’m absolutely loving this little camera for capturing the magic of the climbing world from above… Now, there are backpack mods that would probably work better but so far just sliding the extender pole into the back seems to work, at least for slab/vertical climbing. If you’ve tried one of these backpack mods I’d love to hear what you think! No more butt shots…Head to the link in my bio to check out the insta360. 📷shot on @insta360 X3 #insta360 #insta360x3 #ad

The emotional rollercoaster Just had a weekend climbing in one of the best spots in Spain - Sadarnes. According to my interpretation of the guide this was either a 7a, 6c+, or a 6a…. Let’s go with 7a 😂 Shot on @insta360 X3 with the extender pole, I’ve got a video coming up soon on how to get these top down shots for climbing. #insta360 #insta360x3 #climbingspain #rockclimbing #sadernes

Montserrat 😍 I’ve been attempting to capture the immense beauty of this mountain on camera for the last 5 years, and this is the best I’ve got so far! Beacause it’s a sensetive breeding area for birds, drones are prohibited here which makes it hard to capture just how amazing this place is. The only way to get a sense for how impressive this place is, is to go 360! This was the first time testing out this new action camera, the @insta360 X3 . It’s very intuitive to use. The camera catches every single angle and edits are all done on the app, there’s even an AI editing software built in if you’re not into the editing process yourself. 360 cameras are a bit of a learning process but it’s a lot of fun and it opens up a whole world of creativity. If you’re looking for an easy way capture the magic, check out the Insta360 X3 - link in my bio! 📷shot on @insta360 X3 #insta360 #insta360x3 #ad #montserrat

Get on that horse… I’ve been loving the horse stance recently as a way to open up my hips a little more… But mobility aside, when you spend 1-2 minutes of stillness tuning into this position, you gain a really good sense for how you distribute your weight through your hips and into the floor - and perhaps for that reason, the horse stance is a staple of many martial arts. If you’re already fan of the a horse stance and you’re looking for a way to integrate movement into what is normally a stillness practise, here are a few things that I can suggest trying out: 1️⃣add a hinge 2️⃣add a twist and a hinge 3️⃣add the elbows and hands together Next week I’m releasing a full routine encompassing the horse stance and 5 other moves that are essential for learning how to move your body in all 3 planes. The carry over to mountain sports here is obvious, more control, more mobility, more power and more strength! To see the full routine, that’s this months follow along in my momentum membership, the link is in my bio 👊

I chopped up my climbing rope… 3 days ago I took a knife to one of my old climbing ropes and subsequently binged watched a bunch of videos from @thedavidweck Why? Well, I’m interested in using movement as a way to educate my entire body how to rotate better… The head, spine, ribcage, pelvis, hips, knees, feet, they all need this subtle and integrated rotation to perform optimally… so this is just a fun way to tick all those boxes without doing hours of corrective exercises. Just rotate, play and let the brain reorganise the system, that’s how I’m told it works anyway… I’ve been using this as a movement snack during my work day and also as a rest for 5-10 minutes in between climbs. It’s a heap of fun. And if you have an old rope laying around then it’s free. Look up rope flow or RMT on YouTube you’ll find a bunch of tutorials. Happy rotating! #rmt #rotation #ropeflow #skipping

This is a fun reel but… Work is a huge part of life, right? Every living being on this planet is contributing their work to make this ecosystem happen… So as inhabitants of this planet we have to play our part just like everything else from the smallest ants to largest elephants… Work is nature. Nature is work. I find stoic philosophies like this wildly inspiring… I guess the key is finding something fulfilling that gives you a sense of purpose, such that much of your work actually feels more like play. That’s the philosophy I’ve built my entire life on. #worklifebalance

Join the Free Challenge👇 Download the “Chase Mountains” app from the App Store or Google play” - you’ll see the challenge there! ———————————- I receive a lot of questions from folks like you about how many steps they should be doing every day. What the most recent data suggests is that 7k steps a day is great for most people, and although it seems like “more is more” when it comes to walking, it doesn’t mean that anything less than 7k steps is pointless… far from it. In fact, a meta analysis of 29 studies on walking identified that the benefits of walking start to kick in with as little as 2800 steps per day, which is basically a short walk around the block! Now, is this part of training for hiking? Well, I don’t like to think of daily walking as fitness, but rather physiological hygiene. In that sense it should be a non negotiable or at least a very high priority for most of us. Walking so closely tied to our history and biology that it’s actually the sole reason why we’re the dominant species on this planet. By evolving to walk upright this freeed up our hands to make tools and source higher quality foods, which ultimately helped our brains evolve to the point we’re at today. Basically, walking on two legs MADE us gods amongst animals. There’s so much more I want to share on this and that’s why I’ve made a free walking challenge that coincides very nicely with #steptember You can get access to the challenge by downloading my free app from Google play or the Apple Store, just search “chase mountains” or find the link in my bio! #30daychallenge #dailywalk #walkeveryday

Walk more. Die Less. Here’s the thing, it doesn’t have to be a massive hike. 5000 steps a day on average is great but with every increase of 1000 steps you reduce your risk of dying from pretty much everything by 12%. The risk continues to go down with every extra 1k steps. The bad news for hikers is that this research is based on daily average, not weekly or yearly average… Meaning that if you sit on the couch all week and hike 70 miles on the weekend it doesn’t really have the same effect. Get a short or walk in every day and you likely live a longer higher quality life. I like to shoot for a bare minimum of 7k steps a day on busy days but realistically I try to average 12k. I’m pretty stoked to announce that contributed to an article this month for @gq that will dive into a lot more details and tips…I’ll share it when it’s out! Plus I’ve got a full length YouTube video coming out next week that dives deep into the value of taking a short walk every day :) So happy walking! Meta Analysis: Daily Step Count and All-Cause Mortality: A Dose-Response Meta-analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies Ahmad Jayedi et al. Sports Med. 2022 Jan. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34417979/ #dailywalk #30daysofwalking #hiking

A photo dump from Northern Norway My time here is almost up, so here’s some photos of little mountains and little houses to remind me what I’ve seen and done here up North. Definitely something pulling me here and who knows, maybe I’ll end up living here at some stage in my life…. …but for now it was nice to visit and see some of the typical stuff (Devils Gate/ Djevelporten) as well as some of the not so typical…which as always is where the gold is! #vesterålen #norway #lofotenhighlights