Written By Jessica Zarcone, CYT

For thousands of years, people have been using yoga to stay “flexible” both physically and mentally, making it ideal for athletes. An athletes body and mind must remain in peak condition. Yes, yoga does more, much more, than help you find inner peace.

With yoga spreading like wildfire in the athletic community (approximately 20 million Americans practice today), it is a important regimen with several benefits. Yoga is very gentle, is it practiced at a pace that suit’s you. Most athletes are familiar with the “no pain, no gain” attitude, necessary to build strength and speed. It serves them well and produces results. However if durability and flexibility are ignored, or injury and age are concerns, this aggressive approach can be counter productive. A gentler approach thru yoga is in fact the best way to utilizes strength to increase flexibility, as muscles grow stronger, they become more flexible. The saying in yoga goes “ If you feel pain, there’s no gain“.

Yoga poses are based on a system of stretches, balances twists, and bends, these poses exercises the entire body. What’s more, every forward movement is balanced by a backward movement, and every twist to the left is countered by a twist to the right, so no single set of muscles are overstretched. In addition, yoga works on more than just muscles- the spine becomes more elastic, the joints loosen, the lungs expand, the circulation is stimulated, and stamina increases. Yoga has the potential to offer real improvements to athletic performance, both physically and mentally. Athletes tend to already focus on breathing, however what they lack is uniform flexibility.

The flexibility component of yoga is very dynamic, stretching multiple muscles simultaneously in all three planes of motion. Also, rather than pushing and disregarding the body’s pain signals. Yoga teaches us to tune into all that we are feeling each moment. This awareness is very helpful for preventing and relieving stress or injury. Yoga allows athletes to better understand their body’s strengths and weaknesses, so that the weaknesses can be “worked on” over time. This will result in better performing muscles for the days to follow. The postures also develop a sense, common in dancers and gymnast, of where the body is in space, which is a necessary skill in any sport.

The type of strength developed in yoga teaches muscles to work equally and efficiently. The practitioner learns how to relax muscles that are not required and evenly uses the ones that are. The isometric strength and eccentric stretching used in yoga combined with the deep controlled breathing, is unsurpassed for building muscles that are resilient. This leads to more expedient healing from injury. Plus alignment practice improves response times and awareness of center of gravity, therefore improving balance.

Any prolonged or repetitive activities relating to work or sport can create muscle imbalances. Depending on the activity certain muscles are shorted, while others are lengthened and weakened. These imbalances can cause strain on joints and result in injury. Many athletes suffer from flexibility deficits. Since most sports involve the same repetitive motions, an athlete’s body becomes biased to those directional movements and positions. As a result, they become at risk of injury if they are challenged out of their available range of motion.

Hatha yoga starts with the body, and what holds the body together is the skeleton. Central to this frame work of 206 bones is the spine or backbone. It consists of 33 small bones called vertebrae, which are separated from each other by a disk of cartilage. The tissue is firm but flexible, just like that in your outer ear. These are the disks that “slip” when you lift things wrongly. The spine is not straight; it should have three natural curves, but poor posture can put the spine out of alignment resulting in backache and many other discomforts.

The pelvis, and hip bones are a basin shaped group of bones, pivotal to moving the body and also containing abdominal organs, such as the digestive system. It transfers the weight of the upper body to the legs and feet. Tilting the pelvis too far forward or backward results in poor posture and puts the spine out of alignment. It can also put unnecessary stress on muscles and internal organs.

Bones meet at joints, which are held in place by ligaments. The ends of the bones are protected by cartilage, and the joints are lubricated to make movement easier. The powerhouse of movements is the skeletal muscle, which is attached directly or indirectly to the skeleton. These muscles always work in pairs one contracts while the other relaxes. Both muscles and joints are easily damaged by the abuse we inflict on our own bodies.

All organs of the body, of course have a function, with the possible exception of the appendix. From the point of view of practicing yoga, the two most important internal organs are the lungs and the heart, which are part of the circulatory system. The lungs are responsible for taking in oxygen and getting rid of carbon dioxide. Their proper function, especially with modern levels of air pollution, is crucial to well being. Breathing exercises, pranayama, are important aspects of yoga. The heart pumps blood around the body, carrying nutrients and oxygen. Heart disease is one of the biggest killers in the western hemisphere, so a healthy heart and maintaining the correct blood pressure is literally vital. Learning to visualize the inner body, and send the energy of the breath to areas of need can increase the body’s healing power.

Of course, to benefit fully from yoga requires regular practice. It is not necessary to devote hours of every day to it, unless, of course, you want to. It is worth starting each morning with the Sun Salutations, even if your regular practice is only once or twice a week. Not only will this stretch the spine, limbs, and stimulate the circulation, it will invigorate and energize you for the day ahead and create a positive frame of mind. Think of it as a concentrated yoga program. Once you start it will be difficult to stop. The programs become successively more challenging, but there is no need to feel that all poses need to have perfect form, it is important to work at your own pace, it is not just about the poses, but about the breath and frame of mind while in these poses.

Methods of Hatha yoga abound and are varied, every teacher will have their own technique. However, it is important to be guided by a yoga instructor to help students quickly and efficiently reap the rewards. Traditional training programs sometimes overlook these areas.

When athletes go from one sport to the next, they may be “ in shape” but they may not have been using the same muscles from one season’s activities to the next. Each sport has it’s own unique movements and muscles used, demanding a holistic workout approach.

For example, golfers need to make sure their hips, thoracic spine (mid and upper back) and scapula (shoulder blade) open up in the rotational plane in order to prevent swing injuries to muscles and joints in other parts of the kinetic chain. Basketball players need to have excellent dynamic balance while in baseball , pitchers need a strong core, flexible back and hamstrings to maximally accelerate a pitch. A steady routine of stretching and therapeutic alignment, combined with controlled breathing, can keep athletes in shape all year and increase their enjoyment of each sport.

Since yoga is a gentle and non-competitive, an asset in a fiercely combative society. It encourages a healthy and preventive lifestyle, and aids recovery without recourse to drugs. Injuries obviously happen in sports where you are most challenged to be quick and strong, recovery from these injuries means continuing to explore your range of motion, promoting circulation, and bringing your mind to the area through the body scanning and general mental focus.

Practicing yoga while injured forces you to be more mindful and more careful. If you can take the element of fear out experimentation with your injuries and replace it with curiosity, keen observation, and a free breath, then you will not only help promote healing but also develop a more detached, less fearful approach. Complete avoidance of the injured area is sometimes the right course of action, but you should continue to work with different parts of your body as well as working with visualization and mediation.

No matter what the athlete is currently using for exercise and or training, yoga is extremely beneficial. Developing a regular practice of poses allows the athlete to be at his or her optimum performance. By gaining flexibility both mentally and physically, as well as growing stronger with balance and focus.

Aside from the physical and mental aspects of yoga, there is also a spiritual element. Basically, yoga teaches you about the connection with all living things and yourself. Through the discovery and realization of the connection that all living things have to each other, and element of camaraderie, non-violence and peace begins to shine through. So, no matter if you win or lose, you can be injury free, agile, and live with a sense of appreciation for your competitors and a feeling of peace.

While I consider anyone who practices yoga to be an athlete it is possible to injure yourself while in poses, it is important to know your limits. It is as if our body, and mind are puzzle pieces and when practicing yoga all the pieces fit perfectly creating a beautiful piece of art. There have been countless studies and trials done on the effects of Yoga and mental health, yoga and mental illnesses, yoga and physical ailments and disease for its growing respect in its preventive and healing qualities. With nothing to lose with everything to gain, try yoga today.

Jessica Zarcone, is a certified Yoga teacher, who teaches classes in the Denton Texas area.