What do Andy Murray, the New Zealand All Blacks, and Paula
Radcliffe all have in common? They are
all top athletes who practice yoga to help them stay in peak physical
condition. But, why is yoga so beneficial for athletes? Read on to find out
more…..
Three of the most obvious benefits of yoga are relaxation, increased flexibility and breath control. Being supple as well as strong, the ability to stay
cool under pressure and the ability to regulate your breath are key for any athlete. However, there are a whole host of
more subtle benefits that come from a regular yoga practice which lead to an
enhanced sense of body awareness. The
benefits include improved coordination, balance and
proprioception (our sense of where we are in space).
Athletes, of any level, need to prevent and recover from
injury and enhanced body awareness is the foundation for this.
In terms of injury prevention an athlete with enhanced body
awareness is more likely to move smoothly and in harmony with their own
biomechanics therefore reducing the risk of overuse injuries. If a niggle
starts to develop during training it’s often very tempting to try and push through
but they are able to stop, assess and adjust to avoid it developing into
something major. Good balance and reflexes reduce the risk of trips and give a
better chance of self-righting if you do start to fall.
But what happens if the worst comes to the worst and you
develop an injury? Yoga can still help with that! The key for effective rehab
is rest in the very early stages and then (and this is the tricky part) enough
movement to help the tissue fibres heal correctly but not so much as to re-injure them. Yoga can provide safe and
low impact cross training during recovery, plus the enhanced body awareness can
help the athlete better sense how much movement / pressure their injury can
safely take during the rehab process.
So if you’re an athlete of any level why not give yoga a
try? You might be surprised by the results.
If you have an injury that is bothering you then I offer tailored yoga rehab and sports massage combi packages to get you back to
peak condition as quickly as possible. I also offer yoga rehab workshops for sports clubs. Get in touch with me at kateyinyoga@gmail.com for more info.
