Yoga & Sports

Yoga In Sports- Yoga plays a very important role in any competitive sports of the modern era. If Yoga is a tree then it has many branches which are used in todays sports for Mental and Physical preparation. In yoga a sportsman will find exercises to fine tune his mind and body. Yoga can be applied at various stages of a competitive sport today.

Pre Competition Phase

1) Meditation
2) Corrective Asanas
3) Balancing & Stability Asanas
4) Asanas for Improving Flexibility
5) Breathing Exercises for Concentration and Improving Lung Capacity
All these exercises are going to help prepare the athlete for the competitive phase by setting targets by visualisations, improving performance by corrective asanas which are used to reduce weaknesses, improve balance and stability, improve ROM with asanas for flexibilty and improve concentration and lung capacity wih pranayam.

Conpetitive Phase

1) Breathing Exs for removing anxiety and clarity of thought
2) Dynamic Asanas for warming up before the Game
3) Asanas for recovery after competition
4) Relaxation techniques for better recovery e.g. shavasana

Breathing exercises such as kapalbhati and nadi shddhi if done before the competition , helps in removing anxiety plus removes negative thoughts and healps a athlete reach a calmer state. Dynamic asanas for warming up, and static asanas for recovery ( 30 secs +). Instant relaxation techniques like shavasa for faster recovery after the game.

OFF Season or Post Competitive phase

Here the athlete works on the rehabilitation , recovery and preparation for the competitive phase- Application of yoga more or less is the same as the Pre Competitive Phase
Meditation and Recovery exercises should be given priority along with the corrective asanas.
Yoga is has multiple benefits and a deeper look around, in the world of sports today will give you a better insight of yoga being used and applied in every sport. The more you practice yoga the more benefits you get. Hari Aum! Rahul Patil