Introduction to Athlete Yoga™

Athletes in sports training develop tight muscles and uneven use of muscle groups, or the uneven use of one side of the body. Running, for instance, is great for the cardiovascular system. But it dramatically tightens the muscles at the back of the legs. This intense shortening or disproportionate strengthening results in muscular and structural imbalance. (Beryl Bender Birch, 1998)

If training continues without alternative work to open the tightness and realign the imbalance, injury is inevitable. Stopping training isn't the solution because injury or imbalance that has resulted from or been aggravated by a particular sport can't be fixed by simply discontinuing the training at that sport or exercise. Yes, rest may give the torn connective tissue or muscle tissue a chance to heal, but it doesn't eliminate the source of the problem. Once training starts again, the same limited range of motion or biomechanical imbalance will cause the same injury over and over again.

Tight muscles simply do not get longer by themselves. The alternative work to open the tightness and balance misalignment is yoga practice! The physical discipline of yoga, especially the Ashtanga systems has proven to be a uniquely effective method for restoring range of motion to tight muscles and therapeutically realigning the body while strengthening muscles. With the emphasis on correct biomechanical alignment, strength within a posture in the form of static muscular contractions, and specific breathing techniques for heat and energy, this intense and physically challenging methodology appeals to the modern athletes.

Yoga can be practiced anywhere in any weather, without a trainer, special equipment, or health club membership. Yoga develops strength, flexibility, range of motion, concentration, cardiovascular health, and reduces stress, tension, and tightness as a comprehensive package. The most outstanding benefit of adding yoga to a training program, in addition to preventing and/or rehabilitating injury, is the effect it has on performance. It enables an athlete to train harder and at a higher level because range of motion is greater and the fear of injury has lessened.

While all these physical benefits are truly remarkable they sort of pale by comparison to the mental benefits of a serious yoga practice. Yoga, after all, as defined above, is about learning to pay attention. As athletes seek higher levels of excellence in sport, the part played by mind in training and competition, increases exponentially. The ability to direct energy, concentrate on the present moment, and shut out noise and distraction becomes an essential skill.

In astanga yoga developing proficiency in concentration, focus, and breath control is part of the asana practice. The practitioner trains the mind to focus on the postures and the breath. The fourth limb of Ashtanga is pranyama, or breath (energy) control, the fifth limb is pratyahara, or "withdrawal of the senses", the sixth limb is dharana, or concentration, and the seventh limb is dhyana, or meditation are continuously interwoven into the practice. That is why astanga yoga is unique form that benefits runners, cyclists, hikers, skaters, dancers, skiers, climbers, swimmers, tennis and golf players, baseball, basketball, and football players and so forth, men as well as women..

Often yoga seems extremely difficult to beginners, especially tight athletes who are very "fit", at their own sport. It is hard to get "into" something that is so downright difficult and discouraging. These people will eventually find, however, if they stay with it, that it will get easier. The secret to success in yoga lies in three things: practice, practice and more practice. Practice with earnestness. Practice without a break. And practice for a long time. Transformation will come. There is no short cut. If there were, someone would have figured it out already.

No one can understand what it is going to be like to do yoga. There is only one way to know, and that is to have the experience of doing yoga, and that only comes from one's own practice. And with our own practice comes the understanding of what people mean when they say why they do yoga. "It sets me up for the day." "It makes my day go better." "Everything else seems to flow better after practice." "It keeps me healthy." "My back pain and stiffness are gone." "I can breathe better." "It gives me a sense of accomplishment that nothing else ever has." "It quiets my mind." "I feel better about myself and the rest of the world." "I'm a better person because of it." “My athletic performance has increased because of yoga practice”

Athlete Yoga demonstrates how yoga improves balance, flexibility, power and stamina which can result in improved performance, injury reduction and faster recovery for athletes of all levels.

Athlete Yoga is a complete 30, 45, and 60 minute workouts for a specific sport that strengthens and stretches every area of the body, blending the most effective postures in a concise sequence. While participating in sports, imbalances occur in the body which can lead to strain on the joints. These routines, when practiced regularly, corrects the imbalances that active sports create in the body.

One of the distinguishing features between yoga and stretching is the constant focus on the breath. This development of breath awareness gives one greater body control which is necessary in the participation of sports. Imaging the different areas mentally reinforces the contact between mind and body which increases awareness. This translates into quicker reactions to unexpected situations encountered in sports. This quicker reaction can reduce the risk of injury. Awareness also increases coordination which can improve performance.

Yoga and women's sports

It is incredibly interesting to follow the evolution of the relationship between yoga and women over the past 20 to 30 years. Western women were apparently first drawn to yoga because it was gentle exercise for the mind, body and spirit. Women continue to be drawn to yoga and are still, at the turn of the millenium, the primary teachers and practitioners of yoga in the West. But now it seems that women are drawn to yoga for its strength and power. And this exactly corresponds to the change in women and women's sports that has taken place.

For example, as recently as the early 90's, women were still assumed, by both men and women, to be "naturally" more flexible than men. For the most part that was because women didn't participate in sports during childhood to the same degree as men and, as adults, didn't "train" at sports in the same way men did. As that is changing, the "natural" flexibility of women is changing. Women are tighter than they used to be. Not only are they tighter as they have become more involved in sports and fitness, they also have become more tense (translate "tight"). As women have gone from the role of passive onlooker to active participant in the world of sports, politics, business, education, health care, and so forth, women have been subject to greater tension. On all levels women, like men, have developed a greater need for a strong antedote to the constricting stresses of life.

This jump into a pro-active role in life and harder training in sport creates tightness. Whether you are a man or a woman, training makes you tight. Now, we know that women who train as hard as men, will for the most part, become just as tight. This creates a new problem in women's sports. It used to be that the only injuries in women's sports were those that came from being hit in the head by a field hockey stick or from falling down playing softball. Now injuries are a main concern of both professional and recreational women athletes (Beryl Bender Birch, 1998).

FUNDAMENTALS FOR ATHLETE YOGA

You have to be hot to stretch

Without heat, any attempt to stretch or realign the body is a complete waste of time. You have to be warm while stretching. This is accomplished by doing strength work concurrently and continuously along with the stretch.

Strength, not gravity, develops flexibility

Ashtanga Yoga is about STRENGTH. Flexibility comes as a result of the strength work. Without the strength work, the heat is not there and, consequently, the stretch work is not effective, safe, or even possible.

Sports create tight muscles and imbalance\

Sports develop tight muscles and create imbalance because of repetitive training and uneven use of muscle groups, or the uneven use of one side of the body. This intense shortening or disproportionate strengthening results in mind-boggling muscular and structural imbalance. The harder you train, the tighter your body will become, and this is true of nearly any sport.

Most injuries in sports are caused by structural and muscular imbalance

Although chronic injury in most cases comes on slowly as the body goes further and further out of alignment, eventually the imbalance breaks through as debilitating pain. We must then either do something to address the imbalance, or face stopping our training. We were too focused on our training to notice the slow, incremental decrease in our range of motion and agility which has come about from our imbalances caused by training.

Muscular imbalance does not cure by themselves

This is what you use the Ashtanga workout for, among other things. No one sport perfectly balances and complements any other in strict biomechanical terms.

Iron will bend if you heat it up

In many of us who've been active exercisers for years, our muscle and connective tissue are starting to feel like the iron in our cars. The only way to get rid of the dent is to heat up our frame and remold it. Surgery might correct a structural imbalance, but it does not restore the tissue to the pre-injured elastic, supple state. Drugs may get rid of pain, spasm, or inflammation, but not the cause of the same. The "memory" of the injury will stay there unless we do some body work to heat, correct, and re-align.

Stopping training does not correct an imbalance

It may give the injury time to heal, but as soon as we begin to train again, the injury will come back; the misaligned moving parts resume rubbing against each other - causing friction, or what we feel as pain - as soon as we start training again. The parts are still in the same biomechanical relationship to one another. Even though we may have rested and healed the injury, we did nothing to heal the misalignment. You have to take the tissue in every direction, both in a stretch and in a contraction. And remember, without heat, the realignment is not safely possible. The primary ingredient of the Ashtanga Yoga practice is HEAT.

No matter how fit you are at what you do, when you start something new you have to ease into it

This program does not promise or even remotely hint that we can get you fit overnight, or from one-sided to balanced, injured to healed, unconscious to conscious, out of control to in control, sloppy to disciplined, or fat to fit in 21 days or less. This practice encourages you to begin slowly, practice regularly, breathe deeply, pay attention, and build on the small, gradual changes you observe as you progress.

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Yoga for Cyclists (program/routine upon request)
A yoga program can build a cyclist's strength and endurance and introduce flexibility to chronically tight muscles. Strengthening your back, improve balance and enjoy the sport even more.

Rudi Altig was a man before his time. In the 1960s, the German Tour de France bike racer known as the "yellow dwarf" was a yoga enthusiast. Before and after his arduous races he used yoga to relax his muscular body. Maybe he instinctively knew that yoga—with its ability to usher athletes though other dimensions and angles—is the perfect foil for bicycling, a one-dimensional sport.

As a bicyclist travels through one plane, he or she repeatedly overtaxes some muscles and underutilizes others. Watch a cyclist coming toward you, and you can read the imbalances. Rocking side to side signals that one hip is compensating for the other's weakness or inflexibility. Hips are the core of movement for the cyclist. If the core is weak, then the upper body has to work harder, and this can lead to back strain.

Likewise, if a thigh or knee flares out from the bicycle seat due to weakness or chronic tightness, that side of the body is doing less work. The hips, thighs, knees, and ankles should all be on one track—pointing straight ahead. If these body parts are off track, cyclists run the risk of wearing down ligaments and tendons, and developing imbalanced muscle groups. And in cyclists, the quadriceps are often overdeveloped. To compensate for this, the hamstrings shorten, tighten, and thus weaken.

The posture a cyclist conforms to astride a bike also contributes to muscle tension and imbalance: A bicyclist's spine is in a constant state of flexion, hunched over the handlebars. In order to achieve overall flexibility and balanced muscle groups, a biker needs to incorporate balancing, counteracting movements—for example, backbends, which stretch and elongate oft-used hip flexors and quadriceps. A yoga practice can help restore balance, first by taking the alignment principles of yoga and transferring them to how you sit on your bike (Baron Baptiste and Kathleen Finn Mendola, 2001)
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Put Metal to Mental

Although each instructor—usually a yogi with an interest in aerobic activity—individualizes the class format, the basic structure of the classes remains consistent. A combination of stretching, breathing, and cardio work, the warm-up can be done either on the bike or the mat. Helen McGee, a private instructor in Napa Valley, California, favors beginning with the full Sun Salutation series, then moving on to some more challenging poses like Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I) and Balancing Prayer Twist, a variation of Utkatasana (Chair). "When you get off the bike, your legs are usually pretty wobbly," says McGee, "so I like to do the challenging stuff first."

After students generate some warmth, the ride begins. Usually set to New Age music or sounds from the Caribbean and Africa, the journey involves a series of hills, flats, and sprints, created on the bike by increasing or lowering the front wheel's resistance and in the mind by visualizing the road ahead of you. Again, the instructor's personal preference determines whether you climb Mount Everest or sprint for the Tour de France finish line. McGee prefers to focus on developing endurance and strength, while Daniel led us through some challenging interval work. After about 30 to 40 minutes of Spinning, students dismount, stretch, do a few more asanas—Daniel had us use the bike's handlebar for balance during modified versions of Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (Extended Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose) and Natarajasana (Lord of the Dance Pose)—throw on the aforementioned sweatshirt, take off their shoes, and roll out the mats. About 40 minutes of different asanas follow; most, like Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend) and Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (One-Legged King Pigeon Pose), focus on stretching hip flexors, quads, calves, and other cycling-specific muscles while simultaneously slowing down the heart.

Something for Everyone

If you haven't thought about Spinning before, perhaps you should. More important than the tabulated sweat factor are the cardio benefits Spinning brings to a yogi's regimen. "I have greater awareness about the capabilities of my body," says Daniel. "Plus, I'm stronger, have more energy, and just feel good." Most Spinning classes last 45 minutes, but because of the workout's intensity, cyclists get their heart rates soaring within minutes; a 130-pound woman can burn about 500 calories during that time.

At first glance, yoga and Spinning appear to go together like Oprah and Howard Stern, but they actually complement each other. "They're a perfect yin and yang," says McGee. "They both allow you to go inside of yourself in an interesting way." They're also the ultimate balanced workout in that muscles get strengthened and stretched, your mind goes on a calming inner journey, and your heart gets a fierce pumping.

Physically, many of the tenets of indoor cycling mirror those of yoga. Staying centered and grounded is paramount, whether you're on the bike or the mat. Just as most asanas—from Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) to Sirsasana (Headstand)—require energy and movement radiating from your core, Spinning at high revolutions with little resistance requires a solid sense of balance, beginning from your lower back and abs. (Throughout our workout, Daniel reminded us to lift up from the abdominals and to keep them engaged for maximum support.)

Similarly, both require a solid sense of body position and knowledge: For the most efficient cycling, you need to know how to engage—and feel—each muscle in your leg, just as you need to know how to "spiral" out your thighs in Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog). The energy level in both classes is similar too in that they begin low and then build to an outburst.

Perhaps the most important physical trait Spinning and yoga share is the use of the breath. Sunny Davis, a North Carolina-based instructor who holds Yoga Spinning clinics for instructors around the country, realizes that Western athletes may not be as accepting of nontangible concepts like "proper breathing eases effort," so she has her students wear heart rate monitors while Spinning. She introduces them to the power of pranayama through a simple exercise of counting how many cycles of breath (inhalation and exhalation) they observe per minute. Not surprisingly, when they breathe correctly their heart rates go down despite the fact that the workload may go up.

"Somebody came up to me after a class and told me she took the class knowing she was going to hate it," Davis says, "but then she saw the numbers on her monitor go down and realized what a powerful tool correct breathing could be. That drove it home for her."

The personal focus inherent in concentrating on the breath is representative of the inward attention required by both practices. When you practice yoga in a class, the teacher suggests a pose and you listen to your tight muscles, aching joints, and flexible tendons to realize how far you'll be able to take it. In Spinning, the instructor tells you where you're going and how hard to go, but the image you see is ultimately drawn from within and you work at a comfortable pace for your body.

During the course of Yoga Journey, I was able to go inside myself more deeply than I've been able to during a solitary bike ride or a single yoga class. I've never experienced so intensely the feeling of pushing my heart to its limit, then consciously slowing it down.

Perhaps that's the draw of both disciplines: The inner experience is always unique and revelatory. "In yoga the asanas don't change, yet each time you practice, you have a different experience with them," says McGee. "It's the same thing in Spinning: A flat ride is always a flat ride, but you never have the same ride twice."

Dimity McDowell is a Brooklyn, New York-based freelance writer.

Yoga for Baseball/Softball (program/routine upon request)

Before you sidle up to home plate, incorporate some yoga moves for a better chance at hitting a home run. Despite the fact that the word yogi conjures up an image of a free-swinging, malaprop-spewing catcher for the Yankees, the stereotypical images of baseball players—wads of tobacco lodged in their cheeks, answering to managers with generous beer guts—don't appear to jibe with the serenity and philosophy of yoga.

But image is one thing, reality quite another. The sometimes languid pace of baseball and softball games belies their physical demands (good players need everything from fast reflexes to excellent eye-hand coordination). Yoga is the perfect complement to strengthen and stretch muscles in both the mind and body. "Yoga enhances any athletic performance," says Jimmy Barkan, owner of the Yoga College of India in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, "and baseball is no exception." He should know: He worked with members of the Florida Marlins during their 1997 World Series winning season. Coincidence or not? "I can't really take responsibility for that," says Barkan with a laugh.

What he can take responsibility for, though, is loosening up some seriously tense muscles, and consequently improving, albeit intangibly, on-field performance. Barkan practices Bikram Yoga, a series of 26 asanas performed in a room heated to approximately 95 degrees. Typically inflexible men (read: most baseball players) flock to these classes for two reasons: First, the fiery temperature instantly heats the body, allowing a more intense stretch; and secondly, the postures don't require a lot of flexibility to begin with. "No matter what, there's a level at which you can participate in and benefit from this class," says Barkan.

Secret of My Success

Initially, pitcher Al Leiter, a former Marlin, current New York Met, and long-time yoga devotee, sought out the services of Barkan. "This is a great workout," he told the Palm Beach Post. "It's definitely an asset in my success." Once his teammates and various staff members heard him waxing om-ecstatic, a number of them wanted in, so Barkan went to Pro Player Stadium to lead their sessions. "We gathered a number of heaters," Barkan remembers, "But the room wasn't as hot as we like it."

Still, the postures he led the players through stretched and strengthened key areas of the body used in baseball and softball. Although each field position requires a different athletic specialty—shortstops need to be agile and acrobatic, first basemen need flexibility to do the splits, pitchers need shoulders of steel, catchers need balance and strong legs—the muscles used in the staple motions of batting and throwing encompass almost the entire body.

When you step up to home plate, although it's the bat that's swinging, it's actually the rotation of your hips that generates the power necessary to clear the fence. The greater range of motion your hips have, the better your chances for a decent hit.

Twist Like Joe

Jeff Conine (formerly a Marlin, now a Baltimore Oriole) would watch films of Joe DiMaggio, whose hips were so flexible they'd be facing third base by the end of his swing. Says Barkan, "Conine could barely get his to first until he started practicing yoga." The Bikram posture Dandayamana-Dhanurasana (Standing Bow Pulling Pose), Utkatasana (Chair Pose), and Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Lord of the Fishes Pose) will help to get your hips swinging as fully as your bat does.

Once you make contact with the ball, taking off from a standstill to a full-out sprint forces your hamstrings to spring into action. If they're not flexible and strong, you'll definitely feel it, probably in the form of a pulled muscle.

"When you see a guy slow down as he rounds third base," says Barkan, "he's having problems with his sciatic nerve." Fielders also commonly practice the abrupt sprint-from-dead-stop as they take off to field a fly or grab a grounder.

Dandayamana-Janu Sirsasana (Standing Head-to-Knee Pose) and Janu Sirsasana (Head-to-Knee Pose) will help limber up your sciatic nerve, the real source of perceived hamstring tightness according to Bikram philosophy.

Strike Them Out

Throwing the ball involves a series of complex motions which, when done correctly, employs everything from your feet to your fingertips. During the wind-up, after your legs set your stance, one leg pushes off as your shoulder muscles support the cocked arm; then the energy generated in the lower half is transferred, via your torso, to your chest, latissimus dorsi, triceps, and shoulder as you release the ball; for the follow-through, when the shoulders, triceps, and biceps slow down, your trunk bends forward to prevent shoulder injury. "Throwing takes a lot out of you," says Craig Moriwaki, a trainer with the University of Washington softball team. "It's important you have the right form. Otherwise, it can be extremely stressful on the shoulders." Barkan recommends asanas like Garudasana (Eagle Pose), Trikonasana (Triangle Pose), and Tuladandasana (Balancing Stick Pose) to lengthen and strengthen the shoulder joints—helpful when you're lunging to either catch or throw a ball. Or, follow the example of Yankees pitcher Orlando Hernandez, originally from Cuba, who routinely does Headstand and Handstand "to relax" and Supta Padangusthasana (Supine Hand-to- Foot Pose) to stretch his hamstrings.

It's All in Your Head

The mental aspect of baseball and softball is as important as physical preparation. With professional games that can drag on for hours, and the average college softball game ranging from 90 minutes to two hours, the ability to concentrate for long periods of time is key. Even though a right fielder may get just one ball a game, he/she still needs to be mentally present for the entire game. "Practicing yoga, when you have to stay within yourself and in the moment, helps on the field," says Barkan.

The ability to make decisions quickly is also imperative. "I have about one second to decide whether or not I should throw to try and get somebody out," says Vicki Siesta, who plays on the softball team at Princeton University. "The difference can be two runs coming in, or one out made." And when she's the one trying to score the runs, she's got to think even faster. "I've got to decide whether or not to slide. If it's yes, then I have to choose whether to go head or feet first, on the outside or inside of the bag, all in an instant," she says.

Breathing exercises which promote regular inhaling and exhaling help to both keep your head in the game and your mind as sharp as a cleat—benefits that come in handy in all ball sports: "I was playing golf with Leiter and [then] Miami Dolphins center Jeff Uhlenhake one day, and they were asking me to teach them how to take their breath back to normal," says Barkan. "It helps your focus, no matter what your game is."

Dimity McDowell is a Brooklyn, New York-based freelance writer.

Yoga for Basketball (program/routine upon request)

Basketball is a total body and mind sport that requires you to be both physically and mentally quick. Successful players not only need to know how to dribble, pass, catch, and shoot while galloping up and down the court, but also how to keep constant track of four other teammates. All this while five opponents try to steal the ball. Even a basic act like shooting can be complicated: Different motions are required for a lay-up, free throw, and jump shot. (Did we mention playing defense when you don't have the ball?)

Despite their flash and athleticism, though, many NBA players are not the most versatile athletes. "The Bulls' range of motion was very limited," says Kout. "They train in a very narrow corridor with small, repetitive movements." Simple actions like standing on all four corners of their feet in Tadasana were difficult to execute because players are constantly perched on the balls of their feet in a ready position. "Their ankles were so tight and contracted, just being in Child's Pose was extremely painful for them," says Kout. "They actually refused to do it."

From the Ground Up

Yet, open-minded players are well served by asanas like Vajrasana (Thunderbolt Pose) and Virasana (Hero Pose), both of which open the ankles and help prevent injuries caused by sudden stops and quick cuts. "Ankles are an integral part of your base," says Kout. "If they're inflexible, you're vulnerable to injury."

Pounding the court for 60 minutes—not to mention squatting serious poundage—had turned many of the Bulls' quads into rock. The downside, though, was constant leg tension, a common problem for both the professional and weekend warrior. For this, Jackson wanted Kout to teach them Headstand. "I told him I didn't have enough insurance to do that," says Kout with a laugh.

She does, however, believe strongly in the healing powers of inverted asanas, and recommends beginners rest their legs against a wall and work up to Salamba Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand). The shoulder is another joint that rarely rests on the court. When it's not being used to launch a jump shot, it's throwing or catching the ball, or engaged in defense. (Name a basketball player who doesn't remember his or her high school coach constantly screaming, "Arms up! Arms up!") Most of this shoulder work is of the forward-motion variety, so in addition to leading the Bulls through simple arm circles (one at a time, slowly), she walked them through poses like Prasarita Padottanasana (Widespread Standing Forward Bend) and Setu Bandha (Bridge Pose), which open and stretch the upper body.

Although Kout's stint with the Bulls is over (as are their glory days), Jackson has taken his New Age philosophy to the Los Angeles Lakers and in June led the team to their first championship in 12 years. Again, the Lakers' occasional yoga practice is just one piece of a comprehensive program, but it had an immediate effect on at least one player.

"We've been doing yoga so I'll be straight," Shaquille O'Neal told the Los Angeles Times in reference to a bad ankle that was quickly healing. "I'm kind of tight—not really used to stretching. But our yoga instructor is nice looking, so I'm very enthusiastic about it."

Dimity McDowell is a Brooklyn, New York-based freelance writer.

Yoga for Runners (program/routine upon request)

Tension is the athlete's downfall, and breath awareness is key to reducing it. Conscious breathing and pranayama exercises, which soothe the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and relax the entire body, can be of great benefit to runners.

Many runners know that improving VO2 Max—aerobic capacity—is vital for running and racing success. Runners with a high VO2 Max have the capacity to pump large amounts of oxygen-rich blood to working muscles. Maximum oxygen intake is a crucial physiological variable determining performance and endurance for runners. With pranayama and asana conditioning, you can maximize the size of your pump and the quantity of fresh blood coursing through your body. A somewhat vigorous yoga practice can increase your oxygen capacity.

Pain Prevention

Even the most centered and relaxed runner can face injury—the bane of all athletes. Damage to a runner's body is often the result of overuse instead of collisions or falls. It all comes back to—you guessed it—balance, symmetry, and alignment.

The body is the sum of its parts and impairment of one affects them all. A bad back is going to affect your ankles just as weak knees can throw off your hip alignment. For example, shin splints are the result of a seemingly minor misstep: an uneven distribution of weight that starts with the way the feet strike the ground. Each time the foot hits the pavement unevenly, a lateral torque travels up the leg, causing muscle chafing and pain up and down the tibia known as shin splints.

Knee pain, too, is related to other parts of the body. If the ankles are weak or the hips are not aligned, that can put strain on the anterior ligaments in the knees. Meant to work like a train on a track, a knee thrown off balance is equivalent to a train derailing. Due to constant forward motion, hip flexor muscles shorten and tighten and can cause hyperextension in the lower back. This constantly arched position holds tension in the back and can hamper the fluidity of hamstring muscles as well.

What does this mean for the runner with pain in his lower back? Or a painful heel condition? First of all, don't ignore your body's signals. Take a break when your body needs one. Learn to intuit when rest is appropriate. Secondly, start incorporating yoga postures into the warm-up and cool-down portions of your workout. Think of running as the linear part of your workout and yoga as its circular complement.

There's no need to be sidelined by injuries and discomfort brought on by your running program. Chronic injuries can eventually self-correct through a gentle yet consistent yoga practice. Remember, your body is on your side. It has an inherent intelligence to bring about a state of equilibrium no matter how many times your feet hit the pavement.

Baron Baptiste is a yoga teacher and athletic trainer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, known for his work with the Philadelphia Eagles and as the host of ESPN's "Cyberfit." Kathleen Finn Mendola is a health and wellness writer based in Portland, Oregon.

Yoga for Tennis (program/routine upon request)

Not only can yoga help strengthen a tennis player's injury-prone joints, it can also silence "inner chatter." Susan Carter's tennis game has never been better. Her secret? Yoga. "Yoga overall has made me stronger in all of my movements on the court. It helps me get my body behind the ball, especially on my serve and overhead," says the 37-year-old public relations rep, who played college tennis at George Washington University.

Carter has found what many tennis players, from the amateurs to the pros, are discovering—the combination of yoga and tennis makes for a win-win situation.

Unlike many sports that require simple brute strength or speed, tennis is a mental game as well. That's why yoga is perfect for cross-training. Jeff English learned this when he tried to strengthen his focus while playing tennis. "My tennis teachers always told me that mental focus came from experience, that when you've played enough matches you gain that focus," he says. "Well, there are players who have played a million matches and still lose it when the pressure is really on."

English, also a tai chi/qi gong teacher, liked yoga so much that he incorporated it into a class he teaches called "Tai Chi Tennis" at El Gancho Fitness and Swim Club in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He also teaches a movement class based on the principles of tai chi, qi gong, and yoga at Yoga Mandir, a local studio. "A big part of tennis is getting rid of inner chatter, which yoga does," he says. "So when you get into the match, instead of thinking, 'Oh, I have to win this point,' you have trained your mind to be still."

Jena Marcovicci, owner of Dance of Tennis center in Richmond, Massachusetts, also uses yoga to create focus. "The greatest way that yoga helps your tennis is with a pre-match ritual," he says. "Practicing the asanas is a crucial way to ignite your endorphins and get you ready to play. A pre-match ritual is helpful in centering your focus, which will help you in your game."

Mental Pro

Sometimes even the pros need help with their mental game. That's why tennis stars such as Monica Seles, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario come to train with LGE Performance Systems, Inc., in Orlando, Florida, which incorporates mental training techniques into the program. Steve Gray, director of corporate fitness at LGE, describes his focus-building drills. "We use breathing techniques to relax the athletes," he says. "We teach them to look at the strings of the racquet and go completely internal, so they will breathe and concentrate between points. Using the yoga breathing techniques relaxes them and makes them feel like they're exerting less effort."

Power through the Poses

Yoga can also help your game by making you stronger and thus less prone to injury. When I started practicing, I used to ask, 'How do you generate power by moving so slow?' and my teachers said, 'We just practice slow so we can move fast,'" says English. "And I found out what they meant when I tried it. I learned how to create power through relaxation, rather than muscle tension. When you practice yoga regularly, you're bringing energy into your body, so after a match you feel better instead of feeling depleted."

According to English, yoga can also strengthen a tennis player's injury-prone joints. "Tennis players often have problems with their knees, ankles, shoulders, hips, and wrists, so they really need to spend some time on those areas to get the tension out."

This means that you'll be more likely to keep on truckin' if you practice your poses off the court. While tennis players are often considered over-the-hill at age 30, English has found that older athletes are able to continue when they add yoga to their mix.

"What I've found is that older people with knee and shoulder problems are still able to play if they do yoga, when otherwise their injuries would have kept them out of the game," he says. "I have a 44-year-old client who is hitting the ball extremely hard now. I've noticed it with myself, too. I'm 35, and I don't even feel like I've reached my prime yet. I feel like I'm getting better!"

Marcovicci has found that most players are in the game for the long run. Therefore, "they want to keep their bodies supple and flexible, which is a key in longevity, and yoga can help them achieve this," he says. "Yoga and tennis go hand-in-hand, because your body takes a beating from tennis."

You may not think flexibility matters much on the court—after all, you don't exactly need to perform the splits in order to serve a point. But, as Gray explains, "Flexibility is one of the most important things in tennis. When you look at top athletes, they have to leverage their bodies every square inch to reach a ball, and they have such spinal arch when they're serving. Yoga can help them achieve this." ( Megan McMorris)

Yoga for Skiers (program/routine upon request)

Instead of a hot toddy, try yoga after a day of skiing moguls and adrenaline-producing black diamond runs. Few sports marry the elements of speed and grace better than skiing. Combine the adrenaline rush of hurtling down a slope with the agility of a beautifully carved turn and the sport's broad appeal is evident. Far removed from the brisk, high-energy land of skiing lies its perfect foil—yoga. Where skiing is fast and risky, yoga is slow and thoughtful. The two sports' philosophies diverge, yet the physical demands of skiing call out for the counter movements of yoga.

Perhaps the biggest benefit yoga can bring to your skiing is injury prevention. Skiing asks a lot from the body—cold muscles are called upon to perform a variety of functions, while dexterity, balance, and high levels of concentration are also a must. For those skiers who hit the slopes sporadically, these athletic requisites are often too tough, and they can end up injured and disillusioned with the sport. By observing your body's imbalances, brought on by the particular movements of skiing, and employing a yoga program to bring your body into a state of equilibrium, you can avert injury and participate in the sport for years to come.

Downhill Racer

In any sport, and skiing is no exception, if you overcompensate in one area, you weaken another, thus preventing yourself from being able to perform at your peak. Since skiing is a lower-body intensive sport, imbalance most obviously occurs in an overdeveloped lower body and a comparatively weaker upper body, according to Prisca Boris, Yoga for Athletes instructor in Vail, Colorado, and former pro-mogul competitor. In her work with skiers, Boris uses yoga poses and variations on the push-up to build upper body strength.

It's those lower body imbalances, however, that directly affect a skier's performance, and sometimes lead to injury. For example, strong quadriceps and opposing tighter, weaker hamstrings can place too many demands on the knee joint. Knee joints (and the lower half of the body in general) take a lot of abuse as they actively absorb terrain on a downhill run. In a skiing stance, though the bent-knee position with the hips forward helps cushion the shock of impact, the actual power comes from the gluteus, quadriceps, and back muscles. If these muscles are weak, the knees end up taking the pressure that the legs and glutes aren't bearing. Eventually, the joint fatigues. Shortened inner thigh muscles can also strain the knee joint by limiting the leg's range of motion. To avoid knee injury a skier should strive to keep the musculature around the knees and calf muscles supple and stretched so there's less pull on the joint, and yoga can help here. Boris instructs her yogi skiers to work to lengthen all four sides of their upper legs—inner and outer thigh, hamstring, and quadriceps—to ensure minimal strain on surrounding joints.

Together, the hips and knees create the driving force behind skiing, or more precisely, the steering mechanism. "Use of these joints, with some help from the ankle, is always directed toward the goal of trying to put pressure on the inside edge of the downhill ski in order to effect a turn," Boris says. It's technically referred to as angulation—the creation of angles with your body using feet, ankles, knees, hips, spine, or a combination of these in order to push and move the ski.

A skier angulates from the hips, constantly engaging the hip flexors to raise and lower the legs. But overuse of the hip flexors can lead to back strain as the front of body becomes overdeveloped, leaving the back weaker and tighter. Keeping the hip area flexible and supple is necessary not only to avoid imbalance, but to encourage good turning habits. For example, skiers with tight, congested pelvic/hip areas will tend to wrench the upper body back and forth to initiate a turn, instead of utilizing the lower body. This results in abrupt, awkward turns and a stiff, sore upper back.

Which leads us to core strength and awareness—vital to both skiing and yoga. "In skiing, awareness of your center allows you to rise to initiate movement," Boris says. "You rise to start your turn, and sink down to finish your turn, and all the while the core or torso should remain facing downhill." Awareness of your core can prevent you from turning inefficiently. What's more, core awareness translates to quicker reactions to unexpected situations—runaway skis, out of control skiers, shifting snow, and weather conditions—and can rescue you from accidents.

Balance, a blend of strength, flexibility, and kinesthetic sense, is especially important for being able to achieve the next level in skiing, whether that's mastering moguls or perfecting powder skiing. It's also imperative for avoiding injuries. If you're schussing along and hit unexpected terrain—a rock or sheet of ice—and one ski is forced out from under your body, you can avoid tearing your inner thigh muscle or groin area if you have the flexibility and strength to support the abduction of the leg.

Prepare for Powder

Despite the capacity for injury, skiing is not a sport to be feared but rather one to prepare for. One of the simplest steps to get ready for the mountain is to check your alignment. If you're properly set up atop your skis, you've already cleared one important hurdle.

Many skiers erroneously think that leaning back will prevent falling, or conversely, that leaning extremely far forward will protect them from a spill. Neither assumption is correct. How you stand on your skis—your alignment—is key to staying balanced. Follow these fundamental alignment principles for skiing and you can avoid the dreaded face plants that inevitably occur under a chairlift full of spectators.

Feet should be shoulder-width apart, as if in Tadasana (Mountain Pose), to create a stable base for the body. Knees should be in line with the toes, as in Utkatasana (Chair Pose). Hips should be tipped slightly forward. This is a somewhat unnatural position for most people; however, ski boots help encourage this shape in the lower body. This posture helps you gain control. Boris likens it to walking down a roof: "If your hips are back, then your feet will come out from under you," she says. Shoulders should be dropped, or relaxed, as in Tadasana. Torso should be still. Referred to as a "quiet upper body" in skiing, having a "still" torso is akin to riding a bicycle with the lower body doing most of the work while the upper body provides stability. Hands should be in front of your body to encourage forward movement and to initiate pole plants.

Our bodies are designed to move. Biologically, we require continuous, regular motion. Yet, often in the winter months, we stay indoors, moving less and sitting more. Skiing satisfies our primal need for motion while reconnecting us with nature. Both novice and veteran skiers can attest to the physical and spiritual exhilaration of a day on the slopes.

To get the most from your days on skis, follow the wisdom of yogis and stretch those muscles before and after you tackle the mountain. Remember, if you stay in top shape, you can ski for free after age 70. Now, there's something to look forward to! (Baron Baptiste and Kathleen Finn Mendola )

Yoga for Swimmers (program/routine upon request)

Laps and Asanas

Competitive swimmers call it "dryland training"—incorporating other sports into an exercise regimen to compensate for what is missing in a primary workout. A yoga practice can complement even an amateur's swim routine by introducing two legs of the fitness triad—strength building and flexibility. Asanas (postures) utilize body weight as a powerful source of resistance: Outside of the water, gravity helps to build strength and muscle. In addition, postures take the body through a full range of motion, encouraging flexible, supple muscles that are less prone to injury.

Consistent practice of yoga also yields extended muscles, as opposed to the contracted, compact muscles associated with running or cycling. And extended muscles are physiologically necessary for a swimmer: To be efficient in the water, every stroke and kick demands a full extension of the arm and leg. When executing all four strokes, swimmers propel themselves by extending and contracting from the tips of their fingers to the ends of their toes.

Many competitive swimmers run to increase aerobic conditioning—the third leg of the fitness triad—because effective aerobic training requires more than just a few laps in the pool. "If you just casually swim laps, chances are you'll be unable to bring your heart rate up high enough and sustain it long enough to gain significant aerobic conditioning," says Sims. "By incorporating the four basic strokes when you swim—breast, freestyle, butterfly, and backstroke—you can get a full body workout. However, achieving a cardiovascular workout in the pool is more challenging. You must use interval training—swimming laps at a vigorous pace against a clock."

In Sims' work with swimmers, she focuses on key body areas and applies some of what she calls "universal principles" of asanas to help them ward off injury and improve performance:

Shoulder Blades: In Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog) and Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog), your instructor may tell you that the shoulder blades need to drop down the back. The same principle applies in swimming, where the shoulders create the biggest problems. Rotator cuff injuries or shoulder tendonitis (also called "swimmer's shoulder") occur when the rhomboids are not held in place when the arm is raised in freestyle stroke. Instead of the muscle carrying the weight of the arm, the tendon bears the burden. Over time the tendon becomes frayed and aggravated.

Hips: Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose), with the soles of the feet touching together and the outsides of the knees flat on the floor, demonstrates a healthy external rotation of the hip. For many people, though, the hips remain locked and stiff. In a swimmer, this congestion can manifest in a faulty breaststroke kick. Without free, loose hips, it's difficult to complete this stroke effectively and efficiently.

Ankles: In all of yoga's standing poses, it's important to place the foot on the ground in order to get full extension, and flexible ankles allow the foot to rest solidly on the ground. Similarly, swimmers use the ankles as the foundation of movement—propelling the body forward with a kick. The top of the foot should hit the water as if in Virasana (Hero Pose)—at 180 degrees. Sims will often work with runners who have such severe ankle stiffness that their kick literally pulls them backwards—"like trying to lift a plane off the ground with the flaps down."

Swimming to Samadhi

Both yogis and swimmers know about using the breath to move the body. Yogis use the breath to encourage the opening and lengthening of stubborn muscle groups, and the cleansing of physical and emotional toxins. Deep, full breathing enhances yoga asanas and increases circulation and cardiovascular capacity. Being immersed in the water makes this process easier, as water puts pressure on the lungs to expel excess air and allows fresh new prana to enter the body.

"All breathing in swimming should be done in an open chest position," says Sims. Just as yogis often exert effort on the inhalation and relax on the exhalation in asana practice, swimmers inhale before submerging, then utilize the extended exhalation to follow through on each stroke, propelling themselves through the water. The stroke facilitates the cycle of breath, with the rhythm modified according to each individual. In freestyle, swimmers are encouraged to become aware of alignment and pattern their breath cycles so that the head turns to breathe on alternating sides of the body. Not practicing this "bilateral breathing," Sims says, would be like doing Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) on only one side of the body.

It makes sense that breath awareness factors into good swimming. After all, swimming is a sport in which the senses are withdrawn and awareness is pulled inward. For some people, Sims adds, because "you are covered with water, with little sensory ability, little sound, little visual stimulation...it's a sense of the fifth limb of yoga—pratyahara," literally, a gathering toward oneself.

Gentle on the joints, forgiving of injuries and other physical limitations, and deeply relaxing, swimming and yoga, when practiced together, unite their strengths, making for a more balanced athlete.

The minimal gravity effect of swimming is appealing to those who suffer from injury that precludes them from high-impact movement, as well as pregnant women, people with chronic joint pain, and the elderly. Logging laps in the pool undoubtedly provides physical and psychological benefits. But too much time spent in the water without counteracting or opposing activities can be detrimental, resulting in body misalignment and lack of bone strength.

Body alignment, integral to all sports performance, is often thrown off kilter in swimmers, says Leslie Sims, a former national swim coach who is currently a yoga teacher at "now YOGA" and head coach at Club Swim in Los Altos and Palo Alto, California. This is due to overdevelopment of the front of the body, which occurs from chronic overuse in three of the four basic swim strokes—butterfly, breast, and freestyle. Because a swimmer's pectorals are predominantly in a contracted state, the opposing fascia (where muscle attaches to bone) of the rhomboids is weakened. Because the backstroke can counteract some of the repetitive stroke motions that lead to such muscle imbalance, Sims instructs her swim students to perform the backstroke at the end of every workout. Often just doing the backstroke isn't enough, however. Learning proper alignment through a consistent yoga practice can help tremendously, Sims says.

The biggest drawback to a fitness routine based solely on water sports is that the body can't get stronger without gravity. Just as a coiled spring gets its force from resistance, the body needs stress to build strength in muscle and bone. Bone density, in particular, is developed through low- and high-impact weight-bearing exercise like running, walking, bicycling, dance, and yoga. This is an especially unfortunate drawback for women, who are most at risk for developing osteoporosis, a disease marked by a gradual weakening and thinning of the bones.

Baron Baptiste is a yoga teacher and athletic trainer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, known for his work with the Philadelphia Eagles and as the host of ESPN's "Cyberfit." Kathleen Finn Mendola is a health and wellness writer based in Portland, Oregon.

The Yoga of Combat (program/routine upon request)

Yoga and aikido share the goal of a tension-free body that uses energy wisely and efficiently. In sixth-century China, because Zen Buddhist monks who meditated for long hours were developing spiritually but weakening physically, Prince Bodhidharma introduced monks at the Shaolin Temple to what later became known as kung fu—a martial art based on Indian yoga. The monks were not only priests but warriors too, and practiced this first martial art on a daily basis.

In the seventeenth century, Okinawa (an island between China and Japan) was captured by the Japanese, who took away the islanders' weapons. To defend themselves, the Okinawans turned to the martial arts of China. As the century progressed, the martial arts slowly transformed from a means of combat to a spiritual path. Both yoga and martial arts are modes of self-healing that aim to dissolve stress and increase awareness. Both practices strive to awaken energy, or chi, within the body. Like yogis, martial arts practitioners learn how not to think, how to go beyond thinking to samadhi, a state of meditative union with the Absolute. Aikido, one of the newer forms of martial arts, embodies principles remarkably similar to the yoga tenets of moving from the body's center, relaxing under pressure, and extending chi.

The Zen-like principles of aikido de-emphasize the power of the intellect, instill intuitive action, and help individuals overcome the effects of evaluating, judging, analyzing, thinking—overriding conditions of our society. Yoga too encourages surrender, letting the mind go, and being in the present, and downplays striving and pushing.

"Competition is an integral part of life in our culture, starting from birth," says George Leonard, who holds a fifth-degree black belt in aikido, co-owns an aikido studio in Mill Valley, California, and is author of several books including The Way of Aikido: Life Lessons from an American Sensei (Dutton, 1999). But progress in aikido comes with patient and diligent training. He tells his students "to stay with the process, enjoy this level, do not strive; keep practicing and don't try to get anywhere."

Yoga Mat as Dojo

A dojo—the Japanese word for a place of enlightenment—is a temple of sorts, and the place where martial artists practice. In the dojo, you make contact with your fears, reactions, and habits. This arena of confined conflict, with an opponent or partner engaging you, helps you to understand yourself more fully. Though in yoga the process is more individual, your yoga mat can be a dojo. Poses can take you deep inside yourself, challenging you to loosen the grip of indiscriminate emotions such as anger or fear.

The ultimate aim of aikido is to free the individual from anger and illusion, fear and anxiety. This is done by constantly having to become nonaggressive, according to Leonard. Aikido moves protect both the attacked, and if possible, the attacker. An aikidoist usually chooses not to harm an attacker even though the opportunity to harm is present. "Each time you're forced to be nonaggressive, you're brought nose to nose with your internal aggression," Leonard says. "This isn't done by denial but by integrating the emotion, understanding it, and transforming it into something else which, ultimately, is love."

A parallel exists in yoga as practitioners confront their own emotions. When working through poses, people often stumble upon anger, fears, judgments, and vulnerabilities. This detritus can manifest in different body parts. For example, feelings of grief are often lodged in the chest, while fear and anger reside in the hip area. The spine, the back of the body, can represent returning to the past, making backbends challenging for many. And inversions can bring about a sense of vulnerability. Working through emotions these poses evoke is part of the practice.

Yoga and aikido mesh not only philosophically but in a physical sense as well—both are nonlinear activities. Aikido and yoga practitioners are less likely to suffer from repetitive stress injuries that they may incur from linear sports such as running and bicycling.

The circular, flowing nature of aikido encourages entire body movement. That's not to say that a martial artist isn't in need of what Leonard refers to as the "optimal muscle tone" that yoga offers. "Flexibility is essential as rigidity can cause accidents," he says. For example, the shoulders can suffer a lot of damage when diagonal rolls are performed. This standard aikido move involves gracefully rolling from the right hand, arm, and shoulder across the back to the left buttock and leg. "Done correctly," says Leonard, "it's magical." Performed incorrectly, rolls can injure the shoulder and possibly break the collarbone. In this case, the supple flexibility that yoga cultivates becomes absolutely vital.

High kicks and harsh, staccato movements are the Hollywood version of many martial arts, yet such kicks are considered a waste of energy as they're not an efficient method of thwarting an opponent, according to Leonard. Nonetheless, kicking at a more moderate level is inherent in the martial arts and aikido is no exception. Twisting and exerting power from the lower limbs involves the long muscles of the body—thighs, buttocks, abdomen, and back—which all attach to the pelvic girdle. To develop the flexible hip area and strong lower body essential to an aikidoist, practice hip-opening yoga postures such as Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Pigeon Pose) and all standing poses, which develop leg strength.

The kicking and falling required of an aikidoist can be rough on the knees. Though the tissue surrounding the knees (the meniscus) wears down after repetitive use in any sport, as long as the knee socket is snugly supported by the tendons and continually strengthened, the knees can support the movements of aikido. For knee strengthening and toning, practice Virasana (Hero Pose).

Yoga and aikido share the goal of a tension-free body that uses energy wisely and efficiently. "If one set of muscles is tense, then they're firing and taking energy away from other parts of the body," Leonard says. "In aikido, you must be able to relax every muscle except the one being used. It can be mind-blowing, being very relaxed but able to exert enough to bring someone down to the ground." In the best of yoga, the same thing happens, adds Leonard. "Out of relaxation comes power."

Baron Baptiste is a yoga teacher and athletic trainer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, known for his work with the Philadelphia Eagles and as the host of ESPN's "Cyberfit." Kathleen Finn Mendola is a writer based in Portland, Oregon.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Teacher Training

What are the prerequisites for the Teacher Training? You must be an experienced yoga teacher or fitness instructor with basic knowledge of alignment principles, anatomy and biomechanics. You must be physically fit and 21 years of age or older.

Is lodging included in the price of the workshop? No but we will be able to help you find affordable accommodations.

When do I need to register in order to secure my space in the program? The Teacher Training program will be on a first come, first serve basis. We will close enrollment once the training fills.

How many students are in a teacher training? We will accept no more that 20 students per three-day session.

Does everyone who completes the program receive a certification? Yes. Athlete Yoga certification Level one, Level two, or Level three.