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The Benefits of Yoga for Athletes: The Body

Article in Athletic Therapy Today · March 2006

DOI: 10.1123/att.11.2.32

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Tatiana V. Ryba
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ALTERNATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY CONCEPTS
The Benefits of Yoga for Athletes: The Body
Tatiana V. Ryba, PhD • University of British Columbia
Y OGA IS AN ANCIENT Indian philosophy
that focuses on achieving deeper aware-
ness of the body–mind through disciplined,
dedicated practice. Yogic practice usually
involves asanas, which are postures or sequences of
postures; pranayama, or breathing modification and
exercises; and meditation (and sometimes chanting).1
Although in this column I focus on the physical aspect
of yoga, it is important to keep in mind that yoga
emphasizes the integration of body, mind, and spirit
and focuses on the person as a whole being. I will also
address reasons athletic trainers might want to con-
sider yoga as a supplement to conventional treatment
and rehabilitation methods.
Yoga Defined
There are different interpretations of the Sanskrit
word yoga. The most common one is “to unite” or
“to come together,” which gives us a physical inter-
pretation of the word.2 Another meaning of yoga is
“to tie the strands of the mind together,” which points
to intentionality and the importance of directing our
thoughts toward the yoga practice. The deeper meaning
of yoga, therefore, is “acting in such a way that all of
our attention is directed toward the activity in which
we are currently engaged.”3■
Hatha Yoga
Hatha is one of six main types of yoga (the others are
Raja, Karma, Bhakti, Jnana, and Tantra) and the most
widely practiced form of yoga in the West. Hatha yoga
aims at purifying the body and eventually the mind
through physical transformation. Hatha’s focus, there-
fore, is mainly on the physical body and breathing
to achieve self-awareness, concentration, endurance,
flexibility, and balance. Within Hatha yoga, there
32  MARCH 2006
John M. Kaltenborn, MS, ATC, Column Editor
are several styles that include but are not limited to
Ashtanga, Iyengar, Bikram, Kundalini, Kripalu, and
Tibetan.4 These styles represent different schools of
thought and are likely to be present in either full form
or in varying degrees or combinations in a yoga class,
depending on the preference of the instructor.
Yoga in Athletic Training
Yoga is increasingly being incorporated into the train-
ing regimes of athletes. Any athlete can reap the ben-
efits of practicing yoga; it is especially valuable for
preventing injuries in explosive sports (e.g., sprinting,
tennis, basketball, baseball). Some specific reasons
athletic trainers might want to consider using yoga
in their injury-prevention programs include increased
core stability, increased flexibility and range of motion,
and increased relaxation.
Increased Core Stability
Asana practice increases core stability, which is essen-
tial to both sport performance and injury prevention.5
Because yoga practice requires the movement of many
major and minor muscle groups simultaneously and
focuses on proper muscular and skeletal alignment, it
tends to differ from other conditioning methods that
emphasize active engagement of only certain areas
of the body. A typical outcome of systematic asana
practice is an increased overall sense of balance and
strength for whole-body movements.6 Good beginner
poses include the tree pose (Figure 1), warrior pose 2
(Figure 2), and boat pose (Figure 3).
Increased Flexibility and Range of Motion
Yoga routines incorporate gentle, static postures that
are held for an extensive period of time in order to
safely lengthen muscles and tendons, as well as the
© 2006 Human Kinetics • ATT 11(2), pp. 38-39
ATHLETIC THERAPY TODAY

Figure 1 Tree pose (vrksasana). (All photos: Suzanne McCahill Perrine,
owner/operator of The Centerdowntown in Harrisonburg, VA, a yoga
and Pilates studio.)
Figure 2 Warrior pose 2 (virabhadrasana 2).
spine. In yoga, flexibility exercises involve loose and
relaxed muscles, relieving muscle tension and soreness
while increasing range of motion and agility.6 Many ath-
letes find such poses as downward-facing dog (Figure
4), modified cobra, and reclined leg stretch (with the
help of a yoga belt) to be particularly helpful.
ATHLETIC THERAPY TODAY
Figure 3 Boat pose (paripurna navasana).
Figure 4 Downward-facing-dog pose (adho mukha shvanasana).
Increased Relaxation
It is virtually impossible to overemphasize the role of
rest in an athlete’s recovery after heavy training loads.
It is a rule of thumb in yoga to rest when making a
transition from one kind of asana to another. Even if
athletes don’t feel like they need one, the rest ensures
that their muscles return to their balanced tone and
gives them the opportunity to feel the effects of the
pose.2 The yoga session concludes with 5–10 min of
relaxation in corpse pose (shavasana), during which
the mind/consciousness is trained to be indrawn/
internalized. My students particularly enjoy corpse
pose with elements of the autogenic training.
Asana practice includes both physical and psycho-
logical processes that can facilitate injury prevention
for athletes. The key component seems to be yoga’s
potential to help athletes become more attuned to their
bodily processes, needs, and signals and thus be able to
MARCH 2006  33
recognize minor symptoms before they become major
ones. A vast majority of my students find that regular
yoga practice (even a 30-min practice twice a week)
makes them listen to their bodies and enhances their
understanding and appreciation of how their bodies
perform.
Conclusion
The holistic philosophy of yoga practice provides a
theoretical and experiential basis for injury prevention
in sport. Specifically, yoga poses can be used to aug-
ment athletes’ core stability, flexibility, and relaxation.
It appears, moreover, that yoga’s focus on corporeal
awareness and living in the present moment offers a
particularly conducive context for its inclusion in an
injury-prevention program.
Acknowledgment
I would like to thank Craig Wrisberg and John Kalten-
born for their useful comments on the column. 
34  MARCH 2006
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References
1. Page SE, Ryba TV. Yoga. In: Levinson D, Christensen K, eds. Berkshire
Encyclopedia of World Sport. Berkshire Publishing Group; 2005.
2. Yee R, Zolotow N. Yoga: The Poetry of the Body. New York, NY: Thomas
Dunne Books; 2002.
3. Desikachar TKV. The Heart of Yoga. Rochester, Vt: Inner Traditions
International; 1995.
4. Brena SF. Yoga and Medicine: The Reunion of Mind–Body Health and the
Merging of Yoga Concepts With Modern Medical Knowledge. New York,
NY: Julian Press; 1972.
5. Akuthota V, Nadler SF. Core strengthening. Arch Phys Med Rehabil.
2004;85(3 suppl 1):86-92.
6. Baptiste B, Finn MK. Yoga for cyclists. Available at: http:
//www.yogajournal.com/practice/196_1.cfm: Retrieved June 12,
2005.
Tatiana Ryba is with the School of Human Kinetics, University of British
Columbia. As a graduate teaching associate, Tatiana has taught yoga
and physical education courses at the University of Tennessee.
ATHLETIC THERAPY TODAY