All athletes, no matter their skill level, can benefit from the consistent practice of basic yoga postures. Unfortunately, athletes often have misconceptions about this powerful conditioning tool. They may be misled by watching some types of yoga on television or by participating in yoga classes where the emphasis is on mild stretching, rather than on disciplined practice of the classical yoga poses.
Yoga helps athletes because they often have damaging movement patterns.
By focusing on the simple movements of the basic yoga poses and building to more complex movements, athletes can correct old, damaging habits and dramatically increase athletic capacity. Everyone comes to yoga with physical imbalances. With high repetitions of the same movement, this small difference is magnified, often causing back or knee problems. Similarly, some sports lead to tightness in the front of the hips and shoulders, a condition which may lead to various painful back and rotator cuff problems. Because traditional yoga movements are balanced in every direction and require a full range of motion, they immediately reveal imbalances.