Ashtanga Yoga: A Yoga Practice Every Athlete Should Adopt

Summary: Read this article and expand your mind why every athlete should adopt and practice the Ashtanga yoga style.

Sore muscles, injuries, and so much more. If you are an athlete then you might have experienced all this at some point or another. From running on the tracks to lifting weights, chances are you have sustained several injuries throughout your life. But what if you get to know that the system of yoga can help minimize the injury, improve flexibility, build endurance, enhance mental focus, and overall help you become a better athlete.

Practice Ashtanga yoga-- a classical form of yoga that is a complete and balanced form of yoga in and of itself. The performance of repetitive movements interlinked with breaths lubricates the joints helping them achieve their full range of motion, lays down the foundation of balance, purifies the body thus eliminating diseases, and cultivates higher attention-- which is the master key to improve athletic performance.

Make a thorough effort to travel to India to imbibe the teachings of yoga in an authentic manner. Also, veteran and aspiring athletes can undergo Ashtanga yoga teacher training in Rishikesh for the maintenance of their health that helps them improve their performance in respective sports.

Given below are the best seven Ashtanga yoga poses that an athlete can practice for better results:

1. Bridge Pose: A great pose that fixes a poor body posture and strengthens the muscles around the spine and helps savor a strong body for optimal performance.
2. Pigeon Pose: An extremely beneficial pose that intensifies the mobility and greatly benefits the hips of a person.
3. Cobra Pose: Release the tension in the spine with cobra pose. Great for athletes involved in weightlifting as the pose bestows them with a healthy spine.
4. Dolphin pose: Delve into a dolphin pose and effectively stretch your hamstrings, arms, shoulders, upper back, calves, and foot arches.
5. Low-Lunge Crescent Pose: A powerful yoga posture that benefits the whole body, mind, and spirit.
6. Reclining Big Toe Pose: A regular practice of this yoga asana strengthens the knee and stretches the toes, hamstrings, hips, and groins.
7. Reclined Supine Twist Pose: Lie comfortably in this pose, ease out all the stress of the back and calm your mind.

Discover why Ashtanga yoga should be practiced by every athlete: Given below is a list of surfacing benefits of Ashtanga Yoga style:

1. Intensifies Strength: A regular practice of Ashtanga yoga style controls the body’s metabolism and rejuvenates the used muscles of the body. It strengthens the abdominal muscles and aids in the better functionality of organs of the body thus giving athletes more strength to perform.
2. Improves Focus: Yoga is one of the best ways to enhance mental focus and concentration. As you are encouraged to focus on a particular point (drishti) during the holding of yoga asanas, this greatly enhances the concentration power. Yoga also fosters better mind-body connection thus helping the athletes improve their performance both on and off the field.
3. Repairs the Muscles: Athletes often complain about muscle and fiber tear. The science of yoga incorporates the practice of various restorative yoga asanas that enhances the blood flow to the broken muscles and worn out fibers thus repairing them in no time.
4. Enhances Flexibility: Without a doubt, a regular practice of yoga amplifies both muscle and joint flexibility. This, in turn, provides greater mobility to the joints helping the athletes avoid injuries that may occur due to over-used muscles and joints.
5. Fosters Balance: The practice of yoga postures confer the practitioners with a sense of balance --both physical and mental. Perfect body balance helps athletes perform the sports with greater stability while mental balance assists them in creating an optimal level of mental readiness that enables them to maximize their performance.

Try Ashtanga Yoga teacher training in Rishikesh to aesthetically enhance your fitness level and the performer in you.

The Author is a passionate Yogi, traveler and Yoga Teacher in India. He loves writing and reading the books related to yoga, health, nature and the Himalayas.