Saturday, March 21, 2009

Ultimate Frisbee and Yoga

Last month, Daniel, a new student, came to class with his girlfriend Lauren. Lauren is a regular at the studio with a strong and beautiful yoga practice. They come across as an effortless kind of cool couple with great energy.


To my surprise, without knowledge of the postures Daniel was able to come into the poses with relative ease. He was able to find Warrior I and Warrior II adjusting hips and shoulders, seemingly falling into the postures. Additionally, he had great balance, not something that comes without effort to someone as tall as Daniel.


After class we talked about his athletic interests and I learned that in addition to playing basketball, and being a runner, he is an avid competitor in ultimate frisbee. Having played on a championship team in college, he continues to compete in a local league.


I am very aware of how yoga improves performance in a virtually all sports. However, until meeting Daniel and Lauren, I didn't know much about ultimate frisbee. I now have an appreciation for the sport and have developed an understanding of how the stretching and alignment of yoga transfers to this graceful and fast paced sport.


BTW, Daniel now attends yoga classes regularly with Lauren, and Mindful Motion Yoga will be a proud sponser of the Jacksonville Ultimate Frisbee league this season.


For more on how a regular yoga practice can increase sports performance: http://www.mindfulmotion-yoga.com/terristhoughts.html


An interesting list of professional athletes practicing yoga:
http://www.holisticmed.com/exercise-yoga.html



Namaste,


Terri

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