Increasing the LIFE in your game, while playing the GAME of your life.
by: Debra Bobier, CYT, RYT
Join us on our Magical Yoga in Bali Retreat in June
Tennis is not an easy game on the body. Let's face it; your body takes a beating each time you are on the court. Tennis requires great speed and endurance along with short bursts of power and quick reflexes. At some point every player experiences an issue with injury prone joints like knees, ankles, shoulders, hips and wrists. Yoga can keep your body supple and flexible, the key to longevity, help minimize injuries, correct those you already have, and take your game up a notch as well.
The Physical Aspect of Yoga:
It is also a common practice for most tennis players, amateurs and professionals alike, to play the game with their muscles constantly tense. Yoga is the opposite. Muscles are trained to relax which allows for much faster reaction time, and less likelihood of injury. This power versus force approach has many players saying "I've never played better. And I can really get my body behind the ball, especially with my serve".
In a game that is always throwing your body physically out of balance, the physical benefits of yoga are not just a luxury but a necessity. Most tennis players can't imagine a life without tennis, and want to continue playing for as long as they can. Yoga makes this possible by providing increased strength, stamina, balance and flexibility making you less prone to injury. You might not think that flexibility matters much but it is one of the most important things in Tennis. Look at all the twists and turns. Stops and starts. And, spinal arch while serving.
Each posture in yoga is designed to recalibrate, balance, harmonize, rejuvenate and restore our muscles, joints and cells. As well as to remove the tension that is deeply embedded in these areas. So Yoga is extremely therapeutic. Whether you are able to do the most advanced postures is inconsequential. You do what you can and your practice is as personal and unique as the person doing it.
You become so much stronger, and powerful. I work with a lot of triathletes that are in excellent condition. Yet after just one week of working with me each day, they are stronger, more powerful, more toned and flexible. And have increased focus, and concentration.
Each Yoga movement is done slowly and with the breath so one might wonder how you could achieve these benefits. The postures are intense, and moving slowly is actually making you stronger so that when you are off the mat, you can move faster. And of course you are stronger and more powerful. Incorporating Yoga into any fitness program is a win-win. And while yoga will enhance any other fitness program you are involved in, nothing will enhance your yoga practice except your yoga practice. It's that different.
Many yoga postures are not easy. In fact some are quite difficult, and many very intense. I recommend attending a yoga class regularly with a teacher that teaches Yang (masculine)Yoga or a more dynamic form like vinyasa flow, Ashtanga or Power Yoga.
If you are in the Tampa Bay area and I am available, I would love to work with you. Or, any group you may be organizing for a tennis weekend retreat. You could also take advantage of my week long retreat in Magical Bali in June. This one week will change your body, mind, and spirit. Then you can spend your next week traveling around the island enjoying its magic and beautiful spirit of the Balinese people. Find all the details at www.yogabound.com/travel/bali_yoga_retreats.htm .
Asana standing, seated and lying on the back are usually part of the class, with emphasis on Pranayama. Moving through the Asana with Breath is Moving Meditation.
Some Yoga Postures That Are Good For Tennis:
•Tree pose (vrksasana) to strengthen the legs, open the hips and improve balance and coordination.
•Triangle pose (trikonasana) to strengthen and stretch the hamstrings, open the chest and promote balance.
•Warrior I and II (virabhadrasana I, II) to strengthen quads, calves and Achilles' tendons; expand range of motion; and teach you to move from the hips
•Spinal twist pose (ardha matsyendransana) to limber hips and shoulder joints and tone and stretch the lumbar spine.
Courtside Yogis:
•Warrior ## to develop strength and knee joint; lengthen the Achilles' tendons, calves, and spinal column; and firm the abdomen.
•Bridge pose (setu bandha) to develop a supple back and torso.
•Handstand (adho mukha vrksana) to build mental and physical focus and agility.
The Mental Aspects of Yoga:
But Yoga isn't just about power, or strokes, speed, or finesse. It is a place we play from where we feel no pressure. When we are playing in the Zone we can do no wrong. We know where the ball is going and we are already there. Each shot is solid, smooth and well placed. We are focused and at one with the ball, not distracted by anything or anyone, especially our own mental chatter. This is a place of pure "Bliss" and in the Yoga world we call this "Living in the Moment".
This is accomplished through our Asana (postures) as well as Pranayama (breath work) practice. Pranayama, or breath control is the most important aspect of any Yoga Practice. Incorporating slow, deep rhythmic breathing relaxes the body and mind enabling us to ground, center, focus and stay in the present moment.
It assists in silencing the inner chatter that can end up costing us the game. Research has shown that the discipline required for Yoga can take you to a state of Meditation. It releases endorphins, calms the mind, lowers blood pressure, and slows the nervous system. This is the place you want to be when you walk on, and off the court.
There are many types of Pranayama but one technique is to simply exhale while executing a pose. Many instructors are now incorporating focus-building drills into their teachings like looking at the strings of your racket and focusing internally while using yoga breathing. Doing this while playing means more efficient and effective play as you are exerting less effort.
People are not aware of their breath and don't realize that they breath with only 25% of their lung capacity. When we are stressed, the breath is the first thing to go. Becoming more aware of our breath is one of the most important things we can do. This greatly increases your strength, endurance and stamina by expanding lung capacity and facilitating controlled breathing.
The centering and stillness of the mind that is created through your Yoga Practice also retrains the brain to think in terms of the here and now not winning the point, what the other team is doing, where they are, what is going to happen next. By focusing on where you are not where you want to be you can stay in control of the mental game of Tennis.
The physical and mental benefits of yoga come with practice. A daily practice would be the ideal and offer quicker and greater benefits. And you don't need to allocate hours and hours to your practice.
The bottom line:
Yoga is attracting people from all walks of life especially those in highly stressful environments. Many of these people have a hard time sitting, standing and staying still. This is a liability of our North American work ethic which has immersed us in multi tasking, high speed, and a fanatical pursuit for success.
The mind and body are vibrating with the reverberating echoes of the day's battles. TV, Radio, Cars, Traffic, etc. add to the crescendo so that silence and stillness scares the hell out of people. The unfamiliar environs of a yoga class where constraining suits are replaced by comfortable threads and the mantra to surrender instead of fighting, power versus force are common instructions, these people have found themselves destabilized by the lack of white noise, or more importantly, by the presence of undiluted silence.
The process of stripping away society's conditioning has often proved to be too great a feat for some, resulting in the identification of yoga as ‘too freaky', ‘too quietly', or most laughably, ‘too easy'. There now exists a movement of millions attempting to relate to life's most basic principles, and in that same effort to relate comes the realization that we rarely end up where we originally envisioned ourselves…and so, the quest begins…to come back to ourselves…and to be our selves.
Not only can yoga help strengthen a tennis player's injury-prone joints; it can also silence "inner chatter."
By Megan McMorris
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."
Not only can yoga help strengthen a tennis player's injury-prone joints, it can also silence "inner chatter."
By Megan McMorris
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."
Brooklyn, New York-based freelance writer Megan McMorris does yoga once a week to strengthen her game of choice: running. Her articles have appeared in Fitness, Self, Sports Illustrated for Women, Glamour, and Teen People.
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