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important to me because of my own experiences. I had been practicing yoga since 1983 and taken 3 teachers training courses and –walking into a studio in LA – I would feel intimidated. That is the last thing that I wanted to have happen at my studio. So I realized that I was going to have to come up with a sequence that type ‘A’ personalities, people who can’t touch their toes, executives and athletes- were going to want to take. What makes your yoga style/program unique for athletes? One of the first things I did was to observe. In all of the classes I was taking at the time, half the class was gone after one hour. They missed out on their inversions and corpse pose and the things that you really need in that last part of the class. So I made my class more concise and limited it to one hour. I was one of the first to offer the one hour class. Now it is pretty typical but nine years ago no one did that! I got blasted in the yoga community for making it only an hour. They said it wasn’t real yoga but my intent was to actually offer the full experience of yoga within an hour – not make it un-yoga. Even for me, I knew the benefits of taking the whole class but it was hard to stay past an hour. Your focus starts to wane and you start to think about what you have to get back to doing. An athlete can’t add that hour and a half into their training schedule, especially more than once a week. So I put together a sequence that was shorter. Secondly, I had to make them sweat. You know athletes; if they don’t sweat they don’t think they are getting anything out of it. I designed the sequence to be a strong flow class that was safe, effective and concise. Finally, as a former competitive athlete, I looked at what areas of an athlete’s body needs the most help – hips, hamstrings and upper body. Most athletes with the exception of swimmers use their lower bodies and therefore have really strong legs but they don’t have as much focus on upper body strength. My program involves a lot of planks and hovers, so you gain a lot of upper body and core strength along with flexibility.
So it’s a tough class? It is a tough class but it’s doable. If they have never done a sport it is a very challenging class but we offer three different levels. We have a level one/two which is for someone that is a beginner. We have an all levels class where we provide different modifications, and then we have a level three which is more challenging; a lot more balancing postures and a faster pace. What do you think about people in the yoga community who might frown upon the idea of yoga as fitness? For me, I believe that everyone gets what they want out of yoga. If you don’t want the physical aspect and you want the spiritual aspect of it then you can get it– especially in LA there is a yoga studio on every block so you just have to find what resonates for you. For athletes – they want the physical benefits of doing yoga! Can you tell us a little bit about some of the different athletes that have come to your classes and the benefits that they have experienced from your program? There has been a lot – it runs the full spectrum from Olympic athletes, rugby teams, baseball teams, basketball, football, and tennis. I have worked with the Detroit Tigers and several Olympic swimmers. As for the benefits – well there are so many but aside from the physical benefits of doing yoga for athletes, injury prevention is number one. I hear from most of the athletes that come to YAS or do the DVD – this is the first year that they didn’t get injured. I hear a ton of testimonials that they are actually better at their sport because they didn’t have to take time off from their training due to injury. Their times get faster – performance is improved because they have more focus – a direct benefit of corpse pose which I encourage because it allows them that time for inward focus.
that question all the time especially from people who like the DVD and then want to take a class. If they are an athlete and they have an injury I usually send them to an Iyengar class because it is very structured. What do you think are the top qualities that someone should look for in a yoga instructor? Find a yoga instructor that is certified, cares about their students and is aware. Being aware of your students is so important! My tagline – ‘I’m not your guru, you are’ – stresses this point and we talk about this in the teacher’s training courses I offer. For teachers, it’s not about you it’s about your students! One of the things we always say is a sign of an inexperienced teacher is one who does the whole class with the class. In our course we focus on showing the instructors how to adjust, making eye contact and establishing a personal connection with each and every student. That’s key! What is your mission? I would love to see everyone try yoga. It’s really important! It’s changed my life on multiple levels and I’ve seen it change other people’s lives…and it can change your life too! I wrote my new book – “The Practical Guide to Yoga – The NO OM Zone” to share my passion, for a practical approach to yoga and fi tness, with the world! It’s a great practice, a great exercise for anyone! That’s my mission - to make it accessible; it may not be your thing, but get out and try it - you might love it! YOGA for ATHLETES® DVD $14.95
There are so many different styles of yoga out there, what would be the most suitable for an athlete wanting to try yoga? I always tell them to go to power yoga. I get
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