More and more athletes are turning to yoga as a supplementary exercise routine to fix the imbalance in their body and to improve their performance in their chosen field of sport. Whether you are a golfer, basketball, tennis, or football player, the mind body connection in yoga is an important element in producing peak performance.

Although proper breathing technique is the foundation of many sports, it is often ignored by many athletes. Yoga will help fix this lack of breathing skill and develop the correct breathing technique that is very much required in any game of sport. The integration of mind and body through correct breathing patterns helps to build stamina and endurance in an athlete. Proper breathing techniques also bring more focus and attention to the mind and sharpens one’s intuition. This gives the athlete an advantage over his rivals.

The various poses in yoga helps to build a strong mid-section and the different types of contractions of these poses and movements act as a form of resistance training to the typical gym-based workouts. But unlike in a gym, you can practice yoga outdoors without having to bring heavy equipment. Imagine doing yoga exercises by a windy beach with the sound of waves in the background, on a hill top with a great view and fresh air, or in a zen garden.

Frequent yoga practice increases flexibility and range of motion and the slow movements is perfect for athletes. Many athletes are already using yoga movements as a warm up and warm down routines in their sport. Athletes in sports field such as tennis and golf will notice improvements in their swing as a result of this flexibility of the muscles and joints. In any given sport, the addition of yoga as a supplementary routine training has been known to improve the performance of the athletes.

Most athletes are involved in some form of weight training and other resistance training that uses repetitive motions that only develop certain muscle groups, while ignoring others. That creates imbalance in the body. Yoga is able to fix this imbalance and help to develop the muscles that have been ignored through the contraction of these muscles in the various poses.

Yoga is also a good workout to relieve boredom in athletes who perform the same types of exercises year in year out by adding variety. It is also an important element in recovering the body from hard aerobic and strength workouts. The numerous poses in yoga can be done in a low or high intensity workout according to the athlete’s needs. Overall, yoga is not only important in bringing in more strength, balance and flexibility to an athlete, but also brings more alertness, attention and focus that is so much needed by athletes in their very competitive world.

In the Asana (in Samskrta / Sanskrit, the ancient language base of YOGA) people manage to reach the stage of maximum personal capacity, an exacerbated development, an exceptional concentration and a powerful personal growth, all particularities of YOGA. The movement that follows the stop should be complementary to this and completely smooth, completely dominating the Gravity

The Asana, in Yoga, has the following objectives:

1. The muscle strengthening, stretching and its elasticity, and tendons;

2. The strengthening of bone, joint flexibility and functionality, and ligaments

3. The work and balanced endocrine / hormonal function, neurological / neuron-vegetative, and the health psycho-bio-physics

4. An intense brain stimulation, the full control of the body and mind and strengthening of the important anti-relationship brain / body (and hand), and especially the exploration of the relationship (inverse) body / brain

5. Control of the 1.st Universal Force, the gravitational stability, control of movement, and Harmony

6. Operation of organs, tissues, blood and lymphatic circulatory systems, digestive, excretory, selector and sexual

7. The strength and endurance, self-confidence

8. The ability to endure difficult situations in a lucid, accurate and stress-free way and face normal situations in a shrewd and clever form

9. A strong and super cerebral Irrigation and a super lucidity

10. Strengthening of the Will, living together with Tapa – heat of Self-Demand, training of Attention and Continuous Concentration for long periods of time

11. The opening, clearing, widening and strengthening of Nadi (Residual energy of the human DNA) the elimination of toxins, and the development of Chakra (pronounced tchakra – Centers of Energy and intersections of the Nadi)

12. The preparation for intense Energy and vibration work, directed mainly to the spine, spinal cord and ependyma chanel – Sushumna Nadi, predisposing to the passage of Super Power Kundalini (Residual DNA Energy), which once activated and well conducted, provides in Dhyana – True Meditation (another of the Twelve Technical

Disciplines of Yoga) Samadhi (Enlightenment) – Supreme Cosmic Consciousness Intellective-human.