Day 3 of my 2016 Teaching Yoga to Athletes intensive focused on the psychology of the athlete and on athletic recovery. This was fitting, as that morning I’d yet again rolled my ankle running on the trails. This happens once or twice a year, and it leaves me laid up for several weeks, yet I continue to run trails because it gives me such joy. After a discussion of this and other examples of the psychological quirks of athletes, we moved into a mellow practice to help foster athletic recovery. (For a full take on this, please read The Athlete’s Guide to Recovery.) You’ll see my wrapped ankle propped on a chair in the video of the practice, which you can stream and follow along with at YogaVibes.
Recovery is the key to performance. In this practice, filmed on day 3 of Sage’s 2016 Teaching Yoga to Athletes intensive, we enjoy two sequences to relax and restore tired backs and hips. Both appear in EVERYDAY YOGA: Six Moves of the Spine, Prone, One Leg, and Six Moves of the Spine, Supine, One Leg. Along the way, we see how these foster balance in the body, and especially the nervous system. (55 mins.)