New York Giants cornerback Aaron Ross. photo via MySanAntonio.com
G-I-A-N-T-S! Y-O-G-A! (spoiler alert)
So, some of you may know the football prom is this weekend, and the New York Giants have a date with the New England Patriots. Who will win? We don’t know, but at least we can feel safe rooting for the yogis! According to Fox News the Giants have been practicing yoga all season with teacher Gwen Lawrence, who has been their yoga coach for a whopping 11 years.
“The Giants were my first professional team,” Lawrence said, who specializes in different forms of yoga, including Iyengar, Hatha, and Ashtanga Vinyasa, to engage the entire body and mind.
Lawrence, who also works with the New York Knicks, Rangers and members of the Yankees, said she works with the Giants twice a week during pre-season to get the players in shape and prepare their bodies for the upcoming year.
Coolness. Her 3 secret moves (shhhh!) are pigeon pose, frog pose, and hero pose.
photo via flickr
“My philosophy is, strength plus flexibility equals power on the field. Doing these moves not only keeps players less injury prone – because a tight, rigid body is more likely to crack and break – but they also translate into power.
“We’re working on mental toughness, too,” she said. “Sometimes you have players with pre-game anxiety, and the breathing techniques they learn in yoga can help them cope.”
So not only do they charge through buff and burly asana, they also work on restorative postures. Giants FTW!
But wait! There’s a fumble on the play, the ball is recovered by New England Patriots’ Devin McCourty, the Hot Yogi from…NY? It’s true. Mr. McCourty a cornerback for the Patriots and is also a devout yogi. Perhaps this year will finally be our year where Tebow-ing is replaced with the touchdown-asana endzone dance. Will quarterbacks Eli Manning and Tom Brady huddle for a sun salute?
A little something extra to watch for, eh? When you’re not scanning for the Ferris Bueller ad or flipping to the Puppy Bowl.
Go team! Update SPOILER (kind of): New York Giants win Super Bowl 46! About that yoga and football…
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Earlier…
Which frog pose? The inner thigh stretch one or the backbend/thigh stretch one practiced in astanga (secondary series)?
I”m thinking the inner thigh stretch one. Would make sense considering the sport and the general flexibility of these guys (back in the day, I worked with the PSU sports teams on occasion, and most of them were pretty rigid. Nice guys and gals though. 🙂
It is the inner thigh stretch. It is a great help to all types of athletes.
Check out Gwen’s Website to find out more information.
we do it for roller derby too. super fun. 😀
Do you know if the Patriots do yoga? I hope it is a good game. Rematch city hoot hoot!!!
If anyone is interested, you can watch the game for free at http://tiny.cc/nflsuperbowl2012 …
Hey!
One of our trainee Yoga Sports Coaches just sent me through your blog. Great to hear!
Yoga Sports Science was in at the Yoga Journal in San Francisco last month and it was really good to hear how yoga is being used more widely in sport.
Bring it on!
Best
Hayley
I wrote a little follow up to the super bowl if anyone wants to read it: http://www.daytonayogabellydance.com/2012/02/07/super-bowl-yoga/
I know that yoga is good and NFL players should not stop doing it