Golf and Yoga - A match made in heaven

There has been a surge of interest in yoga in recent years in the West.  People are finding the benefits of taking some time out of the day to stretch out the muscles in their bodies and to give their mind a time of stillness and peace.

After being introduced to yoga in my time at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, I began a fairly regular practice of it in my home at night before going to bed.  Later, I began to add these stretching poses to my routine prior to a round of golf.  Now, whenever I hear my body or mind crying out for some attention, I go through some poses and pay attention to the parts of my body needing some help.

What I have found in the practice of yoga is that I not only experience a relaxing of the body when doing the poses, I also find that my active mind begins to slow down and I feel more centered and calm in general.  Somatic Psychology practitioners across the country can attest to the absolute connection between the body and mind and that working on one encourages health in the other.

In golf we are talking about a game that is highly mental and your results are heavily influenced by how "in the zone" you are or are not on any particular day.  We are also talking about a game where long, loose relaxed muscles are much more beneficial than tight, short, tense muscles.  The connection between golf and yoga are plain to see for anyone who has participated in both activities.

I know that some of you reading this will be deterred by the word "yoga".  I can appreciate that.  If that is the case, let me describe a few helpful stretches related to one part of the body that may improve your physical and mental health and will increase the likelihood that you will play and enjoy the game of golf more.

Before getting into the description of the stretches, let me first give some general guidelines for stretching that will provide maximum results.

1.  This is not a competition.  We will not get yelled at if we don't touch the floor when we are stretching our hamstrings.  We always want to gently move into a stretch, breathe and take our time in the motion.  Our muscles respond much better to this slow and gradual movement.  If you feel pain, pull back slightly.  In this case, "no pain, no gain" doesn't work very well.  The muscle will contract and resist the stretch if we push ourselves to the point of pain.  We will also slightly injure ourselves and the process of elongating and relaxing the muscles over time will become a slower one.  This is the image of the tortoise and the hare.  For maximum benefit, you are going to need to be the tortoise.

2.  Breathe.  If you notice you have stopped breathing, just return to your breath and the feeling of your muscles slowly releasing and stretching out. 

So, there it is.  Take it slow and breathe.  No problem....well, you might be surprised.

HAMSTRINGS

A yoga instructor I once worked with said that tight hamstrings keep people up at night.  It is as if the mind, feeling the tightness of the hamstrings, believes that you are preparing to run from an attacker or something similar that has a life and death quality to it.  It is kind of hard to fall asleep when the body is constantly preparing to run somewhere.

I tried both of the stretches I will describe here and I can say that if I do them and I take my time, I fall asleep like a baby soon after.  I notice that while my hamstrings stretch out, my mind quiets down.  With a relaxed body and a quiet mind, sleep soon follows.

I am speaking here about hamstrings related to falling asleep and sleep is, of course, helpful to having a calm and centered mind in golf and in life.  However, stretching the hamstrings is helpful in many other ways and is an important aspect of any yoga/stretching routine.  The quiet mind that I am speaking of could just as easily be called being "in the zone".

Stretch 1

Find a doorway.  Lay down with your rear end at the base of the opening of the door.  One leg lays on the floor and the other gets propped up on the door frame.  Lay on your back with the leg you are stretching in a straight position.  Lay at a distance from the base of the wall that allows you to keep your leg straight while stretching the hamstring, without pain.  Start at a 45 degree angle and move closer to the wall until you reach the stretch of the hamstring.  After a minute or two, move to the other side of the door and do the same thing with the opposite leg.

It is important to always stretch both sides of the body.  If you do one action to stretch in one direction, it is a good idea to do the same thing in the other direction or on the other side of the body.  This keeps the body in balance and avoids injury.

Some nights I will go back and forth, with some other stretches mixed in to balance the body, until I can feel that my body and mind are ready for bed.

Next time you find yourself tossing and turning in your bed and sleep seems far, far away, try this stretch and focus on breathing and the release of your hamstring. 

Stretch 2

Generally speaking, men tend to have tighter hamstrings than women.  If you walk into a yoga studio anywhere in the country that is offering a beginner yoga class you will see this difference clearly.  Most of the women are touching the floor and most of the men are hovering up at their knees.  With this in mind, it is important for men to avoid the temptation to push themselves too far with hamstring stretches.  Again, you slowly move to the point of feeling an enjoyable stretch and you hang out there.  The only award for pushing yourself too far is the limp you will be walking with the next day when you push to the point of pain.

Toe touches are quite simple and everyone is aware of how to do them.  I like to start out with a wide stance and slowly bend down towards the ground.  When you reach the place of "the stretch" it is tempting to push from that place towards the ground.  It is as if we all have a cruel gym teacher in our heads telling us to "touch the floor!"  Instead, I like the image of slowly floating down.  If we hang out at the place where our hamstrings are stretching and breathe, we will notice a slow floating action take place where we effortlessly move closer to the floor. 

After mixing in some other stretches, I will come back to this stretch and move my feet slightly closer together for the next "float down towards the ground".


I have focused here on one particular body part in relation to yoga/stretching.  Of course, there are many other stretches that focus on other muscles and groups of muscles and a good yoga/stretching practice covers the body in its entirety. 

If you have an interest in further information/guidance on practices such as this, feel free to email me at presentmomentgolf@gmail.com.  I am also in discussions with a yoga teacher in the New York area to offer a golf & yoga retreat at some point in the coming year.  Check back for updates to my 2013 schedule of appearances.

Enjoy the walk in the park,

Steve