Athletes / Teams
As a former college athlete, I understand the physical and mental toll that high-stakes competition has on the body. Yoga is now being used by college and professional sports teams as a way to help athletes improve their game. Yoga is highly beneficial for every part of an athlete’s training, including pre-season, in-season, and post-season recovery.
Highly recommend Elevate & Play! Michele is creative and thoughtful and her yoga is truly a team-building highlight during our preseason. Our Field Hockey team looks forward to it each year! She brings humor and a lightheartedness and welcomes all levels while she guides us through individual and partner poses. Typically ending in a group activity, our team reaps the benefits of a session of stretching, breathing, and playing.
- Cari Metlzer
Red Hook Varsity Field Hockey Coach
Yoga for Athletes is NOT Athletic Yoga
How does yoga help athletes?
• Enhances recovery from injury
• Improves body and breath awareness
• Prevents injury
• Improves movement quality
• Increases flexibility
• Builds strength
• Facilitates physical and mental balance
• Counterbalances sport-specific chronic movement patterns
• Supports most commonly used joints and muscle groups in the sport
• Partner and group poses create team unity and trust
• Breathing techniques facilitate improved breathing capacity
• Stress management
• Enhances focus
• Unlocks athletes’ potential
• Promotes better sleep, so athletes can perform at their peak
Our high school volleyball team had an amazing experience working with Michele! She is professional, knowledgeable, and incredibly supportive. She tailored the session to meet our specific needs as athletes, helping us improve flexibility, focus, and recovery. Highly recommend her to any sports team or group looking to enhance performance and overall well-being through yoga!
— Stacie Totman
Red Hook Varsity Volleyball Coach
What are professional athletes saying about how yoga helps their game?
“(Yoga) helped tremendously. It’s about the smaller muscles you don’t think about when you’re doing the bi’s and tri’s vanity workout… It’s about the muscle stabilizers. It gives you a different kind of strength. You may go up under the bench and move a lot of weight with a lot less effort and energy being used. It’s a game changer.”
– Mike Daniels, Cincinnati Bengals (Source: CNN Health)
“If I hadn’t done yoga, I’d be out of the league by now.”
– Amani Toomer, NY Giants
(Source: espn.com)
“I was introduced to yoga 10 years ago after my Rookie season and it has helped me enhance my overall fitness and mental health…”
– Kevin Love,
Minnesota Timberwolves
(Source: @kevinlove Instagram)
Michele came to multiple Red Hook Field Hockey practices to help build strength in our athletes and to teach us how to work together. Each time she came, the instruction was well thought out and tailored to our needs, like sore bodies or team building. She has worked with our modified, JV and varsity teams. We can’t recommend her enough and eagerly await the next time she comes to practice!
- Emma Brooks
Modified Red Hook Field Hockey Coach
Take it from an Expert:
“Power on the field is not just strength— the power equation that I know is strength plus flexibility. Athletes in general are so taxed and tired and put in so much training that the first thing they cut out is flexibility.”
-Gwen Lawrence, yoga instructor for the NFL who also works with members of MLB’s New York Knicks and Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls.
(Source: espn.com)
Yoga Coach sessions are developed to support sport-specific movements while also helping to mitigate physical imbalances within the body caused by repetitive movements. This helps athletes ELEVATE their physical mobility so they can PLAY their sport.