Why Yoga is GOAT for Academic Athletes
The Rise of YogaHall✍️
Study Hall+Yoga = Better students and Better athletes.
I consider myself more of an athlete now than I was in college. We all know those athletes that can just run with it, no matter what. I admire them, they’re special, perhaps Alphas in their own way. Though professional sports make them feel numerous, the reality is that they are few and far between. More frequently, there are the athletes who battle the physical, those that battle the mental, and those that battle them both
They say that sports are 90% mental. For me, it was always the latter — more like 98% mental. Now though I recognize the truth: unless you are the quintessential athlete mentioned above, sports are 100% mental. Before you get up in arms, think through this for a minute. Every breath, movement, or flexion your body has ever made originated in the brain.
Ever since being an overweight kid in a sports family, I’ve been interested in the body; I started reading Human Biochemistry in high school and took it a bit in college, but knew that I would never dive into it in the classical mainstream way. In truth, I’m not sure if I’ll dive into anything in the classical mainstream way. So I guess you can call this Alternative Athletics, but I’d just call it biology.
As I’ve left school and entered the “real” world I’ve become more deliberate in taking care of my brain, which then takes care of my body. The result has been quite dramatic, but it doesn’t have to follow college. The earlier the better.
🏋 I Run long or Lift heavy 5 days a week and do Yoga (1–3) ️🧘
but instead of blocks, I use a football.
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Study Hall ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
During my short stint in college athletics I remember there being very few students who actually use study hall well. In truth, it’s hard. These are your jungle buddies and you’re being asked to sit around and play abacus with them.
Hell, even at a pretty elite school, studying right is hard. Too much distraction, too little choice, too impersonal. I never did Yoga in college, but I damn well wish I did.
And I don’t mean it for the “spiritual effects” some enlightened folks feel. I mean it because it makes athletes feel damn good. Athletes of any kind work there bodies hard. Our lives are different from the Hunter Gatherer rest-when-I-want-to-rest biology we evolved for 200,000 years ago that Yuval Harari often speaks on. So we have to devise new ways for it to regenerate.
Each time you regenerate, your body learns to use less next time
The only way this will work is if the coaches go All in. If they don’t truly believe in it, then they probably are happy with “the way things are.” But the programs that want it, and more importantly want there kids to be happier, might give this a look:
The Birth of Yoga-Hall
Study Hall + Yoga = Better Student Athletes
Some of the coolest people in the world do Yoga. Lebron James, David Beckham, Kevin Love, Victor Cruz, Ray Lewis, Evan Longoria.
Why? Generally speaking, the humans who are able to be relaxed even in high pressure situations are the highest performers; this isn’t just athletics, but more so everything. (These are the elite athletes we discussed above)
I propose splitting Study Hall time into a blend of class time and Yoga.
Have no doubt, if you can get your kids to buy into it, there bodies will work better, their minds will work better, and the program will thrive academically and physically. But they have to buy in. And this means cutting out something that they Hate. Most young people won’t take to it or have the patience on their own. But, if you carve out something unimportant, and replace it with Yoga. They might. Because anything is better than that meeting or ceremony or event.
And then quite a few things will change.
Here’s an example (and another) I’ve enjoyed so you know I’m not full of shit
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