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Rob D
Rob D's picture
Yoga as Supplementary Training

<lurking mode: off>

Hey everyone - How many of you (if any) do yoga as a way to further train outside of the dojo? I came to karate rather late in life (started two years ago when I was 44 years old) and I do like to think of myself as being in shape (remember, "round" *is* a shape). So I am learning/training while at the same time trying to regain some of the balance I had in my youth as well as lose weight.

On the surface, yoga seems like a good way to further train, lose weight, meditate, etc. but I wanted to check with people who have tried it before and get your opinions.

Thanks!

Rob

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

I’m not sure that legitimate practitioners of yoga would regards my bastardised abomination of it as yoga … but I certainly make use of the basic postures in my stretching. I’ve found it to be very useful as the whole body approach sits well with me as opposed the martial artist’s obsession with stretching just the inner thighs and the backs of the legs for those high kicks ;-) Definitely something for us all to consider. There’s also a muscle control and strengthening element that serves us well too. It’s also a nice way to unwind and for that alone it’s something to consider.

All the best,

Iain

Rob D
Rob D's picture

Thank you so much for the reply, Iain. I was fairly certain that it would be a benefit and not a hindrance but, since I am still quite new, I wanted to seek out the opinion of those who have been doing this much longer.

Rob

Chikara Andrew
Chikara Andrew's picture

I have recently brought yoga into my training regime and it has been something of a revalation for me.

I have for years struggled with a muscular imbalance in my hips caused by years of training in fencing which developed a very one sided flexibility in my hips. Over the years I tried many different stretching regimes including Tom Kurz but with little sucess.

The pace and concentration in Yoga has made me consider my body in a very different way making me aware of where my genuine problems lie. Its very easy in karate to allow your body to compensate for defecenies in certain areas. The knees and back can often compensate (and not in a good way) for poor range of motion in the hips.

Additionally I see alot of parrallels in Vinyasa Yoga practice where movements flow with inhalation and exhalation that you see in kata, most obviously in Sanchin and Tensho.

Andrew