Benefits

• Enhances flexibility
• Enhances gracefulness
• Improves posture and body positioning on the ice
• Decreases risk of injury
• Balance
• Total body muscular endurance
• Teaches body awareness

Yoga for Figure Skaters

• Poses are based on traditional vinyasa flows and figure skating elements
• Begin with a warm-up consisting of breathing exercises, rhythmic limbering and dynamic stretching
• Emphases on balancing the spinal joint actions of flexion, extension, lateral flexion, and rotation
• Warm-up movements include working the large muscle groups through traditional flow, resulting in an elevated core body temperature and heart rate
  • Plié squats, chair pose, sun salutations
• Standing balance poses that mimic the elements such as including Standing Big Toe Hold (spiral variation), and Dancer Pose (catch-foot or Biellmann position)
• Standing strength poses from the dominant side of the body, utilizing principles of dynamic tension and isometric contraction, increasing the total body muscular endurance
  • Warrier I & II, Reverse Warrior, Triangle
• Balance postures for the opposite side of the body, to challenge and mimic advanced skating elements such as the layover and spin/spiral positions
• Upper body conditioning, inversions
  • Shoulder stand, head stand, Dolphin, modified hand stand (forearm balance), hand stand
• Finishing elements include targeted core strengthening exercises and deep static stretches
  • Static and flowing poses that target the rectus and transverse abdominals, obliques, erector spinae, as well as pelvis muscles
  • Gate pose, plank, side plank, modified half moon
  • Stretches to include frontal and sagittal splits, seated wide angle side bend, lying spinal twist
• Physical benefits (increases in extension, balance, and core strength) + relaxation, psychological well-being, development of an effective competitive mindset