I enjoy a game of tennis myself and used to spend many a happy summer holiday at the local park with friends or my brothers knocking balls back and forth (and quite frequently over the fence and outside the court) while listening to the sounds of Fleetwood Mac.
Since then my practice has been sporadic to say the least. I did attempt to get back into it a couple of years ago when a colleague and myself would hit the outdoor courts after work, but then it quite often ended up with less tennis playing and more sitting in a beer garden.
I'm still an avid watcher of Wimbledon though and got to thinking about how yoga could be beneficial for tennis players. For any sports person or athlete, yoga can offer a great complimentary practice: helping to build strength, stamina, balance and flexibility. And that's before we even get onto the non physical benefits of better concentration, focus and mind control.
So here are a couple of my favourite poses for opening up the back and shoulders which are both areas which can suffer stress and tightness.
Gomukhasana (cow faced pose)
Sit in Dandasana (Staff Pose), then bend your knees and put your feet on the floor.
Slide your left foo t under the right knee to the outside of the right hip. Then cross your right leg over the left, stacking the right knee on top of the left, and bring the right foot to the outside of the left hip. Sit evenly on the sitting bones.
Place the left arm behind the back and the right arm over the right shoulder. Try to clasp the fingers of both hands behind the back.
Bring the raised elbow behind the head so that the head presses against the inside of the raised arm.
The spine should be erect and the head straight. Stay in this position for up to two minutes.
Unclasp the hands, straighten the legs and repeat with the left knee uppermost and the left arm over the left shoulder.
Adho Mukha Svanasan (downward facing dog)
Come onto the floor on your hands and knees with the knees directly below your hips and your hands slightly forward of your shoulders. Spread your palms and turn your toes under.
Exhale and lift your knees away from the floor keeping them slightly bent and lift the sitting bones toward the ceiling. Stretch your heels onto or down toward the floor and straighten your knees but don't lock them.
Lift up through the arms to the tops of the shoulders. Firm your shoulder blades against your back, then widen them and draw them toward the tailbone.
Keep the head between the upper arms looking towards the knees.