Yoga and Martial Arts....

Spinedoc

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So, curious, I did a search and couldn't find this, but how many of you supplement your Martial Arts training with Yoga?

If so, what style? Vinyasa, Iyengar, Ashtanga, etc.etc.?

I know renowned BJJ/Aikido/Judo black belt Roy Dean is an avid practitioner of Ashtanga yoga. I personally practice Vinyasa flow yoga a couple times per week, usually over the lunch hour.....

Flexibility as we age is paramount, and I am definitely not as flexible at 45 as I was when I was 19. Flexibility helps to encourage proper form and movement, and helps prevent injury.

Just curious as to others on here?

So, do you practice Yoga, and if so, what style, and why?
 

Xue Sheng

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Over the years I have supplemented with, and have some training in, Kripalu yoga and Power yoga. But these days I simply say yoga. If pushed for a "style" label I will use the one my last teacher used and say Hatha.

I train yoga these days for flexibility, joint mobility and strength.
 

geezer

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Years back there was a thread on yoga in the martial arts and Bill Mattocks had some interesting posts that I thought were very informative. One thing Bill noted is that the hatha yoga varieties most widely practiced today are not nearly as ancient as people think. Another thing he shared was how hatha yoga can cause some very serious injuries. Here's the thread (Bill's post with additional links is #3):

is yoga considered a form of martial arts ?
 

Xue Sheng

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Years back there was a thread on yoga in the martial arts and Bill Mattocks had some interesting posts that I thought were very informative. One thing Bill noted is that the hatha yoga varieties most widely practiced today are not nearly as ancient as people think. Another thing he shared was how hatha yoga can cause some very serious injuries. Here's the thread:

is yoga considered a form of martial arts ?

Any yoga can cause some very serious injuries, that is why you need a good teacher (like martial arts ;)) and you also need to check your ego when you start. Jumping into advanced poses to quickly or trying to stretch to far will always, always hurt you. Example. My Kripalu teacher was good, but then Kripalu is a bit more gentle that Power Yoga. My Power Yoga teacher was not so good, but then he was not really a teacher either, just a friend who had trained power yoga. My Hatha teacher was excellent, but her background was certified in 2 styles of Yoga, trained in 3 and was also a Licensed Yoga Therapist.

If you want another good look at things Yoga and how old or new something is look to thing written by Georg Feuerstein.
 
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Tames D

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I'm not as serious about Yoga as I'd like to be. I practice Hatha Yoga through the P90X program. Flexibility and breath control are my reasons. I'd like to expand this training by hooking up with a Yoga trainer.
 

jks9199

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We have an integral yoga system in Bando -- but I admit I don't work with it nearly as much as I should. The system has been described as a "peasant yoga", in part focused on restoring and healing damage done through manual labor, daily life, and martial arts training.
 

geezer

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Any yoga can cause some very serious injuries...

Injuries from all types of yoga? Even raja yoga and bhakti yoga? ...Just worth pointing out that the word yoga doesn't necessarily apply to physical exercises and assuming positions or asanas at all. It applies to a wide variety of meditative and religious practices ultimately directed at spiritual enlightenment (samadhi).

I find it interesting that the sanskrit word yoga is closely related in sound and meaning to the English word yoke (which in Middle English would have been pronounced something like "yok-eh").

It's also related to the Latin root jugum, or to join, and Latin rooted words in English like conjugal (= with +yoga???), or as in conjugal bliss which I certainly never experienced when I tried a bit of yoga back in my college days. But I digress... :confused:
 

Xue Sheng

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Injuries from all types of yoga? Even raja yoga and bhakti yoga? ...Just worth pointing out that the word yoga doesn't necessarily apply to physical exercises and assuming positions or asanas at all. It applies to a wide variety of meditative and religious practices ultimately directed at spiritual enlightenment (samadhi).

Yes I realize that, I should have been more clear.... and I think you actually understood what I meant...but then maybe you didn't...sorry.... I am easily annoyed today so I will leave it at that....

I find it interesting that the sanskrit word yoga is closely related in sound and meaning to the English word yoke (which in Middle English would have been pronounced something like "yok-eh").

It's also related to the Latin root jugum, or to join, and Latin rooted words in English like conjugal (= with +yoga???), or as in conjugal bliss which I certainly never experienced when I tried a bit of yoga back in my college days. But I digress... :confused:

It also calls a male yoga practitioner a yogi and that is also a cartoon bear

img-yogiBottom.png
 

Rough Rider

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I supplement my Taekwondo with Yoga, and it really helps my flexibility. Style? I dunno; whatever they teach at the YMCA.
 

Skullpunch

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I practice yoga 4-5x per week (I try everyday but I'm usually not THAT good about it). Mostly vinyasa and/or restorative. I'd be here all day if I tried to go into detail on all of the ways it's helped me but here's the abridged version - everything from pain relief to supplementing my martial arts training to helping me overcome depression and alcoholism. I can't say with 100% certainty that I would even be here today without it.
 

crazydiamond

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I practice 1-2 times per week. I suppose you might call it slow flow Vinyasa. I did it for a year before I even started MMA because I knew I needed to get more flexible. It helps me alot. We actually do some yoga like moves in martial arts classes as warm ups some times I will say "Pigenon Pose !" and my MA teacher will look at me and say "this is just stretch my teacher showed me for warmups I don't know what it is called" :)

I explored classes and also many videos for home use. I am a big guy and never found a class that fit for me - but I eventually stumbled on a video teacher and routines that worked for a newbie big guy like me.

They also have yoga specifically developed for martial arts - have that one as well - but its a bit much for me.
 

Tired_Yeti

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Studied Kundalini yoga in college as an elective. Now I don't practice yoga per se but I do a stretch routine daily. It's pretty much the routine I made up and have used for the last 20 years. I used to be pretty serious into weight lifting so I developed a routine that worked for me and have pretty much been using that.
I do sometimes do a little yoga but nothing in depth now (no Breath of Fire or holding the Archer Pose, etc.)

I'm a big fan of yoga. Personally, I'm not one of those guys who thinks you can get all you need just from martial arts. I study martial arts for hand-to-hand fighting skills. Strength and endurance training is separate and flexibility is separate.

That's not to say that the challenge of martial arts cannot increase strength, endurance, or flexibility. Only that I don't study martial arts for those purposes.


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Tired_Yeti

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I practice 1-2 times per week. I suppose you might call it slow flow Vinyasa. I did it for a year before I even started MMA because I knew I needed to get more flexible. It helps me alot. We actually do some yoga like moves in martial arts classes as warm ups some times I will say "Pigenon Pose !" and my MA teacher will look at me and say "this is just a stretch my teacher showed me for warmups I don't know what it is called" :)
You could remind him that "now you do". Now he could use the proper terminology. Of course, that depends what kind of guy he is. Some people don't like to be told stuff like that or don't like to expand themselves into other areas.

They also have yoga specifically developed for martial arts....
The only yoga I need for martial arts is YOGA FLAME!
9868b39fb8fb57a001deac4ad2c3cd61.gif




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Gerry Seymour

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So, curious, I did a search and couldn't find this, but how many of you supplement your Martial Arts training with Yoga?

If so, what style? Vinyasa, Iyengar, Ashtanga, etc.etc.?

I know renowned BJJ/Aikido/Judo black belt Roy Dean is an avid practitioner of Ashtanga yoga. I personally practice Vinyasa flow yoga a couple times per week, usually over the lunch hour.....

Flexibility as we age is paramount, and I am definitely not as flexible at 45 as I was when I was 19. Flexibility helps to encourage proper form and movement, and helps prevent injury.

Just curious as to others on here?

So, do you practice Yoga, and if so, what style, and why?
A late-comer to the thread. I practice Vinyasa flow right after I teach my Saturday class. I started it because I'd lost so much flexibility during a period where I was more sedentary over a few years. It has also helped me improve my balance, which is hampered by an old toe injury that has gotten worse.
 

Kickboxer101

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Nothing against yoga and I'm sure it has it's benefits but I've never had real interest in doing a full class of it I'm sure it's great and all and maybe when I start to get older i will along with tai chi which I may do when I can't be as physical with training but I used to do some on the wii fit balance before my damm balance board broke lol.
 

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