Teaching Power Yoga for Sports

Show your athletes how yoga can propel their performance to the next level. Teaching Power Yoga for Sports prepares you to develop and teach yoga programs that are directly relatable to specific sports and player positions, resulting in more resilient athletes who consistently compete at the top of their game.

Author Gwen Lawrence shares her approach, developed through years of work with sports’ top professional teams; NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS, and MLB coaches; and elite athletes. She takes into account the athlete’s training cycle, the position they play, and common movements and injuries in the sport. In this book, she offers detailed, easy-to-implement instruction on the following:

- Safe and effective poses that complement common movements in sport

- Yoga routines, organized by sport and season

- Ways to spot and fix posture and alignment imbalances before injury occurs

- Five restorative sequences to facilitate recovery and long-term stability

- Six facets of Power Yoga for Sports: balance, strength, flexibility, focus, breathing, and mental toughness

- Mindfulness tools for developing focus, clarity, and determination

Exclusive to this book are invaluable sport-specific sequences for athletes participating in a range of sports: football, soccer, basketball, baseball and softball, hockey, lacrosse, volleyball, wrestling, golf, tennis and racket sports, skiing, swimming, running, cycling, and mixed martial arts. For each sport, you’ll find the top five poses that most closely mimic that sport’s movements, along with accompanying images that compare each pose to an athlete in action.

Gain valuable teaching and coaching skills you can immediately put into practice with your athletes. Learn to train the whole body and mind with powerful yoga poses, breathing techniques, and mental focus activities. With Teaching Power Yoga for Sports you will develop balance, strength, flexibility, and performance in your athletes and help them thrive in a long and successful sporting career.

Gwen Lawrence, BS LMT E-RYT500, has been the team yoga coach for a number of professional sport teams, including the New York Giants, New York Knicks, New York Yankees, NYCFC, New York Redbulls, and New York Rangers. She is also an adjunct professor at Manhattanville College. She has been in the fitness industry for over 20 years and is an entrepreneur, business owner, massage therapist, yoga school owner, curriculum writer, speaker, yoga coach, author, and video producer. She earned her bachelor of science degree in art and dance, and she is a licensed massage therapist, registered yoga teacher, and registered yoga therapist. She is a member of the Yoga Teachers Association and Yoga Alliance.

Lawrence has been influential in gaining acceptance of yoga as an integral part of athlete training in the world of professional sports. She developed the Power Yoga for Sports program(TM) over a decade ago, and it was named Best Sports Medicine Innovation by ESPN Magazine. She created and teaches mindfulness programming (The Way of the Mindful Athlete); clients of the course include the coaches and players from the New York Giants and New York Knicks, New York state teachers, NCAA college athletes, and elite high school athletes. Another project close to her heart is her commitment to working with military veterans and helping them cope with PTSD and ease reentry into civilian life.

Lawrence has presented training workshops in more than 18 countries and 28 states. She is an official spokesperson for Gaia TV, a two-time ambassador for Lululemon, and ambassador for Kulae, Prismsport, and Torq-King. Her writing has appeared in Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Fitness Magazine, Shape Magazine, Yoga Journal, and Details magazine, as well as on Shape.com, ESPN.com, and ESPNW.com, where she also serves a monthly contributor. She makes regular appearances on NBC’s Today show, The Dr. Oz Show, Good Day New York, and many TV news and national radio shows, and she is cohost of her own show, The Better Man Show.