Today's post is inspired by my brilliant instructors and our work at our first rehearsal camp this past weekend.
This year in the Govenaires, my instructors are incorporating yoga into our stretching warm up. There are a lot of reasons they changed the warm up, but what makes me the most happy is that now I do get to do yoga before guard every time I hit the field, setting me up for success on so many levels in rehearsals and shows.
The first time I did yoga before drum corps was several years ago. We were on tour, I was still in the drum line, we had a show later that day, and everyone had terrible bus body - and I was NOT looking forward to wearing a drum for 8 hours. One of the women in our color guard lead a beginners yoga stretching workshop before rehearsal, which the whole corps attended. By the end of our yoga session, I noticed the bus body was gone, my mind felt clear, and I had a ton of energy. I couldn't believe how well it prepared not only my body but also my mind for drum corps. I was clear headed, focused, and found myself wanting to do yoga before drum corps every day.
Now I can sit here and tell you all the reasons yoga is a good thing to do with your guard based on how it makes ME feel, but to be a little more convincing I did some actual research. I can FEEL the difference that yoga makes in my body and mind, helping me prepare for the hard work of colorguard. But how is it really possible that by doing yoga stretches with your BODY, it helps focus your MIND?
Well, yoga is not just a physical practice. It is also a mental and spiritual practice. It is a form of meditation. It is aimed to unite the mind, body and spirit. Yoga originated in ancient India and is a science that has been practiced for thousands of years. The word yoga is associated with meditative practices in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. It consists of ancient principals, theories, and observations about the mind and body connection. These principals, theories and observations are now being proven by modern medicine.
One of the most interesting things I found during my research is a list of 77 health benefits of yoga. You can view the detailed list along with explanations here, but to give you an overview:
Benefits within the body: decreased blood pressure, lower pulse rate, improved circulation, lower respiratory rate, higher cardiovascular endurance, improved organs, improved gastrointestinal functions, stronger immune system, higher pain tolerance, and more efficient metabolism.
Benefits outside the body: delay aging, improve posture, strength, energy, weight control, sleep, balance, integrated function of the body, body awareness, core strength, and improved sexuality.
Emotional benefits: improves mood, stress reduction, reduced anxiety, reduced depression, self-acceptance, self-control, mind-body connection, positive outlook on life, reduced hostility, improved concentration, better memory, sharpens attention, improves social skills, calmness.
Body Chemistry benefits: lowers cholesterol, boosted immunity/lymphatic system, lowers blood sugar, reduces sodium, controlled hormone secretion, lower levels of triglycerides, increase in red blood cell count, increased vitamin C.
Exercise health benefits: Low risk of injury during yoga, simulates the parasympathetic nervous system, increases muscle tone, simulates the subcortex of the brain which promotes well-being, reduced oxygen consumption leading to a more efficient warm up, natural and controlled breathing, balance of opposing muscle groups, self-building rather than competitive, improved joint range of motion, improved hand-eye coordination, improved dexterity, improved reaction time, improved endurance, increased depth perception.
Disease Prevention: Heart disease, osteoporosis, alzheimer’s, type II diabetes.
Symptom Reduction or Alleviation: Carpal tunnel syndrome, asthma, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, cancer, muscular dystrophy, migraines, scoliosis, chronic bronchitis, epilepsy, sciatica, obsessive compulsive disorder, constipation, allergies, menopause, back pain.
Whew! That's a lot of benefits. So I suppose it's easy to see how yoga can give you a better, stronger, more focused color guard.
After learning all this stuff it is easy to see why after my first session I felt so wonderful. I truly believe that yoga will make any guard better. In fact, I think it will make anyONE better at anything they do! So I guess the real question is not "why should my color guard do yoga?" it's "why shouldn't they?"
Sources:
The Nursing School Catalog
Wikipedia
ABC of yoga.com
