Vrikshasana

Bhramari pranayama

Sarvangasana

Modern cricket is an extremely competitive sport, and the modern cricketer is an extremely fit athlete.
 
With fitness regimens becoming increasingly important to budding cricketers as well, it’s the right time to understand how yoga can benefit you as a player.

Cricket is unlike other sports  — no other sport sees a match go on for five days at a stretch, seven-eight hours daily! The amount of concentration and mental stamina needed would exhaust almost any other sportsperson.

Apart from having to deal with the physical exhaustion, cricketers also have to maintain mental focus during that period.

Test cricketers are often seen by sports fans as monk-like individuals. The feeling you get when you observe Sachin Tendulkar or Ricky Ponting bat, is as if they have completely blocked out distractions and are in a  world of their own. 

Sportspersons practise for long hours daily, for years. All this practice helps so that when they play on the field, the body, the mind and the instincts react as one to the present challenge.

Whether it’s a batsman simply flowing into a drive as a response to an over-pitched delivery, or a fielder diving towards the ball — these are all instinctual movements.
 
The more calm and crystal-clear the player’s focus, the more at ease he will be to play to the situation.

This is a space wherein thoughts seem to cease and instinct guides you — of course if you have not spent enough time in the nets, then the muscles have not been taught the movements that they should be performing and will not respond as they are required to.

But once that is taken care of, yoga can help you get to that space.

  Inverted Postures 

The yogis realised that increasing blood flow to the head had many benefits — it induces the mind to remain calm and also sharpens the thinking processes:

Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand)

Lie down on your back. Raise your hips and legs off the floor and support your hips and back with your palms (keeping the elbows on the floor).
 
Hold this position and breathe slowly and deeply. If there is any discomfort in the neck area, release the posture immediately.

  Balancing postures 

Balancing asanas force the mind to focus, thereby driving away irrelevant thoughts.

Vrikshasana (Tree Pose)

Stand straight with your legs together. Bend one leg and bring foot to rest on inner thigh, close to groin.
 
Maintain balance by focusing on a point in front of you and raise arms to sides. Raise arms, keep straight, palms joined. Hold for 10 to 30 seconds. Repeat with other leg.

Veerbhadrasana 3

Stand with feet together, inhale and raise arms above head, palms together. Exhale and bend forward. Lift one leg up simultaneously. Keep head, arms, trunk and leg in one straight, horizontal line.
 

Veerbhadrasana 3