Yoga And Football

Daily it appears that Hinduism is waging its war against those who want to prevent it from occupying its rightful place in the world community.  The Christian churches in UK and the USA are denying the use of their premises for conducting yoga classes; the Christian churches in Slovenia are preventing yoga from being included in the school syllabus.  But no matter, Hinduism is coming out of the forced vanvas of many centuries.

In an interview with Giles Smith’s “Inner peace sweeping through Old Trafford as Keane swaps tantrums for tantra and tackles for charkas” (London Times 3rd Jan 2004), Roy Keane, the Manchester United captain, revealed that he has begun practising yoga. “There is me, Ryan (Giggs), Gary (Neville) and David Bellion, and every now and then another player will take it up,” the notorious United and former Ireland hard man said. “We try and do it twice a week, whenever the teacher is free. Physically it’s very demanding, but I think we are all feeling the benefits.”

How refreshing it is to know that some of the Premiership’s leading names are thinking holistically about their wellbeing and opening themselves up to the advantages that can accrue, both spiritually and physically, from integrating yoga into their personal fitness regimes. Wes Brown says: “Naturally, I was a bit uncertain when Roy took me aside after training one day and asked me if I had ever thought about achieving perfect stillness. To be honest, I thought he was still having a go at me for getting caught flat-footed by a long ball over the top up at Middlesbrough last season. Roy’s like that.

“In fact, the sessions have been an absolute revelation and the teacher has been great. It was a bit technical early on when she was up at the blackboard, explaining the positioning of the six chakras. But when she finally put some cones down and we got on with it, it clicked for me instantly. My favourite is probably the Shape of the Crouching Tortoise (Setu Ananda). It’s good for spiritual energy and the hamstrings.” Paul Scholes adds: “I’m a firm advocate now. I found the leg-warmers a bit itchy at first, but I soon got used to that. The leotard has loosened up nicely, too. You’ve got to be careful, though, and build up gradually. I definitely went at it a bit too hard in the early stages and I ended up straining a chakra. It put me out for a couple of months and the boss wasn’t best pleased.

“Ironically, though, when Roy persuaded the boss to join us a couple of weeks later, he picked up a niggle by attempting the Shape of the Goat (Aghvita Ananda) too early. You should always make sure you stretch properly first, especially with some of the more complicated animal shapes. “Overall, I find doing yoga definitely de-stresses me. Also, I’ve located my inner self, which is handy because it gives us a man over at set-plays.” According to Rio Ferdinand: “When you’re under the kind of pressure that footballers are under, 24-7, yoga becomes an invaluable release. I’ve learnt to turn inwards and focus using my third eye, which is extremely liberating.

No matter what is going on in the world around me, I can close down and be somewhere else altogether. Basically, it’s like discovering the Harvey Nichols inside yourself. I’d definitely like to spend some of the next eight months on an ashram in India. “Roy, as ever, is the inspiration. He really throws himself into it. In fact, you don’t want to go too near Roy when he’s doing his Shape of Warrior With The Conch Shell (Alfinghe Haalananda). He nearly put my third eye out. His Breath of Fire technique is pretty awesome, too. And you should see John O’Shea do his Position Of The Dog Mounting The Weather-vane (Lamb Pasandananda). It’s enough to bring tears to your eyes. And to his.” Eric Djemba Djemba maintains: “As a new arrival trying to find his feet at a big club, I definitely found it useful to have somewhere to go with some of my team-mates that was quiet, other than Carling Cup games. Yoga with Roy has taught me to find the sacred space. And the brilliant thing is that when you move into the sacred space, defenders rarely pick you up and you can cause them all sorts of problems. The difficulty I have with the other lads at the moment is that, although they have found their own sacred spaces, they haven’t necessarily found mine, so they can’t channel balls into it. But we’re working on that.”

Nicky Butt adds: “I’ve located a playfulness within myself that I never knew I had and, as I’ve made clear to the boss, I’m looking forward to incorporating that into my  performances on the field, if I ever get picked. “In fact, I’ve noticed that I’m much more aware generally. I can see people’s auras these days, which is nice. The boss, for instance, has a lovely one: bright orange, like the bar on an electric fire. I’d love to massage it one day, but the opportunity hasn’t come up. It will, though, because that’s the way the club is heading. “But the main thing I like about the yoga is that the vibe in the room while we’re doing it is so peaceful. You look across the room and there’s Mikal (Silvestre) doing his Ostrich of The Full Moon and Ruud (van Nistelrooy) in the Shape of the Horse, while Phil (Neville) greets the rising sun. It’s beautiful. And, to be fair, that’s not something we’ve had at United for a while — certainly not in the dressing-room. It’s quite hard locating your centre of stillness when you’re having to duck all the time.”