Become a NESTA Certified Sport Yoga Instructor

Yoga Built for Moving Better and Feeling Better

Sport Yoga brings together the path of yoga and the science of human movement. You learn the postures, why they work, and how to adapt them for each student, so you can lead classes that build strength, power, endurance, stability and mobility as well as flexibility.

• The path of yoga, including the Eight Limbs and the meaning of Sthira and Sukha
• Movement science: the kinetic chain, how the body naturally moves and the energy systems
• Sport Yoga postures with progressions and regressions
• Class design for athletes and anyone who wants to move better

Movement Science Taught in the Course

Flexibility

Flexibility is extending and contracting the muscle tissues, joints, and ligaments into a greater range of motion accepted by the nervous system. The flexibility of the individual depends on the range of motion at the specific tissue their own nervous system allows at that moment. To increase flexibility overtime, students keep returning back to the specific ranges of motion to communicate to their body to accept that angle of flexion or extension. The tissues are able to expand into new ranges of motion and increase passive flexibility. The tissue is capable of moving into that range of motion, and might not have control there.

Mobility

Mobility is active neuromuscular control of the range of motion within the muscle tissue, joints, and ligaments. The nervous system not only accepts the range of motion, but it also has the capability of neuromuscular engagement in the position. It is important to note the distinction between passive flexibility and active mobility. By training active mobility, and gaining nervous system control over ranges of motion, students gain flexibility as well. By contrast, increasing passive flexibility does not increase active mobility. As a Sport Yoga instructor, know your intention for your class and the achievable outcome you would like your students to work towards and create vocal cues accordingly.

Strength

Strength is increasing the load capacity of the tissue to increase force output, the lactic energy system. Strength is the load-bearing capacity of the tissues and can be challenged and progressed with external weights, gravity, and bodyweight. The capability of the muscular tissue to handle and function under the load capacity improves with repetition and challenging the nervous system to perform a little more each time. In Sport Yoga classes, strength is a focus that can allow students to gain more control over their own body, and develop an understanding of their strength capacity, and how to challenge it in a safe, progressive manner to allow for strength increase over time.

Power

Power is the dynamic, alactic energy system. It is called alactic because it consists of the anaerobic energy system that produces energy prior to lactic build-up. Power is your ability to increase muscle fiber recruitment and force output in a short duration of time to create an explosive, powerful movement. It is the fastest movement you can experience up to about 12 seconds of time. This allows you to create a strong, reactive strength in your body, which can help with things such as preventing you from falling, or creating impressive, dynamic athletic movement!

Endurance

Endurance is the aerobic energy system, that utilizes oxygen to produce energy. It gives you the ability to move your body for an extended period of time. This benefits you because it helps your body uphold a consistent amount of energy output over time. In Sport Yoga classes, this can be done by creating breath-to-movement postures that flow from one pose to the next, just enough to challenge the aerobic capacity of your students.

Stability

Stability is the proprioceptive neuromuscular control of the body to isometrically hold a posture. This requires attentive awareness of the position of the body and engaging the amount of muscular effort needed to maintain stillness. Throughout the Sport Yoga postures, stability holds can range from subtle to challenging, depending upon what range of motion the tissues are in and the duration of the posture hold. Postures that practice stability can help the student improve the relationship to their body, brain and muscle communication, and balance.