It's Coming Home - with the help of a yoga class!

With all the strenuous games and preparation for the Euro 2020 final this Sunday, England manager Gareth Southgate has called for cool heads and has turned to yoga to calm players’ minds. Perhaps we should take note of Gareth's methods - a bit of yoga at half time to calm our minds and nerves!

Yoga, specifically hot yoga, is an integral part of the England players’ training and recovery to help them cope with the intensity of tournament football. It makes the muscles looser, eases tension, and gets the heart pumping. Yoga is regarded as an excellent aid to muscle recovery and the addition of heat to the exercise helps.

Yoga creates a relaxing environment in which the players can stretch and wind down between games, which is great for both their physical and mental well-being..

Henderson, one of England's goalkeepers, explains the impact yoga has on the players - "It offers strong physical impact in a gentle way. Hot yoga is great for flexibility, strengthening, making the body more supple, helping the body recover. The biggest benefit can be mental as well as physical".

There are many other big name footballers who practice yoga as a calm and composed mind is something that football players need. There are many who’ve understood this and have sided along with yoga and meditation, to not just have a physically fit body, but a stronger and more peaceful mind. Names include Messi, Ronaldo, Beckham, Terry, Bale etc.

Ryan Giggs is a former football star and currently a football coach from Wales. He began yoga as he knew it was essential to prolong his football career. He explains - "yoga helps me train every day because it gives me the flexibility and the strength not only to play the game but to train as well". After embracing the muscle-strengthening, injury-preventing benefits of yoga, the Welshman prolonged his career to a stunning 23 years, helping him to win a total of 34 club trophies and rewrite the history books.

Ryan Giggs doesn’t just practice yoga and meditation but is also very vocal about the art. He has his own fitness DVD, where he trains his viewers on various yoga and fitness techniques. Click here for an example of his classes.

With all this in mind, it is clear that yoga has many health benefits as many elite athletes take part. At The Tree Room, we have regular yoga classes (including a mens yoga class) for you to take part in. The full timetable can be found here. Remember, you don’t have to be a professional or an elite athlete to take advantage of the benefits.