WelcomeOmDC

Today’s guest post comes from local tennis player and yogi, Penelope Bell. She’s got a personal story to tell and hopes it might inspire you to apply yogic principles to your game (whatever game that might be). For more, consider signing up for Circle Yoga’s upcoming workshop, Yoga to Improve Your Game, this Sunday from 1:30 – 3:30. Enjoy Penny’s story!
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For the past five or so years, I have played in a US Tennis Association (USTA) doubles league, and while my tennis has improved, what I have grown to love most about the game is the joy, camaraderie and comfort of playing on a team. I am always happy to run into a fellow teammate at a party, because rather like comrades in combat, our shared triumphs and losses create a bond that goes beyond friendship, even beyond words.
 
Yoga is another activity I have discovered in the past five years, and while the parallels between yoga and tennis are not obvious (it’s not as if you can break the tension of a tiebreak by practicing a relaxing forward bend), I have found that my yoga practice yields surprising benefits for my tennis game, and vice versa.
 
One of the great joys of yoga, of course, is the lack of judgment and competitiveness involved, while tennis is a sport that offers ample opportunity for introspection, and frustration, which often make the difference between winning and losing a match.
 
Then there is the problem of distraction. I have lost count of the number of times I have lost points because I have been prematurely fantasizing about victory, or what I’m going to have for dinner after I get home.
 
This is where I find my yoga practice helps. Yoga teaches not only physical but also mental awareness, which helps me notice when my attention is starting to wander. At the same time, I have learned not to beat myself up for those lapses, but merely to lead my attention gently back to what’s happening on the court. Often, when I find it particularly hard to concentrate, I tell myself just to focus my attention on the ball – an instruction my brain somehow finds simple enough to drown out all the competing voices in my head.
 
Yoga also teaches me to set an intention for my practice, which is something I now bring to my tennis game. Now, when I serve, I try and think about where I want to place the ball, with the result that I can often ‘construct’ a point successfully. Even if the ball doesn’t go where I want it to, I find the act of setting an intention is a great way to focus and calm the mind for the play at hand.
 
While it’s remarkable how often these yoga practices help me dig my way out of a tennis hole, there are still days when nothing seems to work. Despite reminding myself to breathe before I toss the ball to serve, or to maintain an open mind towards our opponents, I still lose my share of matches.
 
So while I’d like to say yoga has given me zen-like equanimity about winning or losing, I have to confess this isn’t true. Winning still feels great, and losing sucks. But at least my yoga practice has helped me to recognize this too, so that I don’t falsely attribute my post-game euphoria or depression to something my husband or kids did or didn’t do later on. And every time I play a point where everything comes together, and I feel like ‘I am the ball,’, I enjoy the feeling for what it is. There’s simply no release quite like it – except, perhaps during yoga.

Learn more about how yoga can improve your tennis, basketball, soccer or other game at:

Yoga to Improve Your Game
Sunday, October 24
1:30-3:30pm
Circle Yoga
3838 Northampton St. NW, Washington DC 20015

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Penelope Bell is a marketing consultant and freelance writer living in Chevy Chase, MD.