Shoshana Hebshi

Yoga is great for improving flexibility, but it also builds a strong and calm mind. For these reasons, it’s no surprise that athletes are increasingly turning to yoga to round out their training. Here are five yoga poses for athletes who want to improve flexibility, core strength and mental focus.

One of the many benefits of yoga is its capacity to build physical strength and mental fortitude. As our bodies sustain and flow through poses, we can get so lost in our breath and movement that we forget our muscles are hard at work. In nearly every yoga pose, our core is fired up, helping us move seamlessly from Downward Facing Dog to Warrior II to Triangle Pose. Once you start paying more attention to your core in yoga, you’ll notice how activated it is (or should be) in each pose.

Many people establish an exercise routine to get into better physical shape. Beyond appearances, though, exercise benefits the mind and body in myriad ways you can't see in the mirror (or in a selfie). 20 minutes per day is all you need to reap these benefits of exercise!

Yoga is a great way to alleviate the stiffness and pain associated with joint aging and arthritis. Here are three poses you can offer your clients to help ease the joint pain that often comes with aging.

When it comes to fitness, less may be better than more—but only if you’re hitting the right intensity level. Learn how to maximize your strength and cardio levels and get faster on the bike by adding one or two high-intensity workouts per week.

Shoulders are a naturally mobile joint, making them prone to injury. These yoga poses can both strengthen and release tension in the shoulder muscles, helping to increase stability and decrease the risk of injury.

Before you head out on your first group cycling ride, here are some hard-and-fast rules to help you maximize your safety and enjoyment.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) and yoga may seem diametrically opposed, but could these two forms of exercise actually be a great complement to one another? Learn how a yoga practice could enhance and deepen HIIT workouts, and give this sample yoga routine—designed with HIIT athletes in mind—a try.

If you’re an endurance athlete looking to improve your race performance, low-intensity workouts—exercises that keep you at a relatively low heart rate for a prolonged period of time—are the key to building your endurance. Learn about the 80/20 rule and why running more slowly can ultimately help you run faster.

It can feel daunting trying to squeeze in one more thing into an already overcrowded schedule, but establishing and committing to a yoga practice does not have to require a lot of time each day. Learn how you can reap the many benefits of a yoga practice, even if you only have an extra 10 minutes a day.

Tight IT bands—those long pieces of connective tissue that run along the outsides of the legs—can be symptomatic of imbalances or weaknesses in other parts of the legs or hips. Yoga, when practiced with proper alignment and body awareness, is effective for finding those imbalances and correcting them. Use these five poses as part of a larger yoga practice to stretch your IT bands and balance your body.

Yoga is a great way to counterbalance the areas most fatigued or tightened by running—the hips, hamstrings and calves—and helps your body recover from your efforts. This yoga sequence hits all those areas and includes some essential core work as well.

Through deep breathing, long stretches and relaxing postures, yoga can help induce a good night’s sleep so you feel rested and ready for the day that lies ahead. Here’s a simple yoga sequence that is easy to do right before bed.