Lions and Giants among devotees
“We also have helped the players with respect to becoming mentally focused while doing breathing routines ...”
ť JEN HAMILTON
CEO, OXYGEN YOGA AND FITNESS
Former B.C. Lions kicker Paul McCallum swears by yoga.
McCallum, 45, started practising yoga in 1997.
Today, he attends weekly classes in deep stretching at Oxygen Yoga and Fitness in Langley.
When he was on the road with the Lions and unable to get to classes, he “constantly” did yoga stretches, he says.
Yoga practice had improved his game and given him “surprisingly decent flexibility,” says McCallum, who played with the Lions from 2006 until his release earlier this month.
“Flexibility is the secret,” he says.
Oxygen Yoga CEO Jen Hamilton has just partnered with the Lions in an initiative in which players are invited to attend any class that will help their play.
Oxygen has also worked with the Vancouver Giants hockey team for three years, offering stretching classes to lengthen players’ muscles to help them avoid injury.
“We also have helped the players with respect to becoming mentally focused while doing breathing routines and exercises to encourage them to use the power of their breath to calm their minds and become grounded,” she says.
The Lions’ and Giants’ embrace of yoga has attracted other sports teams, as well as soccer and lacrosse players, swimmers, dancers and runners, she says.
Athletes’ participation has in turn boosted yoga’s credibility among men less physically active, she says.
Hamilton has also reached out to men by intertwining other fitness practices with yoga.
“We add elements of weight training, cardiovascular activities, Pilates, boot camp and crosstraining,” she says.
“People get the best of all worlds.”