While yoga and football may seem unlikely bedfellows but it seems that more and more professionals are using the discipline to help improve their ball skills.

Upton Park is not a place associated with the finer points of spirituality - unless you consider Bobby Moore to be a guru - but David James, West Ham and England goalkeeper, has taken up yoga.  As with most sportsmen, he started following a knee ligament injury, which was caused during a World Cup match in 2001 and took him out of action for four months.

"I came to yoga as part of my rehabilitation process but quickly saw the benefit of an on going practice". David says'. "I know have regular sessions to keep my muscles flexible, my body aligned and my mind free from stress.! David James now does yoga two to three times a week when his regime allows.

Alion Freedman, David's yoga instructor says David is an unusual case.  "He is unique. You'd expect a footballer to be really stiff but David is really flexible.  He can even do poses that I can't do."

However, it seems the real person David has continued with his yoga sessions is as the physical aspect.  As a goalkeeper, you spend a lot of time standing on your own between the posts, usually suffering abuse from both your supporters and the other sides supporters.  Yoga helps you to ignore these outside distractions, allowing you to concentrate on defending the goal - maybe David Seaman should book in for a few sessions.

Footballers using yoga is nor just a UK phenomenon; American footballers have also discovered its benefits.  Ted Johnson, the middle linebacker for the New England Patriots, prepares for the adrenaline rush of playing in front of 60,000 fans not by running backs into the ground but by doing yoga.  He started because various injuries had effected flexibility in his upper body - a crucial part of the anatomy for an American player.

But yoga offered other plusses.  Johnson is now more centered and is more able to make fast decisions with greater clarity.

So our levels of strength and stamina are balanced on each side"

The most important aspect is breathing.  Because yoga works the body in conjunction with the breath, the mind builds up a connection between movement and breathing.  when you are playing in front of a large, fired up and occasionally aggressive crowd, it is the mental aspect of yoga that is most beneficial.

"The phrase used a lot in sport is 'moving into the zone'," say's Phil.  "So although many of the stretches and lunges will be familiar to footballers, no amount of coaching, training or personal practice is going to be any good if you find doubt or worry entering your game as you approach the ball.  Yoga teaches us to operate in the present moment; this means our minds can access more effectively the information coming in from the other senses more quickly, and without any of the unnecessary dialogue".

Yoga can also give a footballer better spatial awareness, which is obviously very effective in a game where the decision about where to pass the ball has to be made by a player in a matter of seconds.

So it seems that yoga is losing its image of being a girls sport. but before you think that yoga is just there to help sportsmen with their injuries, it is worth remembering that Rodrigo Mallada, a player for the Paraguay World Cup squad, won the 1998 World Artistic Rhythmic Yoga Sport Cup.  Not quite so girlie now, is it?

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