Yoga sessions help Dallas Cowboys find their zen, avoid injuries

It should come as no surprise with the Dallas Cowboys in southern California that a yoga session has become a part of training camp.

Yoga instructor Stacey Hickman led the team in two separate sessions during Saturday morning’s walk through.

The Cowboys hope the yoga helps prevent injuries and recover quicker from the daily grind of playing football. Cowboys’ coach Jason Garrett said players are realizing how much it can help them.

“It’s such a big part of getting yourself physically ready to play, just your flexibility,” he said. “I do think it helps their performance and it helps their recovery as well. Hopefully, it’s a positive thing in terms of injury prevention.”

Garrett said the team will have four or five yoga sessions during training camp.

“Hopefully, it will help our team going forward,” he said. “I think they were locked in on it. If you looked at the different groups doing it, they were focused in. I think they recognized that it can help them. I think we’re going to get something out of it.”

Many of the players have been doing yoga on their own for a while.

Cornerback Jourdan Lewis is a fan of hot yoga, which involved doing yoga in a room with the temperature set at 110 degrees.

“You sweat profusely. That’s what it’s for,” Lewis said. “Yoga is pretty efficient, it helps us keep us stretched and prevent injuries.”

Safety Xavier Woods said the session provides an important cool down period for enflamed muscles after or before a practice.

“Oh, it’s good,” he said. “Stretching is essential for an athlete. It increases your longevity. Those muscles get tight as we run. Just relaxing and having a cool down with stretching is really nice.”

This story was originally published July 28, 2018 at 4:19 PM.