ditch the comparisons and reconnect to your true self AND OTHERS

"I help current and former figure skaters and other athletes let go of unhealthy conditioning and reconnect to their authentic selves. Learn to thrive in life beyond competition."          
 -----Sarah Neal, The Skating Yogi

my Featured Blog Posts:

Non-Toxic Mental Toughness for Figure Skating and How Yoga is Key
08.21.22

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The Cognitive Triangle
    The ancient sage Patanjali teaches us that the physical practices of breathwork, asana, and meditation are foundational to developing mastery of the mind and, as such, key to our journey on this Earth.  
   One of his teachings is especially pertinent to the conversation around youth sports culture, competitiveness, mental toughness, mental health.
    In fact, this sutra is so important that my yoga teacher calls it the “key to mental peace.”  Yoga Sutra 1.33 says:
“By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness.”
   Patanjali and the ancient yogis knew about the cognitive cycle even if they didn’t call it by the same name. This is the foundation of how yoga works—cultivate certain attitudes to live rightly, practice asana to help master the mind, and practice breath to stimulate the vagus nerve to help with all of it.  

Mental and Emotional well-Being of young Athletes in Figure Skating
07.01.2022

    I have asked myself often if the institution of skating is to blame for the mental health challenges of figure skating, or if genetics and personality traits of individual athletes might also play a role.  After all, my sister always told me that I was born anxious...  
     While humans tend to revere their sports heroes for their discipline, grit, perseverance, and strength, recent studies regarding the mental health of youth athletes show that athletes are just as vulnerable to mental health struggles as members of the general population.
     Figure skating can offer a magnificent, healthy sports journey for your child, if you are certain to follow some key guidelines for maintaining a well-balanced figure skating life.
    These are my top tips for you to support your child’s skating journey AND their mental and emotional well-being.

Achieve Figure Skating Success With Yoga
01.23.2023

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Figure skater ready for yoga practice
    While the physical practice of yoga is important for figure skaters, it is much more than "exercise". In fact, the “exercise” component of yoga as off-ice training may be the least important aspect for figure skaters searching for success.
  Most beginning figure skaters join the sport because it is fun, graceful, and free. We stay with it because the ice and wind get in our blood, and we can’t get them out. We also like the people we meet, the community we form, and the progress that we make.
  Practicing on the ice for three or four hours daily doesn’t really matter if you don’t have the right perspective on your figure skating training or don’t know where skating fits in the big picture of your life.
  The same holds true with yoga. Asana – the practice of physical postures—can help figure skaters develop awareness, strength, and flexibility, but without the right approach, skaters will miss out on the most impactful training—the training of the mind and the breath, which help us stay grounded.
  This is why learning and practicing the philosophical principles of yoga—specifically Patanjali’s 8 Limbs—is essential to a well-balanced figure skating journey.

Off-ice Exercises for Figure Skaters to improve Stamina and Breathe Easy
07.23.22

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Practicing Diaphragmatic Breathing While Standing
     What if an athlete is doing all the training typically recommended for improved aerobic capacity, but their V02 Max number and their endurance don’t improve? Sometimes improvements don’t come because of lack of training intensity, inadequate recovery between trainings, forgetting to plan for breaths within the choreography, and maybe even performance and practice anxiety.  Or, as this yogi likes to argue, maybe the athlete doesn’t know how to breathe properly? 
   Breathing exercises can develop underutilized portions of the lungs as well as strengthen the diaphragm and intercostal muscles. Besides helping us breathe more fully and efficiently, exercises that work these muscles can also help athletes relax to ride out waves of anxiety or breathing episodes.
   Here are two simple exercises you can try for yourself or suggest to someone you think might benefit.

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