Rugby Yoga: The Players Who Kept Their Hamstrings Through The Season

By Chris Lalor, Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and Certified Yoga Therapist, and Dr Stuart McGill, Yoga Teacher, Flametree Yoga Darwin

Does a rugby season leave your hamstrings tighter every week? Sprints, rucks, tackles and long bus trips all add up. By mid-season many players can feel it.

Rugby yoga, meaning regular yoga classes for rugby players, builds strength and range together, plus a calmer head. In a New Zealand trial, rugby union players who added yoga twice a week kept their hamstring flexibility through the early season, while the players who did not do yoga lost a lot of theirs.

This page brings together the rugby stories, the studies, the kinds of yoga that suit a rugby body, and the easiest way to start, in Darwin or live online.

Rugby yoga in short: strong legs, free hips and shoulders, a calm head

Rugby yoga is regular yoga classes that build the strength, range, balance and calm a rugby player uses every week. You can do it in our Darwin studios or live online from anywhere in Australia.

The whole page, in short:

• Bath Rugby’s first team did Iyengar yoga three times a week in 2003.
• In a rugby union trial, the yoga group kept its hamstring flexibility. The others lost 14.8%.
• A second report found steadier balance in one test.
• Yoga builds strength and flexibility together. Both are necessary.
• Yoga poses and yogic breathing both build mindfulness, and mindfulness went with less anxiety in rugby players.
• One class a week helps, and more helps more.
• Start free: register for 2 free classes and 2 free ebooks, or just walk in and your first class is free.

Rugby yoga in one picture: strong underneath, free through the middle, calm on top.

What is Iyengar yoga, the yoga we teach rugby players?

Who was Mr BKS Iyengar? Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props such as chairs, blocks, belts and the wall. His style is sometimes called modern classical yoga. It’s the style we teach at Flametree, in Darwin and live online. More in Why Yoga Works For Sport.

Do we practise what we teach? Yes. Stuart does at least an hour of yoga and an hour of pranayama (yogic breathing) every day. Chris practises between one and three hours a day, and does pranayama almost every day.

Which rugby players and teams have used yoga?

Rugby has used yoga for more than twenty years, from an English first team to the Welsh women’s game. Each story below is told in our own words, with the source named. They are reported at the time and are not endorsements of Flametree.

Bath Rugby’s first team, 2003: Iyengar yoga three times a week

At the end of June 2003, Bath’s fitness trainer, Mike Yates, asked Richard Agar-Ward, an Iyengar yoga teacher in Bath, to bring yoga into the first team’s pre-season. From 9 July he taught the squad of about 26 players three times a week, and wrote to Mr Iyengar for advice on what to teach. Yates joined in. Agar-Ward writes that players said they recovered more quickly from training.

England back Mike Catt, then 31, was in those classes. He was called up as a replacement for England’s World Cup squad that year and played all of extra time in the final as England won. Agar-Ward writes that Catt told him privately he would not have made the squad without yoga. This is the teacher’s own account, in Yoga Rahasya, the Iyengar yoga journal published in Pune (Vol 11 No 3, 2004, pages 48 to 54; a print article). It is one account, and we make no claim that yoga caused anyone’s results. The fuller story is on our yoga for footballers page.

New Zealand rugby coaches asked an Iyengar teacher for help

Mr Iyengar wrote that one of his overseas students had been asked for help by the coaches of two New Zealand teams, one rugby and one cricket. Their players had suffered knee and lower back trouble the season before. On his advice, the student began with standing poses, and Mr Iyengar wrote that he was told the players all felt better. This is second-hand, as he says himself (BKS Iyengar, Astadala Yogamala, Volume 3, “Yoga and Sports”; print book).

Alecs Donovan, Wales international and yoga teacher

Alecs Donovan, a seven-times capped Wales centre, runs her own yoga business in Cardiff. She told the Welsh Rugby Union that she works with Bristol Bears players and has worked a lot with George North and Sam Warburton. She says rugby players are often tight from so much physical, attritional work, and that the aim is strength through range without becoming over-flexible. Her advice on dose: ten minutes every day is much better than a two-hour session every two weeks. (Welsh Rugby Union, April 2020)

Jonny Wilkinson: meditation at the 2007 World Cup

During the 2007 Rugby World Cup, England’s Jonny Wilkinson said he had been taking ideas he found useful from different ways of looking at life, including meditation as “the basics of how to relax”. He said he could not say how it affected a game of rugby, but it was enough to leave him happy to go out and play. This is meditation, not yoga, and the two are close kin: yoga poses and yogic breathing both produce mindfulness. (AFP report, NZ Herald, 2007)

Do you play rugby, and do yoga? We would love to hear from Darwin players who do yoga. Tell us what it has done for your game, and with your OK we will share your story here. Get in touch.

Want to try it? Register for 2 free classes and 2 free ebooks, or just walk in to any beginner class and your first class is free. Every option is in how to start, further down.

Rugby yoga Darwin: standing poses build strong legs

What does rugby ask of your body?

Rugby asks for repeated sprints, sudden turns, collisions and a lot of carrying, passing and kicking. Hamstrings, shoulders, knees and ankles are where the trouble tends to show up.

A review of 24 studies in rugby union found hamstring strains are one of the most common injuries in the game, up to 15% of all injuries. The risk factors it lists include fatigue, earlier injury, strength differences between the legs, and running during games (Chavarro-Nieto and colleagues, 2023). Across 49 studies of all rugby formats, strains and injuries from tackling, running or collisions were more common in backs, while forwards had slightly more injuries overall in rugby union (Vaajala and colleagues, 2025).

The good news: strength, range and steadiness can all be trained. In the trial below, players who added yoga kept their hamstring range while the others lost theirs. That is what was measured; no trial has tested whether yoga changes rates of rugby injuries.

What does the research show about rugby yoga?

What The Research Shows

Yoga has been tested in rugby union players in a trial of 31 players, 19 of whom finished, and two studies have looked at mindfulness in rugby players. Here is each one: who, how many, what they did and what was found.

• Yoga kept rugby players’ hamstrings flexible through the early season. Male rugby union players from a New Zealand club, average age about 19, none of whom had done yoga before. 31 started and 19 finished (12 in the yoga group, 7 in the comparison group). The yoga group added an hour of yoga twice a week for 8 weeks to their normal rugby training, from the start of the season; the comparison group did rugby training only. Hamstring flexibility in the yoga group changed by only 1.2%, while the comparison group’s fell by 14.8%. Sprint times over 5, 10 and 30 metres did not change. Players came to about three sessions in four, and the authors suggested more yoga, over a longer time, for bigger changes. Raj, Hamlin and Elliot, International Journal of Yoga, 2021. Read the study
• An earlier report found steadier balance in one test. From the same research team, on what appears to be the same group of players (so do not add the two together). 29 male rugby union players, 15 doing yoga for an hour twice a week alongside training through a 12-week season, 14 doing training only. The yoga group swayed less when standing on two feet with the eyes closed. There was no difference in the three other balance tests. Raj, Elliot and Hamlin, 2020. Read the study
• Mindfulness went with some easing of anxiety in teenage players. A trial in South African adolescent rugby players compared a 7-week mindfulness programme, a 7-week thinking-skills programme and a waiting list. The mindfulness group reported some improvement in anxiety, but the thinking-skills group did better, on anxiety, beliefs and how well players felt they performed. This tested mindfulness, not yoga. Munnik and colleagues, Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 2024. Read the study
• Elite players with stronger mindfulness skills had less anxiety and depression later. 160 elite rugby players were followed from the first UK lockdown in 2020 to their return to competition. Those with stronger mindfulness skills at the start had less anxiety and depression when they returned. This is a link between measurements, not a trial, and it measured mindfulness, not yoga. Myall and colleagues, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021. Read the study

What has not been tested yet: no trial has looked at yoga and injury rates in rugby, at women’s rugby or sevens, or at pranayama (yogic breathing) in rugby players. Not yet studied is not the same as not working.

Yoga poses and yogic breathing both produce mindfulness. Holding a pose and following the breath is mindfulness, practised in the body. Read Yoga And Mindfulness.

What the rugby union yoga trial found

Does this carry across to rugby league and AFL?

The yoga trials we found were in rugby union players. No trial has yet been run in rugby league or Australian football players. All three codes ask for running, kicking, passing and tackling, so we think it likely that a good deal carries across. That is our view, not a finding.

For rugby league and AFL stories, from the Brisbane Lions to Kalyn Ponga, see our yoga for footballers page.

What kinds of yoga poses help a rugby player, and why?

Seven kinds of practice do most of the work for a rugby player: standing poses, balance work, supported backbends, twists, seated and hip work, restorative poses and breath work. We name the kinds here. Your teacher shows you the poses themselves in class, adjusted to your body.

What we find: flexibility comes from extending your range of movement, and that means straightening your legs and arms. Many people in sport, and in gyms, Pilates and CrossFit, cannot fully straighten their legs or arms, because strong, short muscles hold them a little bent. Many rugby players are strong and short in the hamstrings, so they never get enough flexibility until they build that straightness through yoga. Hips are often stiff too, from short muscles and short, tight tendons.

• Standing poses build strong legs and free hips. Your own body is the weight and your legs hold it, one side and then the other. The thighs, hips and hamstrings work under load, which is the kind of strength through range a scrum, a ruck and a sprint need. Muscle pulling on bone loads the bone too.
• Balance work with a wall or chair steadies you on one leg. Side-steps, kicks and landings all happen on one foot. In the second rugby report above, the yoga group swayed less in one balance test.
• Supported backbends open the chest and shoulders. With a chair holding you, the upper back can arch and the front of the shoulders can open. Contact, carrying and long hours sitting all round the shoulders forward.
• Twists keep the spine turning both ways. Passing and kicking favour one side. Twists to both sides even that out.
• Seated and hip work frees the hips and the backs of the legs. Hamstring range is exactly what the rugby trial measured, and the yoga group kept it.
• Supported restorative poses help you recover. With props holding you, tired legs and a sore back can settle after a match.
• Breath work (yogic breathing) steadies the mind. A slow, steady breath steadies your attention, which is what a goal kicker or a lineout thrower wants. That is our teaching, known from practice; no trial has tested breath work in rugby players.

Every pose is done on both sides, with props so a stiff body can do it well.

A supported backbend for open shoulders

Rugby yoga for hips and the backs of the legs

How much yoga does a rugby player need?

One class a week helps, and more helps more. This is Flametree’s view as teachers, from many years of classes:

• One class a week works.
• Two or three a week work better.
• Five or six a week work better again.

The same holds for pranayama classes. Regular classes are the point. A quick routine before a game, with no classes behind it, makes very little difference. The rugby trial fits this: the players did about an hour and a half a week, and the researchers suggested more, over a longer time, for bigger gains.

Rest for tired legs after a match

What is the next step for a rugby player?

Come to classes. That is where you learn what this yoga is and how to do it, with a teacher who adjusts each pose to your body. Over the weeks you build strength, fitness, flexibility and mindfulness, and then you can see for yourself whether it works.

Start with a gentle or beginner class. These suit most players (Darwin time, from the beginner timetable updated 12 November 2026):

• Beginner 1 classes: every day of the week, at Woolner (19B Bishop St, near Parap) and Coolalinga (Shop T31, Coolalinga Central), and some live online. Standing poses, balance work with props, twists and more, set for your body.
• Gentle Yoga: Fridays 10.15 to 11.15am, Woolner and live online. Slow and easy, with plenty of props, for stiff bodies and tired days.
• Yoga For Backs: Wednesdays 7.15 to 8.15pm, Woolner, open level. The whole back, from the lower back up through the neck and shoulders.
• Restorative Yoga: Saturdays 4 to 5.15pm, Woolner and live online, open level. Supported poses that rest and restore.
• Restorative Yoga and Immune System Yoga: Thursdays 5.45 to 7.15pm, Woolner and live online, open level. The timetable asks for 3 months of yoga first, or your teacher’s OK.
• Pranayama (yogic breathing): for calm and focus. Once you have some beginner classes behind you, your teacher will tell you when to add one.

Want to learn much more about how this yoga works? Once you have started, our 2027 masterclass series with Chris Lalor goes deeper: six afternoons from Monday 28 December to Sunday 18 April, at Woolner or live online.

Can I do rugby yoga online?

Yes. You can join our live interactive online classes from anywhere, with a teacher who can see you and guide you. Rugby clubs can book a live online group class that comes straight into the clubrooms on a big screen. Many country clubs have no good yoga nearby; online, Iyengar-trained teachers can come to you. See our live online classes.

Yoga for rugby clubs: a group class at your club, at our Woolner studio or live online, is a simple way for your squad to try it together. Details are in the offers below.

How do I start rugby yoga in Darwin or online?

1. 2 free classes, plus 2 free ebooks. New to Flametree, or back after 3 months or more? Choose 2 free ebooks (the sport and men’s book is Stay In The Game) and get 2 free classes, live online or in our Darwin studios. Claim them here

   Or just come along, at the studio or online, and your first class is free. That is one free class. Register first and you get two free classes and two free ebooks, plus a few short reminders and tips to help you get started. So registering gets you more.

2. Then the half price beginner 10-pass with 2 free. 10 half price classes plus 2 free, $59.50. That is 12 classes, $4.96 a class, in our Darwin studios or live online.
3. Then the unlimited beginner weekly pass, to come as often as you like: studio, $17.95 a week; studio and online, $21.95 a week; online only, $10.95 a week.
4. A private lesson: private class pass, $109, or 5 private lessons at 10% off. Talk to us to set a time.
5. For rugby clubs: group class, $149 a session, at your club, at our Woolner studio or live online. Book 10 sessions together for 10% off: contact us.

See the timetable and book here

Start free, then pick the option that suits you.

Rugby yoga questions, answered

What did the rugby union yoga trial find?

In a New Zealand trial of 31 players, 19 of whom finished, rugby union players who added an hour of yoga twice a week to their training for 8 weeks of the season kept their hamstring flexibility, which changed by only 1.2%. The players who did not do yoga lost 14.8% of theirs. Sprint times did not change. 31 players started and 19 finished.

Does rugby yoga build strength and flexibility together?

Yes. Iyengar yoga builds strength and flexibility at the same time, and both are necessary. In a held standing pose your own body is the weight and your leg muscles hold it there, which loads the bones too. It is regular classes, not a quick routine before the game.

Can yoga help rugby players with sore shoulders and necks?

Yoga is well worth trying. Supported backbends open the chest and the front of the shoulders, and twists keep the upper back turning. Our Yoga For Backs class works the whole back, from the lower back up through the neck and shoulders. Tell your teacher about your shoulders or neck and they will adjust the poses to suit you.

Why did Bath Rugby players use yoga?

In July 2003 Bath’s fitness trainer asked a local Iyengar yoga teacher, Richard Agar-Ward, to teach the first team. About 26 players did Iyengar yoga three times a week through the pre-season. The teacher writes that players said they recovered more quickly from training.

Can yoga help forwards and backs recover after a hard match?

Yes, in our experience. Supported restorative poses let tired legs and a sore back settle, and a slow breath helps the body calm down after a game. Players at Bath said they recovered more quickly from training. It has not been tested in a rugby trial.

Can yoga help players stay calm under pressure?

Some studies point that way. In a trial with teenage rugby players, a 7-week mindfulness programme went with some easing of anxiety, though a thinking-skills programme did better. Among 160 elite rugby players, those with stronger mindfulness skills had less anxiety and depression afterwards. Yoga poses and yogic breathing both produce mindfulness.

Is yoga good for masters rugby players over 35?

Yes. Iyengar yoga uses chairs, blocks, belts and the wall, so a stiff body can do each pose well, and it builds strength and range together at any age. Many people start yoga in their 40s, 50s and beyond. One class a week helps, and more helps more.

Where can I try rugby yoga in Darwin?

At Flametree’s studios at Woolner (19B Bishop St, near Parap) and Coolalinga (Shop T31, Coolalinga Central). Register for 2 free classes and 2 free ebooks, or just walk in and your first class is free. Rugby clubs can book a group class at the club, at our Woolner studio or live online, at $149 a session.

Can rugby players do yoga online from home?

Yes. Our live interactive online classes work from anywhere in Australia, with a teacher who can see and guide you. A club can also have a live online group class shown on a big screen in the clubrooms.

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More for sportspeople: yoga for footballers (AFL, rugby league, rugby union and soccer), tight hamstrings, and the whole Yoga For Sport section.

Sources: Richard Agar-Ward, “India’s Role In England’s World Cup Victory”, Yoga Rahasya, Vol 11 No 3, 2004, pages 48 to 54 (print article); BKS Iyengar, Astadala Yogamala, Volume 3, “Yoga and Sports” (print); Welsh Rugby Union, “Donovan: Yogability can help players reach new heights”, April 2020; Chavarro-Nieto and colleagues, The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 2023; Vaajala and colleagues, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 2025; Raj, Hamlin and Elliot, International Journal of Yoga, 2021; Raj, Elliot and Hamlin, Lincoln University research archive, 2020; Munnik and colleagues, Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 2024; Myall and colleagues, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021. Research via PubMed. Players’ statements are their own experience, reported at the time; none endorses Flametree. This page is general information.