Yoga For Basketball Players: Strong Legs For The Landing, A Calm Head At The Line
By Chris Lalor, Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and Certified Yoga Therapist, and Dr Stuart McGill, Yoga Teacher, Flametree Yoga Darwin
Why would LeBron James walk into an 8am yoga class on the morning of an NBA Finals game? Because basketball is hard on a body. You jump, land, stop, cut and jump again, often on one foot, often with someone leaning on you. Then you walk to the free throw line, tired, and your hands need a calm head behind them.
Yoga for basketball players, meaning regular yoga classes for people who play, builds what the game asks for: strong legs, steady balance on one foot, a free upper back and shoulders, and a calm mind under pressure. It builds strength and flexibility together.
This page shows how: what players and coaches say, what the research found, the kinds of poses that help and why, and the easiest way to start, in Darwin or live online.
Yoga for basketball players in short: strong for the landing, calm at the line
Yoga for basketball players is regular classes that build leg strength, balance, a free upper body and a calm, focused mind. Basketball yoga suits social players, Masters grades and serious competitors, men and women, and you can do it in our Darwin studios or live online from anywhere in Australia.
The whole page, in short:
- NBA players and a US college team say yoga helps them.
- Three 2025 trials tested yoga in basketball players.
- Yoga went with better focus, lower stress and quicker agility.
- Ankles and knees take two in five basketball injuries.
- Standing poses and balance work build strong, steady legs.
- One class a week helps, and more helps more.
- Start with 2 free classes and 2 free ebooks.
Basketball Asks For Four Things Yoga Builds
For every jump, landing and stop.
Steady on one foot while you are guarded.
Back and shoulders for shooting and reaching.
A steady breath at the free throw line.
Iyengar yoga builds all four together. A simplified picture, known from practice.
Yoga for basketball players in one picture: strong underneath, calm on top.
Want to try it? Start with 2 free classes and 2 free ebooks, or just come along, at the studio or online, and your first class is free. Every option is in how to start, further down.
What is Iyengar yoga, the yoga we teach?
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 is the style we teach at Flametree, in Darwin and live online. More in Why Yoga Works For Sport.
Is it just being bendy? No. In a held standing pose your own body is the weight and your leg muscles hold it there (isometric work: a muscle working without changing length). Hold one for half a minute and your thighs know about it. That is strength and flexibility built together.
Which basketball players use yoga, and what do they say?
Plenty of players and coaches at the top of the game have made yoga part of their week. Here are their stories, in their own words where we have them. They are their experiences, not proof, and the studies come further down.
A college team that made yoga part of training
In April 2018, the Boston College men’s basketball team in the United States began one-hour yoga sessions with instructor Michelle Gallotto. Head coach Jim Christian said the yoga was tailored to his players’ size and the way basketball moves, and that it helped them on the court. Player Ervins Meznieks said it helped his lateral quickness (moving side to side), which matters when you slide on defence. Ky Bowman said it calmed his muscles after hard sessions, and Luka Kraljevic used it to relax after practice as part of his recovery. Steffon Mitchell said “all of the research is there.” (Boston College Athletics, 2 August 2018)
The players who could not sit on the floor
Chelsea Duke, a yoga teacher in Eugene, Oregon, who teaches university athletes, told the Guys Talking Yoga podcast that at first most of the men’s basketball players could not sit cross-legged on the floor. She put it down to old ankle sprains and tight hips. Many athletes, she said, start out thinking yoga will be slow and boring and would rather be in the weight room. After a couple of sessions, she says, they feel a huge sigh of relief, perhaps the first time they have felt truly restored. (Guys Talking Yoga, episode 18, “Ducks Do Yoga; And It Works”, 5 October 2021)
Blake Griffin: “It is a workout”
Sports Illustrated reported in 2014 that Blake Griffin had done yoga about three days a week since joining the LA Clippers in 2009, with the team’s yoga teacher, Kent Katich. Griffin said: “It is a workout, no matter what people say.” And: “For me, the mental part is just as big as the physical part.” Katich, who estimated he had worked with about a third of NBA players, described yoga as “about body awareness, body mindfulness.” In the same feature, Joe Johnson, then a Brooklyn Nets All-Star, called it “therapy for my muscles.” (Sarah Toland, Sports Illustrated, 27 June 2014)
LeBron James on Finals morning
Before Game 2 of the 2014 NBA Finals, LeBron James went to an 8am yoga class at his team’s hotel. Afterwards he said: “I took an 8 a.m. yoga class at our resort,” and that it was “probably the only thing” he did differently that day. (Rob Mahoney, Sports Illustrated, 9 June 2014)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, long after he retired
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the game’s all-time greats, told Gulf News in 2014: “Yoga really helped me and, since I have retired, having that knowledge has helped me to maintain my health.” (Jamie Goodwin, Gulf News, 28 October 2014, reposted on his own website)
Kevin Love: balance, strength and endurance
Kevin Love, the NBA forward, told Sports Illustrated in 2015: “Yoga has given me a newfound balance, strength and endurance.” He does yoga for long periods of his off-season, in place of basketball, and works some poses into his in-season workouts. He says what he builds in yoga over the years carries over to the court. (Sports Illustrated Vault, 6 April 2015)
Klay Thompson: meditation to stay centred
Klay Thompson, the Golden State Warriors guard, added meditation and visualisation to his routine in the couple of years before 2019, to get centred before games and cope with the pressure of the NBA. He tries to go for 30 minutes, says an hour would be nice, and credits it in part for how he now handles a bad night: “The mind’s so powerful.” This is meditation, not yoga, and the two are close kin: yoga poses and yogic breathing both produce mindfulness. (Canadian Press, via CFJC Today, 27 May 2019)
And the two of us
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. We both find that the more we do, the stronger and steadier we feel.
Do you play basketball in Darwin, and do yoga? We have not yet found a published Australian player’s story, so we will not make one up. If yoga has helped your game, at any level, tell us, and with your OK we will share your story here. Get in touch.
Yoga for basketball players: strong legs for every landing
A standing pose, held. Stuart with the front knee bent and the back leg straight: standing poses build the thighs, hips and ankles that take every jump and landing.
What does basketball ask of your body?
Basketball asks for repeated jumping and landing, quick stops and changes of direction, balance on one foot, reaching and shooting overhead, and a calm head when you are tired.
Ankles and knees carry most of the load. A 2025 review that pooled 22 studies found ankle injuries made up about a quarter of reported basketball injuries, and knee injuries about one in six: 41.3% together. Sprains were the most common type, and injuries were more common in games than at training (Stojanovic and colleagues, Sports Medicine, 2025). A 2023 review of 30 studies found ankle sprains were about 2.8 times more common in games than at training, and the rate of ACL injuries (a torn knee ligament) was about 3.3 times higher in women than in men (Stojanovic and colleagues, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 2023).
The good news: leg strength and balance can be built, at any age. In trials, yoga improved strength, balance and agility in athletes (see the research below), and that is exactly what standing poses and balance work train in every class.
Yoga for basketball players is not only for the young. Plenty of people keep playing into Masters grades, and the strength and balance work in every class suits them just as well.
Research shows yoga builds focus, strength and agility in basketball players
What The Research Shows
Three trials published in 2025 tested yoga in basketball players, and all three found gains. Other trials tested yoga in athletes in general, and mindfulness training in basketball players. Here is who was studied, what they did and what was found.
Yoga trials in basketball players
- Yoga gave women players better focus, lower stress and quicker agility. 30 women college basketball players aged 19 to 24, split at random into two groups. One group added 8 weeks of structured yoga to their normal training; the other did normal training only. The yoga group improved more on focus (an attention test), resilience, perceived stress and agility (quick changes of direction). Vertical jump and sprint did not improve more with yoga. Vijayalakshmi and Saroja, Physical Education Theory and Methodology, 2025. Read the study
- Yoga made young male players fitter and more flexible. 41 male basketball players with an average age of about 18, split at random: 21 did yoga poses, 20 did not. The yoga group improved on tests of cardio-respiratory endurance (heart and lung fitness), muscle strength, muscle endurance and flexibility. The group without yoga showed no real change. The paper does not say how many weeks the yoga ran. Udiyapuram and colleagues, Physical Education Theory and Methodology, 2025. Read the study
- Four weeks of yoga lowered anxiety and resting heart rate in team players. 120 male university players in basketball, volleyball and handball, 60 in yoga groups and 60 in comparison groups. Four weeks of yogic practice before competition, including pranayama and relaxation. In all three sports the yoga groups had lower anxiety scores, resting heart rate and blood pressure afterwards; the comparison groups did not change. Saraf and colleagues, Indian Journal of Physiology and Allied Sciences, 2025. Read the study
Yoga trials in athletes in general
- Yoga improved flexibility and balance in college athletes. 26 male college athletes. 14 did yoga twice a week for 10 weeks; 12 did no yoga. The yoga group gained in flexibility and on a one-leg balance test; the other group did not. Polsgrove and colleagues, International Journal of Yoga, 2016. Read the study
- Yoga improved movement quality and mindfulness in college athletes. About 80 college athletes. Two 90-minute yoga classes a week for 12 weeks improved scores on a movement screen (deep squat, shoulder mobility and trunk stability) more than in the comparison group, and mindfulness scores rose. Xu and colleagues, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022. Read the study
- Iyengar yoga improved balance and leg strength in older adults. Not athletes, but useful for the Masters player: 54 people with an average age of 68. Iyengar classes twice a week for 12 weeks, mostly standing poses, improved standing balance, one-leg balance with eyes closed, walking speed and getting up from a chair. Tiedemann and colleagues, Journals of Gerontology, 2013. Read the study
Mindfulness trials in basketball players
These tested mindfulness training, not yoga. They still count for our classes, because yoga poses and yogic breathing both produce mindfulness.
- Mindfulness went with better attention and shooting. 43 male college players in Macau, not split at random. 23 added about an hour of mindfulness training a week for 7 weeks to normal training; 20 trained as usual. The mindfulness group improved more on mindfulness, attention, three-point shooting and free-throw shooting. Wang and colleagues, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2023. Read the study
- Mindfulness improved free throws under pressure. 79 male college basketball students with provincial-level experience, split at random. Eight weeks of mindfulness training, two 90-minute sessions a week, against a comparison group who watched videos about basketball figures. Mindfulness, mental toughness and free-throw scores under stress all improved. Wang and Zhang, Frontiers in Psychology, 2025. Read the study
- Game free-throw accuracy rose more with mindfulness for performance. National-level basketball players taught a three-step mindfulness for performance programme improved their mindfulness skills and free-throw accuracy in real games more than a control group. The authors say this needs confirming. Tebourski and colleagues, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022. Read the study
- Short mindfulness sessions: mixed results for free throws. A 2026 review of ten trials of brief mindfulness sessions (30 minutes or less) found they helped some precision skills, such as golf putting and basketball tactical decisions, but results for basketball free-throw accuracy were mixed, and the effects looked short-lived. Cao and colleagues, Frontiers in Public Health, 2026. Read the study
What has not been tested yet
No trial has yet tested whether yoga lowers injuries in basketball players, whether yoga itself lifts free-throw percentage, or yoga in Australian, wheelchair or Masters basketball. Not yet studied is not the same as not working. Most of the basketball trials above compared yoga or mindfulness with normal training alone. The athlete trials tested yoga in general, not only Iyengar yoga. Why the difference matters: Yoga Or Iyengar Yoga?
Three 2025 Trials: Yoga Players Gained Focus, Fitness And Calm
Better focus, lower stress, quicker agility after 8 weeks.
Better endurance, strength and flexibility.
Lower anxiety and resting heart rate after 4 weeks.
Sources: Vijayalakshmi and Saroja 2025; Udiyapuram and colleagues 2025; Saraf and colleagues 2025. A simplified picture.
Focus, fitness and calm: the building blocks of a good game.
What kinds of yoga poses help a basketball player, and why?
Seven kinds of practice do most of the work for a basketball player: standing poses, balance work, twists, supported backbends, 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. Tall, strong players often cannot reach full straightness overhead or in the legs, and they never get enough flexibility until they build it through yoga. Hips are often stiff too, from short muscles and short, tight tendons.
- Standing poses build strong, steady legs. They work the thighs, hips and ankles, one leg and then the other, while you hold your own weight. That is the base for every jump, landing, stop and cut.
- Balance work, with a wall or chair at first, trains the one-foot moments. Basketball is full of them: landing, pivoting, shooting off one leg. Mr Iyengar’s daughter Geeta Iyengar wrote: “Attention is sharpened with the demand to balance.” (Geeta S Iyengar)
- Twists keep the spine turning. Players turn to pass, to box out and to get a shot away. Twists to both sides work the trunk evenly.
- Supported backbends open the chest and shoulders. Shooting, rebounding and blocking all reach overhead. With a chair or bolster under you, the upper back and shoulders can open without strain.
- Seated and hip work frees the hips. Free hips let you get low on defence and take a long step without your back doing the work.
- Restorative poses help you recover. With props holding you, tired legs and a tired back can settle after a big game or a tournament weekend.
- Breath work (yogic breathing) steadies the mind. A slow, steady breath steadies your attention. The basketball trials above measured calm, attention and anxiety, and those are what breath work trains.
That is our teaching, known from practice. Every pose is done on both sides, with props so a stiff body can do it well.
Basketball yoga: balance on one leg
Balance on one leg. Chris with the standing leg straight and strong: balance work trains the ankle, knee and hip that a player lands on.
Yoga for basketball players: open shoulders, with support
A supported backbend, with a chair to hold the back. This kind of pose opens the chest and shoulders that a player reaches and shoots with.
How does yoga help a player stay calm at the free throw line?
A steady breath steadies the mind, and a held pose trains you to stay present. That is what we see in our students. A morning pranayama class leaves people calmer and more focused. Some trials found mindfulness training went with better free-throw shooting in basketball players, though a 2026 review found the results mixed. No trial has yet tested yoga or yogic breathing on free throws themselves.
Looking for mindfulness? Yoga and yogic breathing create it. Holding a pose and following the breath is mindfulness, practised in the body. Read Yoga And Mindfulness.
A steady breath for a steady shot
Breath work on a chair, with a belt to lift the chest. A slow, steady breath builds the calm attention a player wants at the line.
Ready to give it a try? Start with 2 free classes and 2 free ebooks, then the half price beginner 10-pass with 2 free ($59.50, about $4.96 a class). Basketball clubs and teams can book a group class too.
How much yoga does a basketball 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 (yogic breathing) classes. Regular classes are the point. A quick routine before a game, with no classes behind it, makes very little difference. You choose how far to go: start with one a week.
Which classes should a basketball player start with?
Start with a beginner class. These suit most players (Darwin time, from the beginner timetable):
- 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, good after a big game.
- 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.
Once you have started, learn much more. Our 2027 masterclasses with Chris Lalor start on 28 December and run over four months, in Darwin or live online. Each one teaches the poses and breath practices that make the biggest difference for one topic, including Yoga for backs on Sunday 21 February 2027. See the 2027 masterclasses.
Thinking of a physio for a sore back or neck? Consider yoga as well. Stuart tells his own story in Considering Physio? Try Yoga First, Not Last!
Yoga for basketball players: rest after a big weekend
A supported restorative pose: lying back on a bolster, knees held up on blocks, eyes covered. Restorative poses let tired legs and a tired back settle after a tournament.
Can I do yoga for basketball players online?
Yes. You can join our live interactive online classes from anywhere, with a teacher who can see you and guide you. Online yoga for basketball players works well for people outside Darwin, and for anyone with a busy training week.
Live in a regional or remote area? Many country towns have no good yoga nearby. Online, Iyengar-trained teachers can come to you. See our live online classes.
Yoga for basketball clubs and teams: a group class at your stadium or club, at our Woolner studio or live online, is a simple way for your players to try it together. Details are in the offers below.
How do I start yoga for basketball in Darwin or online?
- 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. See the class times
- 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.
- 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.
- A private lesson: private class pass, $109, or 5 private lessons at 10% off. Talk to us to set a time.
- For basketball clubs and teams: group class, $149 a session, at your club, at our Woolner studio or live online. Book 10 sessions together for 10% off: contact us.
Start free, then pick the option that suits you.
Yoga for basketball players: questions, answered
Is yoga good for basketball players?
Yes. Basketball asks for strong legs, steady balance, a free upper body and a calm head, and Iyengar yoga builds these together. In three 2025 trials of basketball players, yoga went with better focus, lower stress, quicker agility, more strength and flexibility, and lower anxiety.
Can yoga help basketball players with sore knees and ankles?
Yoga is well worth trying. Ankles and knees take about two in five basketball injuries, and standing poses and balance work build the leg strength and balance around them. Tell your teacher about your knees or ankles, and they will adjust the poses to suit you.
Does yoga help players jump higher and land safely?
The trials so far did not show a higher jump: in 30 women players, vertical jump did not improve more with yoga, though agility did. What yoga does build is strong legs and steady balance on one foot, which every landing uses.
Can yoga help a player stay calm at the free throw line?
A steady breath steadies attention, and in our experience a morning pranayama (yogic breathing) class leaves people calmer and more focused. Some trials found mindfulness training went with better free throws in basketball players, but a 2026 review found the results mixed, and yoga itself has not yet been tested on free throws.
How do players recover after a tournament weekend?
Restorative poses, with props holding the body, let tired legs and a tired back settle, and slow breathing helps the mind come down. Boston College players said yoga calmed their muscles after hard sessions. Our Saturday Restorative Yoga class suits the end of a big week.
Is yoga good for basketball players over 40?
Yes. Many players keep going into Masters grades, and yoga builds the leg strength and balance that help you keep playing. In a Sydney pilot study, twelve weeks of Iyengar yoga improved balance, walking speed and getting up from a chair in people with an average age of 68.
Where can a basketball player try yoga in Darwin?
Flametree teaches beginner classes at Woolner (19B Bishop St, near Parap) and Coolalinga (Shop T31, Coolalinga Central). Clubs and teams can book a group class at the club, at our Woolner studio or live online, at $149 a session.
Can basketball 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 team can also have a live online group class shown on a big screen.
More for sportspeople: golf yoga, yoga for footballers, yoga for lawn bowls, and the whole Yoga For Sport section.
Sources: Boston College Athletics, 2 August 2018; Guys Talking Yoga podcast, episode 18, 5 October 2021; Sports Illustrated (Sarah Toland, 27 June 2014; Rob Mahoney, 9 June 2014); Gulf News (Jamie Goodwin, 28 October 2014); Stojanovic and colleagues, Sports Medicine, 2025; Stojanovic and colleagues, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 2023; Vijayalakshmi and Saroja, Physical Education Theory and Methodology, 2025; Udiyapuram and colleagues, Physical Education Theory and Methodology, 2025; Saraf and colleagues, Indian Journal of Physiology and Allied Sciences, 2025; Polsgrove and colleagues, International Journal of Yoga, 2016; Xu and colleagues, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022; Tiedemann and colleagues, Journals of Gerontology, 2013; Wang and colleagues, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2023; Wang and Zhang, Frontiers in Psychology, 2025; Tebourski and colleagues, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022; Cao and colleagues, Frontiers in Public Health, 2026. Research via PubMed and the journals’ own pages. Players’ stories are their own accounts, not proof. This page is general information.
