Swimming Yoga: Freer Shoulders, A Fuller Breath And A Calm Head Before The Race

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

Can you swim kilometres every week and still get stiff? Yes. One of the two of us who wrote this page did exactly that. Swimming did not keep his body supple or strong all over, and it did not stop the weight creeping on.

Swimming yoga, meaning regular yoga classes for swimmers, builds what the pool does not: strength and range through the shoulders and upper back, strong legs and trunk, a fuller breath and a calmer mind before a race. In the one trial of yoga in swimmers, a month of pranayama (yogic breathing) went with better lung measures and more strokes per breath.

This page shows how: swimmers’ stories, starting with our own, what our kind of yoga is, what the research shows, the types of poses that suit a swimmer, and the easiest way to start, in Darwin or live online.

Swimming yoga in short: free shoulders, a full breath, a calm head

Swimming yoga is regular yoga classes that build what a swimmer uses on every length: shoulders that move freely and strongly, a strong trunk and legs, a full, steady breath and a calm mind. You can do it in our Darwin studios or live online from anywhere in Australia.

• Swimming is shoulder work, thousands of strokes at a time.
• Yoga builds strength and range together. It is not just being bendy.
• In the one swimmer trial, yogic breathing went with more strokes per breath.
• Breath work and held poses settle the mind before a race.
• One class a week helps, and more helps more.
• New? Register for 2 free classes and 2 free ebooks, or just walk in and your first class is free.

Which swimmers found yoga helped?

We start with our own two stories, then three swimmers who have told their stories in print. These are people’s own experiences, not proof. The research comes after.

Stuart swam kilometres a week, and still got stiff

Dr Stuart McGill, one of the two of us who wrote this page, swam a lot as a teenager. He started Iyengar yoga in his late twenties, became more flexible and learned pranayama. A few years later, thinking he needed more fitness, he gave up yoga and took up lap swimming instead. He kept up mindfulness meditation.

Thousands of kilometres of swimming later, at around 50, he was still swimming several kilometres a week. But he had become stiff, and he had put on weight.

So he went back to Iyengar yoga, alongside his swimming. He came back down to the weight he had been in his early twenties, and he got stronger all over. His yogic breathing grew too, because it was tied to the poses. He says yoga and pranayama together have given him more mental clarity, fitness and performance than anything else he has tried. That is his own experience, not a promise of what yoga does for everyone. He tells more of it in Daily Yoga Habit.

A Darwin swimmer who now stands taller

Someone who had been swimming with a group in Darwin came to us because she was stiff and not as strong as she wanted to be. Later she told us that a friend had remarked on how much more upright she was. We have noticed it too: she is much stronger and more flexible in the classes she still comes to regularly.

Swimming yoga: opening the chest and upper back

Tamsin Cook, the youngest on the Australian swim team

The Mudgee Guardian reported that at just 17, Tamsin Cook was the youngest member of the Australian swimming team. She was first introduced to yoga in 2014 in the junior Australian squad, and uses yoga with mindfulness before every race. She says it helps her shoulder and core stability and her flexibility, and helps her relax and focus on the process rather than the result. She remembers sitting in the marshalling room in Rio, trying to stay present. The same report says Swimming Australia was bringing mindfulness, meditation and yoga into its training. (Sarah Berry, Mudgee Guardian, 29 July 2017)

Rebecca Soni, Olympic champion

By 2010 the American breaststroker Rebecca Soni was doing yoga classes up to five times a week. She told Yoga Journal it helped her recover from training and connect with her body, and that she came out of classes “really mentally refreshed”. She built yoga into her race preparation, and at the 2012 Olympics she won two gold medals and a silver. (Yoga Journal)

Tina Whiteside, masters swimming coach

Tina Whiteside is a masters swimming coach in the United States who also teaches yoga. She told US Masters Swimming that after she began doing yoga regularly, “I no longer had shoulder pain when I swam butterfly and freestyle.” That is her own experience. (US Masters Swimming)

Do you swim, and do yoga? We would love to hear from Darwin swimmers, squads and masters swimmers who do yoga. Tell us what it has done for you, 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, then 10 half price classes plus 2 free, $59.50, in our Darwin studios or live online. Or just walk in: your first class is free. Every option is in how to start, further down.

What is Iyengar yoga, the yoga we teach swimmers?

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.

Is it just about being flexible? No. In a held pose your own body is the weight, and your muscles hold it there. Iyengar yoga builds strength and flexibility together, and the muscle work loads bone too. That matters for swimmers, because water carries your weight, so swimming puts little load on the bones (more in Weight Bearing Exercises For Osteoporosis).

What does swimming ask of your body?

Swimming asks for shoulders that turn over thousands of times a session, a long, steady trunk, and a breath that fits around the stroke.

• Shoulders. Swimmer’s shoulder is the most common overuse problem in swimmers, and knee pain from the breaststroke kick and lower back pain are common too (Nichols, 2015). A review of 12 studies of 1,460 competitive swimmers found shoulder pain in 91.3% of teenage swimmers aged 15 to 17, and in 19.4% to 70.3% of the other age groups, which included masters swimmers aged 23 to 77 (Feijen and colleagues, 2020). The good news: shoulder strength and range can be built, at any age. In the college athlete trial below, yoga improved shoulder flexibility.
• Breath. In 10 male competitive swimmers, taking a breath made a 25 metre freestyle sprint about 3% slower and changed how the shoulder moved through the stroke (McCabe and colleagues, 2015). Breathing is a trade-off in every length.
• Trunk and legs. A strong trunk keeps the body long and level in the water, and the legs drive the kick and the push off the wall.
• Mind. Before a race, or before a long open water swim, a calm head helps you swim your own race.

Research shows yoga builds what swimming depends on

What The Research Shows

One trial has tested yoga in swimmers, and it tested yogic breathing. No trial has yet tested yoga poses in swimmers. Not yet studied is not the same as not working. The other studies below are about the building blocks: athletes in general, mindfulness, and older adults.

• Yogic breathing went with more strokes per breath. 27 national and international competitive swimmers aged 13 to 20 were randomly split into two groups. One group did yogic breathing (sectional breathing, a fast bellows breath, and alternate nostril breathing with breath holds) for half an hour, five days a week, for one month. The other group waited. Compared with the waiting group, the breathing group improved on two lung measures (how much air they could breathe out in one full breath, and how much they could move in a minute) and took more strokes per breath. Hakked and colleagues, Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, 2017. Read the study
• Yoga improved flexibility and balance in college athletes. 26 male college athletes. The 14 who did yoga twice a week for 10 weeks improved in a sit-and-reach test, shoulder flexibility and one-leg balance; the 12 who did not, did not change. Polsgrove and colleagues, International Journal of Yoga, 2016. Read the study
• Yoga improved movement and mindfulness in college athletes. Over 12 weeks of two 90-minute yoga classes a week, the yoga group’s movement screen scores, including shoulder mobility and trunk stability, improved more than a comparison group’s, and their mindfulness scores were higher. The groups were not randomly assigned. Xu and colleagues, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022. Read the study
• Pranayama and meditation eased athletes’ stress and improved sleep. 44 recreational athletes aged 18 to 45 did six weeks of pranayama and meditation. Their stress, sleep, anxiety and mindfulness scores all improved. Saraswati and colleagues, Cureus, 2024. Read the study
• Mindfulness training helped athletes (a mindfulness review, not yoga). Across 9 trials with 290 athletes, mindfulness practice raised mindfulness scores a lot, and had moderate to large effects on psychological measures linked to performance. Bühlmayer and colleagues, Sports Medicine, 2017. Read the study Yoga poses and yogic breathing both produce mindfulness: more in Yoga And Mindfulness.
• Iyengar yoga improved balance, walking and getting up from a chair after 60. 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 the eyes closed, walking speed and getting up from a chair, with no serious adverse events. Not swimmers, but many masters swimmers are this age. Tiedemann and colleagues, Journals of Gerontology, 2013. Read the study

Breathing-muscle training is a different thing, and its trials are mixed. These trials used a hand-held device that makes breathing in harder. In 32 young elite swimmers, 12 weeks of it made no difference to swim times or lung function (Cunha and colleagues, 2019). In 43 swimming students aged 18 to 25, six weeks of it improved swim times and breathing measures (Tan and colleagues, 2023). So some trials found gains and others did not. It is not yoga, and we do not teach it.

A survey, not a trial: in 280 adult swimmers, those who were more mindful reported more “flow” in their races, through better control of their attention (Luo and Xu, 2026). It did not find a link to pacing.

The college athlete and recreational athlete trials tested yoga in general, not Iyengar yoga. Why the difference matters: Yoga Or Iyengar Yoga?

Swimming yoga: a supported chest opening before breath work

What types of yoga poses help a swimmer, and why?

Seven types of practice do most of the work for a swimmer: standing poses, shoulder and arm work, supported backbends, twists, balance work, restorative poses and breath work. We name the types 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. For a swimmer that means straight arms reaching overhead and straight legs, and they never get enough flexibility there until they build that straightness through yoga. Hips and shoulders are often stiff too, from short muscles and short, tight tendons.

• Standing poses build strong legs and a strong trunk. They work the legs, hips and the deep muscles of the trunk, one side and then the other. That is the base for a long, level body in the water and a strong push off the wall, and it loads the bones in a way the water cannot.
• Shoulder and arm work builds strength and range together. Swimming turns the shoulders over and over in one pattern. Poses that take the arms up, out and behind you, holding your own weight or working with a belt or the wall, build strength through the whole range, not just the part the stroke uses.
• Supported backbends open the chest and upper back. With a chair or bolster under you, the chest lifts and the upper back moves. That is the opposite of the rounded shape many of us sit in all day, and it gives the breath more room.
• Twists keep the spine turning to both sides. Freestyle rolls the body, and most swimmers breathe more to one side. Twists to both sides even that out.
• Balance work with a wall or chair sharpens attention. Water takes away the need to balance. Balance work on land brings it back, and holding steady trains a focused mind.
• Restorative poses help you recover. With props holding you, tired shoulders and legs settle after hard training.
• Breath work (yogic breathing) builds a fuller, steadier breath. In class you learn to open the chest and slow the breath. It is the practice studied in the one swimmer trial, and it steadies the mind before a race.

That is our teaching, known from practice. Every pose is done on both sides, with props so a stiff body can do it well.

Swimming yoga: shoulders that hold your weight

Swimming yoga: a twist to both sides

Swimming yoga Darwin: strong legs with a chair

How does yoga help a swimmer stay calm before a race?

A steady breath steadies the mind, and a held pose trains you to stay present. That is what we see in our students, and it is what Tamsin Cook describes: staying present in the marshalling room. A morning pranayama class leaves you calmer and more focused for the day. That is our experience as teachers, not a swimming trial.

A note on breath holds. The swimmer trial included breath holds. We teach breath holds with care, and not to people with high blood pressure or heart problems.

How much yoga does a swimmer 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, not a quick routine on the pool deck. Stuart does at least an hour of yoga and an hour of pranayama every day. Chris practises between one and three hours a day, and does pranayama almost every day.

Which classes should a swimmer start with?

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

• Beginner 1 classes: every day at Coolalinga (Shop T31, Coolalinga Central), and at Woolner (19B Bishop St, near Parap) on Monday 8.30am and 7.15pm, Saturday 10.30am and Sunday 11am, with those Woolner classes also live online. Standing poses, shoulder work, twists and more, set for your body.
• 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.
• Gentle Yoga: Fridays 10.15 to 11.15am, Woolner and live online. Slow and easy, with plenty of props.
• 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): once you have some beginner classes behind you, your teacher will tell you when to add one.

See every class time. For running as well as swimming, see our page on yoga for runners and swimmers, with what women runners and swimmers say about their yoga.

Can I do swimming yoga online?

Yes. You can join our live interactive online classes from anywhere, with a teacher who can see you and guide you. A swimming club or squad can book a live online group class.

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

How do I start swimming 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 swimming clubs and squads: group class, $149 a session, at your club, at our Woolner studio or live online. Book 10 sessions together for 10% off: contact us.

Once you have started, learn much more about how this yoga works. Our 2027 Masterclasses start on Monday 28 December. Over four months, you learn the poses and breath practices that make the biggest difference for arthritis, sleep and energy, pelvic floors, backs, wisdom, and anxiety, upsets and anger, in Darwin or live online.

See the timetable and book here

Start free, then pick the option that suits you.

Swimming yoga questions, answered

What is swimming yoga?

Swimming yoga is regular yoga classes for swimmers. Iyengar yoga builds strength and range in the shoulders, a strong trunk and legs, a fuller breath and a calm mind together. In the one trial of yoga in swimmers, a month of yogic breathing went with better lung measures and more strokes per breath. No trial has yet tested yoga poses in swimmers.

How can swimmers keep their shoulders moving freely?

Swimming works the shoulders in one pattern, thousands of times. Yoga takes the arms through their whole range while they hold weight, so strength and range are built together, and supported backbends free the chest and upper back. In a trial of college athletes, ten weeks of twice-weekly yoga improved shoulder flexibility.

Can yoga help swimmers breathe better in the water?

In a trial of 27 competitive swimmers, a month of yogic breathing practice improved two lung measures and the number of strokes per breath, compared with a group who waited. In class you learn to open the chest and slow and steady the breath.

Can yoga calm nerves before a race or an open water swim?

In our experience, yes. A steady breath steadies attention, and a held pose trains you to stay present. In a trial of 44 recreational athletes, six weeks of pranayama and meditation eased stress and anxiety. It has not been tested in swimmers before a race.

How do swimmers recover between training sessions?

Restorative yoga poses, with bolsters, blankets and chairs holding you, let tired shoulders and legs settle. Olympic champion Rebecca Soni said yoga helped her recover from her workouts. Our Restorative Yoga class runs on Saturdays at 4pm, at Woolner and live online.

Is there yoga for masters swimmers over 50?

Yes. Many of our students start in their fifties, sixties and beyond, and props let a stiff body do each pose well. In a Sydney trial of people with an average age of 68, twelve weeks of Iyengar yoga improved balance, walking speed and getting up from a chair.

Where can a swimmer try yoga in Darwin?

At our studios in Woolner (19B Bishop St, near Parap) and Coolalinga (Shop T31, Coolalinga Central). New to Flametree? Register for 2 free classes and 2 free ebooks, or just walk in and your first class is free. Swimming clubs can book a group class at $149 a session.

Can I do swimming 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 swimming club or squad can book a live online group class too.

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More for sportspeople: yoga for runners and swimmers, golf yoga, yoga for lawn bowls, and the whole Yoga For Sport section.

Sources: Hakked and colleagues, Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, 2017; Polsgrove and colleagues, International Journal of Yoga, 2016; Xu and colleagues, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022; Saraswati and colleagues, Cureus, 2024; Bühlmayer and colleagues, Sports Medicine, 2017; Tiedemann and colleagues, Journals of Gerontology, 2013; Cunha and colleagues, Porto Biomedical Journal, 2019; Tan and colleagues, Physiology and Behavior, 2023; Luo and Xu, Frontiers in Psychology, 2026; Feijen and colleagues, Journal of Athletic Training, 2020; Nichols, Current Sports Medicine Reports, 2015; McCabe and colleagues, Journal of Biomechanics, 2015; Sarah Berry, Mudgee Guardian, 29 July 2017; Yoga Journal (Rebecca Soni); US Masters Swimming (Tina Whiteside). Research via PubMed. Swimmers’ stories are their own accounts, not proof. This page is general information.