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Yoga For Every
Athlete
This fact is not acknowledged by Indians alone. Yoga has won many admirers abroad as well. Among them are highly qualified and trained specialists like this author who was the US Olympic coach for both the Seoul and Barcelona fencing teams and three-time US Pan American coach. He has been applying physical as well as mind strengthening techniques of yoga on his students with astounding results. The success stories can, perhaps, make many in India to look at yoga with new respect. When he writes on the subject, he brings to it the simplicity and objectivity of a foreigner. All the superficial varnish which tends to portray it as some kind of a magical practice is strictly peeled off. What comes out is a scientific regimen which leads one to a path where one can draw the power to achieve perfect harmony – inner and outer, physical and mental – from within. As a child, Kogler lived in the northern part of Hungary. This area was occupied by Slovak communists, after World War II, and was annexed into communist Slovakia. Feeling helpless, frustrated and hopeless when 13, he began reading books on yoga – which were forbidden then. He learned to observe and control his body. Scientific experiments conducted on men like Swami Rama, who could cause two areas about two inches apart on the palm of his right hand to show a temperature difference of about 10 degrees Fahrenheit and could raise his heartbeat at will from 70 per minute to 300, further fascinated him. He applied such techniques on athletes with wonderful results and yoga became a lifelong commitment. In this book, he discusses Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga exercises. Many of them have been modified so as to improve one’s sport performance. Lot of stress is laid on yogic breathing, abdominal breathing, breath awareness and complete yoga breath. For a sportsman, giving off his best during competition proper is a daunting proposition. He may be doing wonders during training. But when performing for the top honours before large crowds, he may be a bundle of nerves. The author teaches them to solve this problem as well. The details of various asanas are well known, especially in India. Kogler’s remarkable achievement lies in selecting various sets for golf, gymnastics, ice skating, ice hockey, shooting, archery and weightlifting etc. The most fascinating are the sections where he teaches you to understand your subconscious mind and sharpen voluntary attention skills. He has had the privilege of being Czechoslovak fencing coach and producing world class fencers. After defecting to the US in 1981 after the Moscow Olympics, he also became a US National, Pan American and Olympic coach. His personal and professional experiences are fully reflected in the book. This is one tome which is not just to be read but also to be put into practice. One may not become a world-class athlete, but will surely see a marked improvement in one’s general health. And if one is already in that upper-crest bracket, well, the book can provide that extra edge which takes one from silver to gold.
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