The Seahawks’ Super Bowl victory sent happy repercussions through the expected constituencies — namely, Seahawks fans, the anti-Manning crowd, proponents of the color green — but it also lit up a community not usually excited about football: yogis.
Immediately after the game, the yoga community did the Internet equivalent of back flips when the Seahawks won — rushing to Twitter and Facebook to celebrate the accomplishment — because ever since a prominent article in ESPN The Magazine revealed that the Seahawks practiced yoga together and had meditation sessions, Seattle became yoga’s football team. The article’s illustration of quarterback Russell Wilson in lotus pose became catnip to a yoga crowd eager to shed the image of candles and incense and stretchy people bent into pretzel shapes.
Carson wrote a YogaDork post on the ESPN article last August that was shared widely on the Internet. It received another big lift when the Seahawks made the Super Bowl. The Seahawks’ success suddenly seemed inextricably tied to Coach Pete Carroll’s new-age approach to his team, which includes an extensive support team for his players’ well-being, led by a sports psychologist, Mike Gervais. When the Seahawks beat the Broncos in dominating fashion, the image of the browbeating dictatorial coach took a wallop. In its place, meditation might become the new black.“I think it’s really exciting,” said Jennilyn Carson, a yoga teacher who writes the blog YogaDork. “When you hear that football players do yoga, it changes the image, helps make it more accessible. Yoga isn’t just for girls, or for the thin and flexible. In fact, it’s just the opposite. It helps people who aren’t thin or flexible.” (MORE)
Source: NY Times
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