World Cup winning team practiced Yoga

Germans have won the World Cup and kudos to them. It was a grueling battle to reach the top and it was a dream comes true after years of intensive efforts and practice.

Interestingly, reports surface that the German football team in a bid to excel in the field, had taken to practicing Yoga, an age old Indian practice that helps promoting healthy body and healthy mind. They had been doing Yoga under the guidance of German-American yogi Patrick Broome.

Attending yoga lessons was not mandatory, it’s purely voluntary, said Harald Stenger, Director of Communications for the German national team as reported in Gulf News. “Any player who wants to attend is free to make an appointment with the yoga trainer or he can attend group sessions,” he added. Among its ranks, the German team the players such as Arne Friedrich, Jens Lehmann, Simon Rolfes and Thomas Hitzlsperger are reported to have attended these sessions on a regular basis.

Broome, a specialist yoga instructor and guru to international pop stars Madonna and Sting, has been working with the German team for the last three years after he was introduced to former coach Jurgen Klinsmann by Oliver Bierhoff.

Klinsmann then asked Broome to work with his players and, after some initial resistance, he has now become accepted as part of the German national team’s medical staff.

Coach Joachim Loew too vouched for this ancient practice associated with meditative practices in Buddhism and Hinduism in India. “We have sessions only in the mornings and players are free to attend. Most of them enjoy being there. It’s a great idea as I am sure it helps our players,” Loew said.

There cannot be more positive testimony about the importance and efficacy of this age old Indian practice for mental and physical fitness, said Kanubhai Brahmbhatt, a Brand Ambassador for International Yoga Alliance and founder Director of Yog Setu. He has started Yoga training center in DesPlaines and has already enrolled Indian and Koreans as students.

Madhu Patel