Flag Hunters Golf Podcast
Hello and welcome to Flaghunters ! It is a privilege to bring to you this powerful insight into playing better Golf. In all my years of being in the game of Golf from competing at a high amateur level, to caddying, teaching, and being a overall Golf geek, I have an insatiable, curiosity driven desire to get down to the bottom of what it takes to truly get better playing the game of Golf that we all unconditionally love. This has been one of the greatest journeys of my life and I am deeply grateful for all that Golf has given me. Thank you for joining me in this incredible journey. This is my ever evolving love letter to Golf. Jesse Perryman P.S. Please Rate, Review and Subscribe !
Flag Hunters Golf Podcast
Enhancing Your Golf Game Through Yoga with Lauren McMillan
Feel free to text me at (831)275-8804
Ever wondered how yoga could change your golf game? Join us as we unravel this intriguing concept with our fitness guru, Lauren McMillan. As a renowned Yoga instructor, Lauren brilliantly breaks down the golf swing and the key muscles needed for the perfect swing. It's not just about hitting the greens, but also about the balance, mobility, and strength Yoga brings to your game.
Lauren passionately discusses how the core, the back muscles, the traps, and the shoulders all contribute to generating power and stability. With the effective pelvic tilt and the mobility required in the hips, mid back, and lower back, yoga has a tremendous impact in supporting a golf swing. And yes, it's not just about strength but also the delicate balance and fluid mobility that yoga cultivates, absolutely essential for an efficient golf swing.
As we further investigate the synergy between Yoga and golf, Lauren shares the impressive performance of two elderly gentlemen who have been practicing yoga for years. She emphasizes how balance and mobility, achieved through yoga, can power up your golf swing. Finally, Lauren kindly introduces her website, Yogolfperformance, a treasure trove of resources for anyone looking to fuse Yoga with their golf game. Hop on this enlightening journey with us and discover yoga's transformative impact on your golf swing.
You can reach Lauren easiest thru www.yogolfperformance.com
Hello and welcome to the Flag Hunters Golf Podcast. I am your host, jesse Perriamon, bringing you my good friend and direct fitness advisor to the Flag Hunters Golf Podcast and her name is Lauren McMillan. Lauren was on earlier this year and we're going to have Lauren on several times a year just because of her knowledge and her advice and expertise to get the body in the best shape that you can get it in, so that you can go out and play the best golf that you can play pain-free. That would be cool Go out and play golf pain-free, free of stiffness or soreness or any of the normal aches and pains that, quite frankly, we do become accustomed to. And that's a pretty sad place to be, because when you're loose, you're usually feeling pretty good and your attitude's better and you're not holding back swinging a golf club. And that's what this podcast is all about helping you to play your best golf, and Lauren is going to help you to get your body in the best shape possible. So in this conversation, lauren and I talk about the different stages of the golf swing in which muscles are firing and, potentially, which muscles need to be stretched, mobilized and strengthened the most, especially as it relates to the golf swing. You can find Lauren easiest, in my opinion, on her website. Her website is wwwyogolfperformancecom, and the yoga it's all one word Yogolf, it's y-o and then golfperformancecom. And you can also find her on Instagram easiest at yogolf underscore performance. At yogolf underscore performance.
Speaker 1:Lauren McMillan is one of the finest young minds that I've been around. She has the unique ability to get in and answer the root cause of what is ailing you, to get you to function at a higher level, and not just on the golf course but just in daily life. And yoga is such a great medium. It's been around for many a millennia and it's such a great medium to meld mind, body and spirit. I mean, since I've been practicing under Lauren's tutelage on her website and her website's fantastic, by the way there's plenty of resources. She records all of her in-person sessions. She has an in-person studio in Jackson Mississippi, so if you're ever in the area, be sure to drop by and take a class from her.
Speaker 1:She, lauren, has just a great ability to answer the question, starting at the root level, and the one thing about yoga is that it does blend mind and body and spirit, and when you are firing on all cylinders in the golf course, that seems to be the case. You get into the zone where everything is clicking and your attachments change. You might hit a bad shot, but it doesn't really phase you because you're in the moment. And yoga is not only about getting in the moment. The breathing part of it is fantastic, the movement is excellent, but it also gets you in touch with your body. It gets you in touch with the internal sensations and those translate extremely well to the golf course, particularly if you're making a change that you can really zero in on that. Whatever key component that you're working on, yoga for me has been a revelation and just a deeper awareness of what is happening with my golf swing and can allow me to avoid the guessing, taking the guesswork out of it, because I know intuitively and sensationally what has been ailing me in that particular day, or maybe there might be a pattern, and yoga does provide that intimate internal sensations to get in touch with, potentially what could be bothering your golf swing and, along with it, just helps you make you feel great.
Speaker 1:So her name is Lauren McMillan. You can find me at Flag Hunters Golf Pot Easiest on Instagram. Send me a message, a thought, a concern or maybe somebody that you would want to hear in the future that I can get a hold of and have a conversation with. And then, lastly, I want to extend my prayers and send all the good, positive vibes that I could muster up over to Maui.
Speaker 1:Maui Strong is a great charity. Please donate. They will deploy your funds to those in need. I don't want to underscore the devastation that the locals and the business owners and the merchants have experienced an additional loss of life. My heart and my prayers go out to the Ohana there and my brothers and sisters, our brothers and sisters on Maui. Please send what you can. Maui Strong, once again, is a great charity. They will undoubtedly help get your funds out to those in need. And also, too, please I keep forgetting to like, rate and subscribe. I'm still not used to saying that a call to action at the end of the conversation or in the intro, but please remember this and keep your hearts and your prayers and send good vibes to those and Maui. It's going to be a long process of rebuilding and they are our brothers and sisters over there. Chairs everybody and have a fantastic week. And a big thanks to Lauren also for coming on and don't hesitate to get a hold of me and don't hesitate to get a hold of her and it'll definitely help your body and help your game and help your life for that matter. Cheers everyone and have a great week.
Speaker 1:This is Jesse Perriman from the Flag Hunters Golf Podcast, wishing everyone a great start to their week, and today on the pod we have a name that you're familiar with Ms Lauren McMillan. Lauren is the owner operator of yogolfcom. She is TPI certified golf digest, certified in the fitness space, but, more importantly, she's also a very talented yoga teacher. It has a great website where you can go in and look to see what you need to work on. Maybe you've got some soreness somewhere, or maybe you just want to do yoga and follow along with the yoga classes. She has it all on this website. Thanks, lauren, for coming on.
Speaker 2:Thanks, jesse, it's great to be back.
Speaker 1:So Lauren is a kind of an official fitness partner of the Flag Hunters Golf Podcast and before we started recording, we're going to dive into kind of a big subject here and we're going to tie it all in for you in a way that's understandable and applicable, more importantly. So let's dive right into it, let's do it, I'm ready.
Speaker 1:So to get everybody a context, we were just talking about how yoga can improve and really maximize the swing motion and we're going to kind of dive in to what muscles do what and where and how we can strengthen those muscles, make them mobile, reduce the soreness after play or even completely eliminate some of the ailments that you've had over the years that you play around. I could just tell you personally that playing golf pain-free at 53 is pretty liberating. It's really great and it is possible for those who want to go down that rabbit hole. Since we got Lauren here, let's get right into it. The backswing let's talk about it, let's get right into it. We're going to put Lauren on the spot. We're taking it away with our core, with our wrists, with our hands, with our shoulder.
Speaker 2:They're pun intended with the takeaway, that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what is happening in the backswing? What are the muscles that are being used? I think people only just think about the rotary aspect, how much turn, how much shoulder turn they can get. That's purely staying in the upper section of the body and they're completely forgetting about going from the ground up. That includes incorporating the ground. We're starting with the feet. The swing is going to start at the feet. The feet are what connect us to the earth when we are able to use the ground. I hear instructors say that all the time, use the ground. That's going to give us a strong and stable foundation as we come into the takeaway and move into the backswing. Then it goes up. From there. We're activating the glutes, the stabilizers, but also the hip rotators. There's a ton of stability and power there.
Speaker 2:We're using the obliques. So core is a big piece of it, but especially the obliques, those, the abdominal muscles on the sides of the waist, those are the big turners. The lats are right there with it. So you move around to the back of the body, the backside of the core, as it were. The lats are going to give you that turn as well, but then we also there's part of it in the arms as well. The adductors are going to help you move. Especially if you're a right-handed golfer and you're coming into your backswing, the left arm has to be able to come across in a way that's mobile and smooth and efficient, Because if you're lacking that mobility in your shoulders, you're going to have a harder time getting that shoulder turn that you want and all of that. So we're, you know, from the ground up, kind of all the way up. You kind of have to check those points, but those are really the big muscle groups that we're looking at as we come into the backswing.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, that's important. And what? Where in yoga can you say specifically, say, if you're teaching a class, what groups would you focus on? If there's a movement that you can say out loud, that would really help to get the listener to identify with what you're saying. Like just say, for example, the obliques. Like, obliques are huge.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Huge in the rotary action, the golf swing, you do. They do have to be strong. Yes, is there any specific poses or techniques that could be used that the listener can identify with?
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely there are many, I mean just off the top of my head.
Speaker 2:If you're looking specifically at the obliques, I would say any form of side plank that's going to give you core strength, but it is really focusing on what's happening in the obliques, but you could also. There are so many different poses and movements in yoga that are not just isolating muscle groups. They all work so beautifully together and it's nice because it mimics what is happening in the golf swing, because when you're swinging a golf club, you're not just moving your obliques, you're moving all these other pieces that we just listed from the ground up. So it's great to have a modality that mirrors that and helps you move in a way that is so complimentary of that.
Speaker 2:So, beyond something like a side plank, you could go into a standing series, such as like a high lunge. So you're getting from the ground up, you're strengthening your ankles, you're strengthening your feet, you're improving balance, you're strengthening your quads and your glutes. And then if you add some rotational movement, so if you're stabilizing in your lunge, and then you add like a twist or a turn with your upper body, you're using your core strength to create that strong, mobile upper body over a stable lower body. So usually, if I'm working with a golfer. That is what we're doing. We're getting these movements that kind of check all those boxes, building that strength and balance and stability, but then we're also using the core to create that turn. So a high lunge, a warrior one, warrior two, even something like a half moon. And if you're, if you're totally new to yoga, you're like what is she talking about?
Speaker 2:It's OK it's all on the site. But these are all movements that, like I said, they kind of check all these boxes and strengthen the quads, strengthen the the back, strengthen the obliques to support the swing, especially in the backswing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes 100 percent sense, you know, at least, at least in our methodology, with with John and Brad, we talk about drill one or module one. We take the club away against an impact bag to really activate all of these muscles that you just said, lauren, all of them, and through through these drills. For me personally, I didn't realize how much the obliques played a factor. They really do play a factor and we'll, and they do come big time into play post impact acceleration, which we'll talk about a little bit later in this conversation. So that that's pretty strong, lauren. That's a great explanation. Let's, let's take it to the top. Let's take this thing all the way to the top, where we can get that club back as far as we can with a good, with a good, with good rotation, a good pivot in the transition, the transition, which I've heard, and I wonder if you agree that the transition is the hardest part of the swing.
Speaker 2:And I think a lot of that has to do with the ability to properly and effectively shift your weight. And I think that when we're not actively aware and not actively practicing weight shift and balance in that regard, it can be really difficult and we could be doing ourselves a disservice and holding our swing back by not being aware of that process. So the transition I mean you're still working with kind of stabilizing everything that just happened in the backswing, but you also there's a ton that happens as you shift from the back leg to the lead leg and especially in the glutes, in the hamstrings. Those are then really kind of tapping into their power, digging into the ground. They're the ones that are you've loaded, Now you're exploding and those are where you're going to come into your downswing and then post up through those muscles. So weight shift is key. That's where balance comes into play a lot of the time. Single leg balance for sure, but also being able to really activate those glutes and hamstrings.
Speaker 1:Sure, I think that's so important. You talk about balance Now, in yoga there is a lot of balance movements, correct? Yes, oh, yes yeah that's a big one, Especially as we age. We just start to lose that balance if we're not working on it.
Speaker 2:Right, and this is one area where yoga benefits your golf game, but it goes so far beyond that and it supports your quality of life off the course as well. You don't have to worry so much about falling. You can study, show that balance poses can improve bone density, so that there's benefits from the deep inside out and when it comes to preventing falls, being able to create that weight shift, being able to put on your shoes without balancing your foot on a chair or something, I mean, it's just, it is so beneficial and something that people like a lot of these things don't pay attention to, but once you do, it can really turn things around in the best way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100 percent. Also, you mentioned since we're still in the transition to the golf swing, arguably the most important part of the golf swing. I mean, if you think about from a golf perspective, that there have been so many great players, men and women, who have had some funky back swings, but they boy when it comes to transition. We'll talk about Sergio Garcia or Jim Furick on the LPGA tour, a young lady named Brooke Henderson very powerful transition and you can see all of these muscle groups in action when it comes down to pressuring down the right leg, the glutes, and how they're handling and accepting not only the balance in transition but able to to get ready to really fire through another. Another thing in the transition that I could think of, lauren, as is the adductors, the stabilizing muscles, and that correlates to the balance right.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh 100 percent. Yeah, yeah, even though it doesn't look like it from the outside. Those stabilizers are firing on cylinders 100 percent.
Speaker 1:No, they are all in. Yeah, that's such a huge part that I don't think a lot of people really understand what's going on and in how just just a simple yoga practice can help facilitate all of this stuff and do it in a safe way. Yes, right, in a safe way. So you're getting a lot of bang for your buck. Not only does it benefit your golf game, but it's going to just benefit your life period.
Speaker 2:Yes. No it supports your body in the way that it needs to be supported. It supports your joints. I mean, granted, there are there are a lot of yoga practitioners out there that probably practice in a way that is not beneficial to the joints in the body. But for the most part, if you're going, if you're going into it with the awareness with, with a well trained instructor, things like that you are supporting your joints and your muscles and the breath and your balance and all these things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, let's. Let's stay in transition while I have this on my mind, especially at the top of my mind OK, lauren, we talked earlier about hand wrist mobility. Oh, yes, ok, so now in the transition, especially in, a lot of people are going to identify with this. In today's modern golf instruction, the sexy move is the shallowing move. Ok, so you can imagine, just getting to the top of your golf swing, your your left wrist straightens, the club kind of falls behind you and this is what you would be called slotting the club Right, slotting the club. And in a lot of, there's a lot of I see a lot of these same pros that are demonstrating that via Instagram and some of the other socials about the sexy shallowing move, like Sergio does it, burkendersen, all the people that I mentioned before. But you can't do it without supple wrists and forearms. They have to have to be mobile, they have to be somewhat mobile. So let's talk about wrist and hand and finger and forearm mobility and how that correlates.
Speaker 2:I think this is an area that people do not even think about.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And it's interesting too, because wrist injuries are like the number three injury site for golfers, yeah.
Speaker 1:So so what?
Speaker 2:do we do with that? Yeah, you have to have wrist and forearm mobility and without that mobility, that is when you're going to experience pain and I think a lot of the way that we live today we don't. We don't do a ton that requires a lot of strength in the hands or a lot of strength in the forearms and the wrists. So we're not set up from like a lifestyle perspective to really be working those tiny little muscles all the time. But once we do, we may find that it that it releases something that may be bothering us, like in the shoulder, in the neck, in the spine. It's all connected.
Speaker 2:We can open up one of those areas. It's gonna it's gonna have a positive cascade.
Speaker 1:That's interesting, that's very, very interesting. And when I think about just out the top of my head, think about the wrist, the wrist mobility, the hand mobility, forearms and everything, I mean that that they have to be able to accept and deploy the energy into the golf club, you know, through the golf shaft and into the golf, into the club face. You know, that's the last bit there, that's the only thing that's controlling the golf club or holding onto the golf club. So it seems to me that if you've got super tight wrists and forearms, or maybe if they're even a little bit brittle, that the body is going to sense that and it's going to you're not going to be able to really load the wrists and the forearms the way that you essentially can or you should, to be able to do all of the good work that you've done in your backswing, properly loading into your right side if you're a right handed golfer and then being able to transition that club and to be able to sustain those wrist angles to the proper wrist angles that you want, Because it's like if you're nursing any sort of wrist injury or a forearm injury or your fingers are a little bit sore, there's a high likelihood that you're going to start chucking the club from the top and you're going to just blow a lot of energy that you have stored, that you want to release onto the golf ball.
Speaker 1:You know impact and beyond, so that makes a hundred percent sense. And so you know, in some, in some of the yoga that I've done through you, I've noticed that a lot of the poses, especially the recovery stuff there's, I get a lot of bang for my buck in my wrists and my forearms.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's something that I love to teach and to show people are these, these movements that open up the wrist, the hands, the forearms. And once they do them for the first time emphasis on like this is the first time they've ever done this they are so surprised at how much tension and tightness they are experiencing. They're like I had zero idea. But it can really. That can be kind of an aha moment for them and can really set them on a path that is going to benefit them in the in the long run.
Speaker 2:And just going back quickly to the connection between the top of the backswing and the energy that you have to transfer as you're swinging the club and as you're trying to transfer that energy into the hands and then the club itself, if there is a blockage between all the strength and power that you have in your back and your shoulder, if that energy is then unable to freely flow through the arm and into the wrist and the fingers and all of that it's, it's not going to happen.
Speaker 2:So you could be training all these other things and trying all these other techniques, but if you're not giving the attention to the very section of your body that is connected to the club, it's going to be an uphill battle, so we have to have the mobility but also the strength. So you're right. So with the yoga, there is a ton of trying to open up and release tension that we're holding there. But there's also like through through these body weight movements, such as even being like a quadruped position where you're on your hands and knees, that's requiring strength. But taking it further to things like planks, downward dogs, things that are waking up the upper body and translating down into the fingertips, that's all going to correlate together to create this movement and this flow of energy that is a lot more efficient.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. See. I mean, if you think about, you tie the whole thing together at transition where, if you have supple wrists and mobile forearms and strong forearms, strong wrists, the bones are dense and you have the mobility, you're going to be able to sustain the lag, you're going to be able to use that energy that you've, that you've really worked hard, that your body has worked hard to create through the ground up and then come into, come into impact. So impact there's a lot of stuff going on at impact, laura.
Speaker 2:For sure, there absolutely is.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of stuff there's, you know, impact. It's funny and you see the correlations of all the greats with their impact positions and there's not too many funky impact positions out there, but it really brings to light what we're talking about. Coming from transition, showering the golf club, coming into hitting the golf ball and presumably having your glutes, your ankles, your forearms, your wrists and everything prepped and ready to accept impact and beyond. We'll talk about just the moment beyond impact. This is a huge one. So what I see? Obliques, core, obliques core, your glutes, everything starts firing like crazy. Mm-hmm. We're hoping that the pivot doesn't stall, we're hoping that the rotation still continues to go through the strike and beyond. What do we have to do from a body perspective?
Speaker 2:We have to use the ground.
Speaker 2:Ok, we're using the ground, all right, and that's where a lot of that power we mentioned earlier, kind of posting up through the quads, the glutes and the hamstrings, that utilizing the feet and the ankles, to being able to not only accelerate into the ground but to be able to control it. I think it's huge. But right alongside that, so there's a ton of strength, power and mobility no, sorry, not mobility strength, power and stability that comes from that movement. But, like you just said, this is also where the core, the back muscles, the traps, the rhomboids all of that really starts to fire. The shoulders are getting involved.
Speaker 2:But beyond that, I often see a lot of the great golfers have similar abilities to tilt their pelvis in a way that supports them in getting the ball off the ground. So, having this effective pelvic tilt and that involves strength in the glutes, that involves having the mobility in your spine and in your lower back to do that in a way that is conducive to a strong golf swing, that is a key characteristic that I think a lot of great golfers have in common. So having that mobility in your hips, having that mobility in your mid back, even the amount of mobility that we're supposed to have in the lower back, which is not much, but it is there that is all going to determine how much power you're generating into the ground, how much power you're creating as you move through impact, but then also how much stability and control you're going to have After the ball is off the ground.
Speaker 1:Yeah, stability and control after the ball. That's such a great point, lauren. And that's going to lead me right into my next question. As far as in the style in which we swing, a lot of people will say when impact happens, the golf swings over. As we look at it, it's far from over. It's far from over, right. The golf swing will be over if you stall your pivot, if you early extend that's a buzzword these days for early extension You're going to chuck your hands and your your wrist at it and you're going to. It's going to be a big flip and you're going to be left to potluck, to how you time it that day. But there are ways that you can strengthen these components of your post impact golf swing. So we're talking about the obliques, we're talking about the glutes, we're talking about the shoulders and everything as one Just really firing through the golf ball.
Speaker 1:What in yoga can can really facilitate this all important movement, especially through the strike? You want to keep accelerating. So you've got to have some gas left in the car, right? You know what I'm saying? You have some gas left. So as far as that, well, before I ask this question, I'm going to make a comment.
Speaker 1:You know Norman was a great Canadian golfer most people that listen to this podcast know who he is and John Erickson saw him change his shirt in the parking lot and his whole left side of his body was ripped. It was almost like he was kind of. It was almost like it was deformed, like the left side of his body was completely shredded and the right side of his body was just kind of normal and that's because he really ripped through impact Interesting, yeah right, so he really was. It was kind of it's kind of a trip, but he said it was almost like it was he was deformed. So you know, since we're focusing on rotating through the strike and these muscles are happening, what can we do? What is? Is there yoga positions or is there things in yoga that help facilitate all of this? Strengthen this, mobilize this?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, absolutely. Things that come to mind first chair pose a lot of people in a yoga class.
Speaker 2:do not like chair pose because it is really hard and it requires it requires balance from the ground up. It requires a ton of strength in the quads and the glutes. But again, those are our power sources. So the more we can kind of build and support those, the more power we're going to have. But alongside that, as we've discussed in previous conversations, we also have to have the mobility in our joints in order to effectively transfer that power and to do so in a safe way that doesn't cause us aches and pains after the fact. So anything that's going to help us then work on mobility in the ankles, mobility in the hips. So in the sense of yoga, we're looking at any form of of lunge. I love some dynamic lunges where, whether it's a high dynamic lunge or a low one, with your knee on the ground, these movements that are going to to help create mobility. But we're also doing it in a way where we are very aware of activating muscles and firing muscles. So you're getting more bang for your buck. You're getting the mobility but you're also getting a ton of strength. At the same time we have to have, like you said, strengthen the obliques and in the core. So, again, going back to anything that that has kind of that rotational motion, but done so in a way where you are actively engaging your core and not just twisting for the sake of twisting. So when you kind of combine those two again it mimics what we're actually doing in the swing and it makes it a lot easier to translate when we are on the course. So, yeah, any, any standing position, any. The great thing is, a lot of these movements that we do or that I teach in yoga or that are on yoga performance, anything like that, a lot of them benefit kind of all these aspects of the swing because they're all, in one way or another, supporting balance, supporting stability, supporting strength from the ground up, supporting mobility and flexibility. So, a lot of the standing postures that I just mentioned, anything where you can kind of dynamically shift your weight and build that strength and really practice utilizing the ground and activating ground reaction forces.
Speaker 2:But then, beyond that, poses that are going to open up some of these areas. Really open up through the quads, open the hamstrings, open the hips. We hold so much tension in our hips and the glutes and when we build a lot of strength there, yes, that's going to give us power but we have to also make sure that that power can flow freely. And when we do that, when we open up the glutes and the hips and other areas that are holding too much tension, that's when we start to eliminate or at the very least decrease some aches and pains that we might be dealing with, like lower back pain. People start to see that stuff disappear. They're not as sore during around or after around. They're able to bounce back more quickly. So you're looking at anything like pigeon figure four stretches, anything that's going to restore and enhance joint mobility in the hips Again, any kind of twisting to help open up the mid back, open up and stretch the core in addition to strengthening it, open up the chest and the shoulders, supporting postural muscles.
Speaker 2:I mean, obviously I'm just going on a tangent now, but all that it all goes together in such a beautiful synchronous way that supports all of these things. And, on top of that, it's teaching you how to do so in a mindful way, to activate the breath with it and to really build that awareness, so that you understand what your body is telling you and how to work with your body and not against it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's such an important piece right there, Lauren, and that's very well said. As far as the holistic whole thing about yoga and what you're teaching, it's just your one stop shop. You're connecting all the dots, you know, within a 45 minute classroom session of all of this and, you know, for those of us who don't have a lot of time to go and bang out at two hour workout at the gym, this is a really cool alternative, and one of the things that I've really been benefiting from is the meditative part, the awareness part. So when you are working on specific movements or poses, not only are you aware of the movements and poses, but you're really connected to your body via the breath, and singular focus is really a thing that's missing in today's kind of technological bastard that we've created. You know, and that really brings you back to your you know the practice of yoga, at least from my experience, and I'm sure a lot of people would probably empathize with the same comment is that it really brings me back to center. Yes, it brings me back to being present in my body and not time traveling all over the place, because, you know, I use the analogy of a, of a hose that's going out of control with a bunch of water. That's our minds too. Yeah, oh boy, you know, our minds can be like an M team serpent and left unchecked to have something to anchor us into the moment, into the now, while focusing on these movements strength, the strengthening the mobile, the mobilization of each muscle group, tendons things that we've talked about in this conversation is is huge. I mean, I it's. There's a lot of. I don't know if you heard this, but there's a lot of NFL guys that are practicing yoga these days.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, especially the linemen.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like the offensive, defensive linemen are practicing yoga or they're practicing some sort of a Tai Chi, things like that. That have you know flow movement.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, no, it's been very cool to see there's kind of there's kind of this mindset shift in the industry of fitness and training. That I think is so good and the timing is is awesome, but moving toward movements, mindfulness practices, making fitness and training and all of that more rejuvenating and supportive, and not not something that is punishing and destroying our bodies, but something that is helping our bodies heal, helping our minds heal and helping us live and move in a way that is much more conducive to longevity.
Speaker 2:So, yes, I've seen it in football, I've seen it in other sports. I think it is so good and I wish it were had been around sooner. But hey, better better late than never, and I'm glad to see it moving into the golf sphere as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's, it's great. There's a couple I don't know if I told you this, lauren, but there's a couple guys at my club that are in their late 60s, early 70s that have been practicing yoga for 20 plus years and they don't move normal. They move like somebody much, much younger.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, in their late 60s, early 70s. So, listeners, if you can imagine an older gentleman who's about five, eight, five nine, that can still get the ball out there about 290 yards because their movement is so good, that's the possibility. I mean it's great, they move, they move just, they move just well or better than I do.
Speaker 2:Seriously, I mean they're crazy gummies, but they swear by it you know, but at the testament to this idea of you use it or lose it, right. And I think, if golfers are dealing with stiffness and aches and pains and and feel like it's too late for them, that's not true at all, like it might take a little while and you have to be okay with being a beginner, but you will see results and you will feel better and you will move better and play better.
Speaker 1:Well, one thing about yoga golf performance. That's cool. I'm sure a lot of people are going to be able to identify with this. I'll, I'll, I'll go ahead and say it that I've gone to a few yoga classes and I'm like one of the few guys that are in there and it's can be a little bit embarrassing because it's an awkward, you can't get into some of the positions or you're not mobile enough and and the instructor is being encouraging. But there's a bunch of women in there that are just like I call them flexi beasts. They just, they're just just rubber bands. They bend every which way and they're super into it and but the more you do it, the better you get, and the more you do it, the better you feel. And if you feel good, you're going to play good. If you feel like crap you're, you're going to highly unlikely that you're going to play well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean you could do it, but it takes a lot of mental energy. So how can people find you learn?
Speaker 2:The website is at yogulfperformancecom all one word. You can find me on Instagram. I post a lot there. That's at yogulf, underscore performance. Yeah, and I'm posting posting videos all the time. The site includes, I believe, the.
Speaker 2:The trial code for the flag hunters, golf pod listeners is still active, so we'll be sure to to make sure that people still have that. But regardless, everybody gets a free seven day trial. So hop in, try some of the classes. What's beautiful is that you don't you don't have to have the experience of going into a studio or a gym class and feeling embarrassed Because it meets you where you are on your schedule. Even if you have just three minutes to practice a breathing exercise or two to loosen up your back, that's on there. And then if you want something that's as long as 60 minutes, that's on there too. So, yeah, that's how people can find me. And in addition to the reported classes, there's a weekly live class every week. It's just 30 minutes, open to all levels, but that's a really fun opportunity to to have a little more interactive experience and you can kind of get more of that studio class feel. But again, if folks aren't able to make that, it's always uploaded the next day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and those, those are always on the site, right, those are all of the past classes, yes, okay, well, that's cool. I'm a member of this website. You know I'm a student of Lauren's and and I could definitely vouch for it. I love it, I absolutely love it. I'm a big fan. I mentioned Lauren's got some recovery videos that are great that you could, you could tap into at the end of a round or at the end of the day, especially before you go to bed, cause I've been doing the recovery videos, the recovery practices, pretty much every night for about the last I don't know two and a half weeks and I've slept great as a result of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome. I think those are my favorite too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wake up the next morning going pretty good, really good. Yeah, there's no sore nose or stiffness or anything like that.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So you know once again, lauren is is definitely the fitness advisor to the flag hunters golf podcast. We're going to have Lauren on quite a bit. You have her contact information and if you have any questions for her, you can also contact me and I'll be sure to make sure that she gets those as well. Yo, golf, yo, what's the name of the website? Again, it's your golf performancecom. Yo golf performancecom. And then you can find her on Instagram under the same right, isn't it your golf?
Speaker 2:Yes, If you look up your golf performance, you'll find it Yo golf performance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I and I'll probably start reposting some of Lauren's stuff as well, because I think it's really important and it's benefiting me and it will undoubtedly benefit all of those who want to take a little bit of a different path to get their body feeling pretty good. Yoga is a wonderful way to connect with your body, to keep you in the present moment. A lot, of, a lot of mental coaches in golf will talk about that. Sometimes it's hard to figure out how to do that, but yoga definitely is one of the pathways to do that and get your body feeling right. And yoga has been in existence for what? Thousands of years. Thousands of years? Yeah, it's been around for a while. It's proven time and time again.
Speaker 1:A lot of professional athletes and just normal people have engaged in it to great benefit, and I see it every every time I see those two guys at my club I'm just like, oh man, there they go, the freaking ageless wonders out there bombing at 280 down the middle still, and they're like two and three handicaps too by the way, oh wow.
Speaker 2:Well there you go. I mean, at the very least, if you just want a lower handicap or if you want to play scratch that's right.
Speaker 1:It'll help you get there, that's right. All right, lauren, thanks for coming on again.
Speaker 2:Thank you, a pleasure as always.