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
Unlocking Golf Potential: Lauren McMillin on Integrating Yoga for Enhanced Performance and Mindful Breathwork
Our conversation emphasizes the profound link between yoga practice and improved golf performance. By focusing on the mind-body connection, mobility, breath control, and embracing discomfort, golfers can cultivate resilience and enhance their game.
• Importance of yoga for mind-body connection in golf
• Benefits of increased mobility and flexibility as one ages
• Ground reaction forces and their impact on swings
• Deep breathing practices to manage stress on the course
• Embracing discomfort in yoga translates to performance resilience
• Yoga as a moving meditation fosters connection to the present moment
• Holistic approach to golf improvement through yoga practice
• Individualized training and yoga options available for golfers
Go to www.yogolfperformance.com for more information.
You can also follow Lauren on Instagram @yogolf_performance
I do get mail via my Buzzsprout but I cannot respond. Those who have questions and wanna reach me directly, please text me (831)275-8804
Hello, this is Jesse Perriman of the Flyers Golf Podcast, welcoming you to another great week. Here we are in February of 2025. It's going to shape up to be a great year, y'all, and if you do some of these things that I have on the podcast, especially this offseason, you're going to come out smelling like a rose come springtime and there's green grass and golf to be played and tournaments to be played in and good results to be had by all, and this week is no exception. For longtime listeners of the podcast, you're very familiar with Lauren McMillan. Lauren is the owner of yogolfperformancecom. She is in the Jackson Mississippi area, has a studio there, so if you're ever in town and want to go to a live yoga class, she is available. I will make sure to put her info in the show notes.
Speaker 1:Brief intro we cover a lot of the mind body connection with golf. We really get into the depths of what a yoga practice is, what it looks like and what are the potential results and how it can help our golf games, how it can expand our consciousness and help us just to move and feel better and to be more in touch with what's going on internally. Going on internally and, in my experience in my yoga practice personally, I'm finding that I'm becoming more internally referenced. So if anything goes awry out there, I kind of check within myself first to see if my internal environment was actually primed to hit a golf shot and I didn't interfere with negative thoughts or time traveling. And yoga has been a really big part of it thus far yoga combined with meditation. But yoga is a flowing meditation and it does get you connected to your breath, connected to your body and connected to the ground in more ways than one. So thank you, lauren, for coming on and cheers to everyone and have a fantastic week.
Speaker 1:Hello, this is Jesse Perryman from the Flag Hunters Golf Podcast, bringing you one of my favorite humans on the planet. Her name is Lauren McMillan. Lauren is from Jackson, mississippi, where it's nice down there in mid-February or we're approaching mid-February, and she is owner of Yo Golf. It's actually a trademark name Yo Golf, yo Golf Online Studio. She also teaches live. If you're ever in the Mississippi area and the Jackson area, I'm going to make sure that all of her contact information is directed onto the show notes so that you can go spend a session with her too, or or have her work on your on your fitness. She's also TPI certified, golf digest certified, as well as one heck of a yoga instructor, lauren. Thanks for coming on, my dear.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me back and thank you for that lovely intro.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. You deserved it, you earned it. You just got back from the PGA show in Orlando.
Speaker 2:I sure did, and it was not warm and sunny there.
Speaker 1:I can tell you that unusual for that time of year being in Orlando. Normally it's perfect, right.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, I mean, luckily we missed. We missed the harsh winter weather that passed through Mississippi, but it was still. You know, we got some cold rain, but it was still a fantastic time.
Speaker 1:And you presented I did.
Speaker 2:I presented for the second year on the health and fitness stage. This year I talked a lot about balance training for golfers simple and efficient ways for golfers of all levels to learn how to use the ground more effectively. Learning how to activate the joints and the muscles in a way that is really going to give them more power, better weight shift honestly, all the things that you could want.
Speaker 1:That's sounds awesome.
Speaker 2:It was yeah, Thank you.
Speaker 1:We'll get right into it and and you also real quick. As a reiteration, you do have the online yoga studio specifically for golfers.
Speaker 2:Yes, that is correct. Yes, yoga performance it is. There's, I think, close to 200, maybe more than 200 classes on there now, varying by length. Some are as short as five minutes, some as long as 60 by level. Swing concerns common injuries, anything that you're looking for in regards to your golf game. It is there to help you move, feel and play better.
Speaker 1:And I am a member of that particular site, which I'm very proud of, and I have gone through a lot of your protocols. The one protocol that I really like is your warm up protocol, your quick start warm up protocol.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, that's a cool one.
Speaker 2:Little five, six minute, you know. Just get the joints and the muscles loose and ready for that first tee shot. Yes, and a lot of them are done standing where you don't even have to get down on the ground or on the grass, if that's something people are not interested in.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, it's nice when, when you don't have time and you go from your car to the first tee and you can just bust that out real quick, um, instead of swinging just super tight and who knows where the ball is going to go on the first tee, that's right. Loose primes your body.
Speaker 2:Yes, and it makes a difference, even though it's just a few minutes. It is quick, it is efficient, it's targeting all the areas that we want, so that you are ready to go and you don't have to wait until the fifth hole to feel warmed up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, while you're making a bunch of bogeys in the first four holes holes because your body is just tight and just doesn't want to loosen up You're not giving it the proper commands. So you know, I'm a yoga practitioner and I'm starting to see it show up in my game. I'm starting to see it show up in my golf swing.
Speaker 2:And you know how it's showing up, how I'm hitting the ball harder.
Speaker 1:Okay, so more, yes. So I'm a 54 year old married male that has been in decent shape my entire life, but the practice of yoga has been different. So a lot of really good golf instructors want you to take a full backswing, a real full 90 degree backswing, and there's reasons for that. It sets up the downswing. For what? What? Your arms and your hands and your body and your feet and the connection to the ground, all of them, what they have to do. It's hard to set up the downswing if you can't get your shoulders rotated properly.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So some of the asanas have really helped to propagate that quite seamlessly into my golf swing. So I don't have to blow out my nervous systems by speed training. Not that speed training is a bad thing, but it hasn't worked for me. But yoga has.
Speaker 2:Interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, elaborate.
Speaker 2:Interesting, but I'm not surprised. Yeah, elaborate Interesting, but I'm not surprised. You know, I think that some of the speed training, some of the more intense forms of exercise whether golfers want to get into strong weightlifting or like hit works at hit workouts or intense cardio, like you said like there's nothing inherently wrong with those, those but when we take it down to the basics and start to address our mobility, our flexibility, our stability, connect with the breath, connect with the nervous system, we can then safely and effectively do those other forms of movement and have greater results, because we've taken the time to tone it down a bit and to address things from a base level. And I think that's exactly where yoga and similar movements come into play.
Speaker 1:How important is it? How important is it to have a mobile, supple body, especially as somebody ages, I mean.
Speaker 2:I would say I am biased, but I also feel like it's correct to say that it is incredibly important. It's important if you want to age gracefully and to move well into your later years and to maintain or restore bone density or to not worry about falling, let alone being able to swing a golf club and playing golf for as long as you possibly want. So I would say it is pretty, pretty, darn critical.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm finding that out. You know, when I first joined, first joined your golf performance and went through some of the movements, I was embarrassed Really. Oh gosh, yes, I had nobody, nobody watching me. I was doing in my living room on my mat and I was embarrassed for myself of how really immobile I had become, even by just doing some of the rudimentary stretches that I thought were good and like I'm good. Okay, so you know I could touch my toes, I'm good, you know I'm good using all these kind of general check marks, right, but little did I know how not good I was and how that translated onto the golf course.
Speaker 1:I decided last year to go into hyper observational mode. I had specific goals for each tournament I played in, but I didn't finish well in all but one, and my observations had come from lack of mobility. I was getting stiffer, tighter, and I'm a meditator tighter and I'm a meditator. I have a good command over my mind most of the time, but my body was reacting to not being properly mobilized, especially in cold weather and warm weather. It's you can get away with a little bit, but here in California on the coast it were pretty cold relative to the rest of the nation, especially in the summertime, so it put even more of a spotlight of what I needed to do this off season, like, okay, I need to take my yoga practice to another level and really focus on it. Focus on it as the primary driver of what I need to do to prepare for 2025 and um.
Speaker 1:And one thing that I'm really finding out through this and I want you to comment on this, lauren is that through the practice, there's been additional benefits that I did not foresee. So it's like a active waking meditation, the connection to the breath and being grounded. While being in some of these asanas or postures or movements that are taking me out of my physical comfort zone, I'm becoming more ingratiated and comfortable, while being uncomfortable because it's focusing the breath in some of these compromised or what I would perceive as compromised positions or movements. But the more I focus on the breath, more my body acquiesces to the demands that I'm asking it to do and the more I can get comfortable and get into that, and it's starting to translate onto the golf course where my mind is being more I'm allowing, I can have more control over my mind and not letting it go just absolutely psycho, because I'm actually predispositioning my both nervous systems into environments where I normally wouldn't do it without the practice of yoga.
Speaker 2:You're starting to take it with you. Yeah, yeah, I have a couple of thoughts. First, what you said about being embarrassed at first and doing some of my classes in your own living room. That's one of the whole reasons why I created the website, because a lot of golfers know that yoga and yoga related movements are good for them. But one of the first excuses I hear is oh, I'm not going to go to a studio because I don't want to embarrass myself and I don't know what I'm doing, so this takes that out of it.
Speaker 2:But going back to the way that yoga helps us first of all build that bridge, or rebuild or even uncover that bridge between the mind and the body and the breath, I feel like a lot of other forms of movement and exercise yes, it's there, but they do not focus primarily on having those strong connections. I think when you have a yoga practice you're able to kind of identify those things a little more clearly if you practice other forms of exercise. But the more you stick with a yoga practice, the more it goes beyond the physical and it goes beyond the poses and beyond the stretching and, like you just described, you're able to notice more clearly what's going on in your mind. You're able to feel and identify what is going on with the breath right now. Where am I breathing, how is that affecting me? And the more you practice that and the stronger it gets and the easier it becomes.
Speaker 2:Things happen like you just described, where you're suddenly able to roll up your yoga mat and take it into life and onto the golf course and it then becomes this really powerful tool that you recognize, that you have with you at all times, so when you're on the golf course you can rely on your training and those tools because it's right there with you.
Speaker 2:You didn't leave it in the gym or you didn't leave it at home, so it becomes an anchor. It becomes something that you can rely on and bring you back to yourself when things start to pop up like a chattering mind or tightness in your shoulders, and that awareness becomes a lot greater. There's a golfer that I've been working with out of Atlanta and it's been amazing to see how, like when he and I first started working together and I see this with a lot of golfers They'll be like oh, my back bothers me, my shoulder bothers me, and we were just kind of start from there. But now the conversation is more like. He's able to see the connection between how one part of his body is compensated for something else. He's able to feel how the energy is shifting. He's able to work with his breath to help relax and release tension that's in his body and he's. He's playing a lot better and he's moving a lot better. So it's pretty remarkable to see how it all works when it comes together.
Speaker 1:In that regard, yeah, and the thing that we talked about before we hit the record button, lauren. I want to make sure that I reiterate, because I've got a lot of questions this offseason. I've had a few questions of, okay, how do you get under par and want to go more under par, how can you get past certain external barriers on the golf course, whatever that is. So I've gotten that from a few players, I've gotten it from my some of my friends and I've gotten it via email and DMS on Instagram Like, hey, can you talk about that? And I and it's there's not one specific answer. I think it's holistic, yes, and and that's putting your continuously putting your nervous system in situations where you are uncomfortable. That's the gateway, that's the key. In my opinion. That's sort of what we're coming up with.
Speaker 1:And just in my last few practices, my last three yoga classes, where I've been really uncomfortable like whoa man, this just doesn't feel, you know. But of course, after yoga is done, I'm like, yeah, I can't wait to go back and do that again, you know. But how this is translating onto the golf course is that my thoughts are no longer I'm not going to say they're no longer but the energetic charge between an external desire, and actually what I'm doing is lessening Meaning, for example, I'm going to do things to get ridiculously used to being under par. So who do I have to become to achieve that?
Speaker 2:I think you become like you said earlier. You become the person who is comfortable with being uncomfortable and knowing how to respond in uncomfortable situations. In a yoga class and during a practice, like you described, there are situations where you're holding a pose for a very long time and it is not exactly fun. But and you and I talked about this before I don't remember if this is an exact quote or just something I've heard, but I've been told time and time again the moment that you want to get out of a pose, that's yoga, that's the moment of transformation, because you're learning how to quite literally sit with yourself and to recognize what's going on in your brain right now. What are you saying to yourself? Are you choosing these destructive, negative thoughts and you're just holding on to tension and anger? How is your body feeling? Are you unnecessarily gripping your muscles or are you able to see where you can relax, where you can soften, what you can let go of, and can you breathe into it? And when you're able to?
Speaker 2:Of course it takes practice and it takes time, but when we're able to recognize the difference between the two and then recognize our own tendencies, that's the aha moment where we can start to make little bitty changes here and there, and it doesn't. It takes time, yes, and it takes practice, but something so subtle and the smallest shift, I like to equate it to like if somebody changes your grip position. It could be a very tiny movement and it takes some time to get used to, but it makes all the difference in the world. And so that then translates when we're on the golf course, because we might be on a difficult lie or in an awkward position or there's a lot of pressure on the shot ahead of us, we're able to see what is my mind saying right now. Am I freaking out? Am I really really tense? And, without knowing it, am I telling my body that I should be really really stressed? I mean, that's not the case at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the practice, the art and the practice of yoga in sort of in my translation right now, is demystifying. Just the BS, you know, just the BS that we tell ourselves, say, for example, in a yoga class where we are holding a pose for a long time learning how to breathe into it, and you know, let's talk about that, the breath connecting to the breath, the importance of that, how that translates, especially under duress on a golf course.
Speaker 2:Yes, well, I think, first and foremost, as a society, we are accustomed to taking really short, shallow breaths, meaning we're breathing up into the upper part of the chest, up near the collarbones.
Speaker 2:A lot of that stems from decades of being told to like suck it in and like stand up tall, and so it's kind of like, and then we end up breathing really shallow, even though we might feel. Fine, everything's peachy keen. Our bodies are not being utilized the way that they were designed when it comes to the respiratory system. So when we are taking those shallower breaths, we're not using the diaphragm, we're not breathing deeper into the ribs and into the belly. Because of that, we're using these quote unquote accessory muscles like in the neck and in the shoulders.
Speaker 2:Those are doing more of the work than they would like to, I think, and that's when we come away with a lot of chronic shoulder pain, upper back pain and it's just kind of this domino effect of things that we don't like. But another thing is, when we don't breathe as deeply and as completely and as fully as we're meant to, it also prevents us from nourishing our bodies on a deeper level, because when we breathe into the diaphragm that's so closely associated to our lymphatic system, that contributes to our immune system, it contributes to how we process emotional and traumatic events. There's just so many things that are interconnected and we just don't realize that the breath really holds the key to making sure all that is moving and operating smoothly. So we almost get stuck just by keeping the breath shallow, so got off on a tangent there. All that to say.
Speaker 2:The breath is really, really important and people don't think like, or they think, oh, I know how to breathe. Well, sure, we all do. That's why we're still here. But it can be helpful to recognize that, oh, I could be breathing in a more effective and efficient way. That will help me not only in life and not only in how my body operates but, honestly, in how I play.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well said. What a great, great comment, great explanation, lauren, thank you. You know, attention goes, energy goes where your attention goes. And I remember a really good friend of mine asked hey, what do you do to go from the driving range to the first tee? You know, I mean, that's like a, that's like they say, the last, the longest walk golf is from the driving range to the first tee, especially, especially, uh, in competition, and it was such a great question. It's such an interesting question and through our, our conversations, all the multitudes of conversations that you and I have had, and simplify it, your attention is going to be down there versus in your head, because that's the problem is the longest golf course in the world or the longest walk is between the driving range and the first tee. But if you don't know how to breathe and you're in your head yeah, it's going to be a long ass walk, it's not a very comfortable walk. But if you're focusing on breathing through your diaphragm and you're really focused on that, your attention is right where it needs to be In the lower part of your body, where you have the shortest connection to the ground and you're going to be energizing your entire nervous system and which is going to lead to the next question Okay, the difference, and what does yoga do?
Speaker 1:Okay, so there's two nervous systems the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. I've noticed that the successful yoga practices that I've had going into class is when I've been in that parasympathetic nervous system, in spite of whatever my brain is trying to do, you know, uncomfortable, left the parent. The sympathetics go in danger. Danger, we need to get out of here. But how can we prime our nervous systems to be more ingratiated, especially under the gun in the parasympathetic? How does yoga help facilitate that?
Speaker 2:Well, so I guess, for people who aren't familiar, so sympathetic fight or flight, or the danger one that's firing off alarms, and then the parasympathetic rest and digest. That's when we feel calm, relaxed, comfortable, all the things. But of course, like we've been talking about, we're talking about what do we do in uncomfortable and possibly stressful situations. I think when we operate on autopilot, our tendency is to be in the sympathetic nervous system and to just let the stress guide us instead of guiding our own stress and working with it. And so, again, what we mentioned earlier about how yoga poses and a physical yoga practice, holding positions for a long time, challenging our bodies, whether through balance and flexibility or our core strength all of it teaches and trains us how to again become uncomfortable in what might originally be an uncomfortable position. And I also think that any new experience has the potential to be uncomfortable, so we can give ourselves grace off the bat and just know, rather than viewing this as a scary unknown. Think of it as just I'm being a beginner and it's just a new experience. And how can I approach this with ease and with openness, rather than fear and tensing up and holding ourselves back? I think the same thing could be applied to if it's an unfamiliar golf course and you're out there and you're on the first tee and you you might not know where you're supposed to hit it, but if you can physically and physiologically relax, that's going to help you in so many more ways than if you're tense and nervous. So how can we get from that sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic nervous system, and how does yoga help us do that?
Speaker 2:For one, I think it goes back to the example of being in a yoga pose, and something I like to do as a teacher is to cue. Well, first, I keep breathe, and as soon as I say that, people realize that they've been holding their breath, which a lot of us tend to do without realizing it, which that's going to keep us in that sympathetic fight or flight response mode. So, breathing, letting your body, it's almost a, it is a signal to your body that you are safe. That's one thing. The next thing I'll cue is well, I'll say a couple of different things. It'll be like notice where you're holding tension, and another one that I'll say is relax the muscles in your face Because, again, without realizing it, when we are, whether it's in a yoga pose or standing out of dress and we're gripping the club and we're gripping our muscles. We're just trying not to shank the ball and lose it. We tend to squeeze the muscles in our face as well and I like to joke with people, even though I'm serious. I'm like holding the muscles like that's not going to help you in this situation. So relax and they get to chuckle out of them and they, which helps them get into the parasympathetic as well. But then it kind of has this cascading effect of relaxing the whole body.
Speaker 2:So when setting up, what I like to say is kind of combine the breath with that active sense of relaxing your body. So before you even come into your backswing or even into the takeaway, take a mental scan of the body, notice where you are holding tension, and it could just be like noticing the crown of your head, your shoulders, relaxing the belly, relaxing the hips. You're still active and ready to go. There's still a sense of preparedness there. You're not just falling asleep while you're standing over the golf ball, but you're letting go of unnecessary tension and that is going to help you have a smoother swing tempo and a more efficient swing.
Speaker 2:The next is connecting to the breath. So first notice if you're holding your breath, then notice if you're taking more shallow breaths and instead I like to cue it as breathing into the rib cage. I feel like that can be easier for people to remember. Breathe into your ribs. That's going to help further relax the shoulders, it's going to get your body ready, it's going to get that nervous system ready and is going to help you lock in your focus because you're not running through your mind everything that you're trying to remember to get the perfect shot. And then, after you take that full breath in and you exhale, that's when you swing interesting boy.
Speaker 1:There you have it, folks, you got the keys to the kingdom there. What a great answer, just breathe and relax.
Speaker 2:That's all there is to it Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just breathe and relax. I mean I my favorite quote in golf is by Tom Watson, where he said I didn't learn how to win until I learned how to breathe. And there's so many layers to that, but, but a really important one is just simply, you're getting out of your head yes you know, most golfers, even even the world's greatest, they, they will, they will say typically in a press conference, if you, if you pay close enough attention, they'll say always say something like yeah, I was in my head on that shot yes you know they'll always say it, but a lot of people don't get it.
Speaker 1:But that's a really good cue and a clue to like okay, we'll investigate that. You know how can you get out of your head and get into your body when you are, when, when, when you know the S hits the fan, and when you're coming down the stretch playing a golf tournament, whether it's breaking 80 for the first time, maybe qualifying for a USGA event or qualifying for for any of the great tours in the world. If you're in your head, good luck, right, best of luck to your brother or sister, because typically you're going to get your own way and then all bets are off right so the practice in the discipline of yoga is teaching me, as a practitioner, as a student of yours, how to get out of my own way yes
Speaker 2:and it's a byproduct of doing the practice, which is a real cool thing it's very cool and I think it's important for people to remember and to keep in mind that when we're talking about the practice again, we're not talking about super intense party tricks where you have to be really bendy and flexible. It applies to any and every yoga posture, position, things like that. You're getting these benefits regardless of how quote unquote advanced your practices.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great statement, you know that's. That's especially for those of us who I mean God bless you for creating this platform because you know, being a relative beginner, I'm kind of bordering on to the intermediate now, but in going into a studio, it's, it's pretty terrifying.
Speaker 2:It could be intimidating.
Speaker 1:Yes, especially if you're a dude and you're going in with a bunch of women in there because they're primarily women and it could be you know I'm going to speak for a lot of males it's like it's really out of our comfort zone. It really is. But you know, like anything else, I mean, the first time you jump into an ocean it can be pretty scary, but then you learn how to absolutely love it right.
Speaker 2:Well, that's another example of becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable and embracing it yeah, yeah, it's such a great.
Speaker 1:You know what do I have to do to get from the driving range to the first tee. What do I have to do to break 90, what I have to do to break 100. What do I have to do to break 70. What do I have to do to break 90? What do I have to do to break 100? What do I have to do to break 70? What do I have to do to do all these things, these external things that people want to do and they really want to do it, you have to become the person capable of doing it.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:That's the answer to the riddle.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And through through the discipline and practice of yoga. That's certainly going to stack the deck in someone's favor.
Speaker 2:Well, and speaking of all these external things, we love all of the gadgets and the lessons and hearing things from different teachers and being inspired by other golfers, but it comes down to our internal process as well, and probably even more so. And I think that all of those outside things can't work as well if we don't have that internal oh, that internal equilibrium, that internal function working the way that we want it to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I kind of look at, is it? If you learn how to drive a race car? Or if somebody says, hey, lauren, here's a, here's a Lambo, you get to drive it around like a maniac at Laguna Seca Raceway, which is a pretty nasty track in my hometown of Monterey, california, and unless you have become the person capable of handling that machinery, you're going off the track pretty quickly right.
Speaker 1:Or you're going to wrap it around a tree, you know. So I think that's really kind of an important thing. You know, that's really the answer to the riddle. The discipline and the practice of yoga can really help expedite that process.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of things in life, and especially in golf, can be unnecessarily, overly complicated. This is just honestly taking it down to the basics.
Speaker 1:We're stripping the fat. Yeah, we're stripping the fat off this thing now through your experience of being a teacher and being versed in tpi, being tpi certified. For those who don't know, titles performance institute um. Greg rose and dave um david uh, god, what's his last name? I can't remember. They created this. Yeah, dave Phillips. Yeah, really good guy. Both really really really good people have created a program specifically designed to help assess and create programs for the golfer to get his or her body in good shape, good enough shape to be able to. I mean, the golf swing itself can be taxing on the body, especially an untrained body. It can hurt your back, your shoulders, your hips. I mean there's a myriad of injuries out there to the unprepared and under-trained body. How does yoga help facilitate the rotational forces and the pressures that the body is trying to produce to be able to exert on the golf ball?
Speaker 2:first we're working with the ground the ground working with ground reaction forces.
Speaker 2:I think in the golf world, instructors will say use the ground, and you could hear that all day long. But if you don't know what it means, then you're not going to do it. But there is this concept called ground reaction force, and it essentially describes the way that the earth Meets the amount of force that we are putting on it, so gravity we're just standing here or sitting here the amount of force that we're putting into the ground, the earth is putting just as much force back up against us. So, similarly, the more force we push into the ground by bending our knees, by getting low in our golf stance, by staying grounded and staying low, low, by pushing not only into the ground but pulling up from the ground, the more force that we can apply there, the more force that we're going to get out of it, and so that's why you see things like force plates being so popular in the golf industry.
Speaker 2:But so yoga a it helps us learn how to connect with the ground, for one thing and I think yoga has an advantage because it is traditionally and always mostly practice barefoot.
Speaker 2:So you're setting yourself up for a win already, right, which we can get into a whole thing about foot function and how, like, strengthening the feet is so beneficial, but that's a big piece of it.
Speaker 2:So that's helping us right there and that's automatically going to strengthen not only the chain of communication from the ground up to our brains, which then translates to our bodies in the golf club, but it helps us with balance and things like that. So first we're starting with the ground, getting quote unquote grounded learning how to effectively shift our weight through different poses and different postures. Not only how to do that, but how to do shift our weight through different poses and different postures. Not only how to do that, but how to do it with control, which of course, translates on the golf course when we're shifting our own weight through the swing and trying to avoid things like swaying and sliding or being able to stand strongly on uneven lies, which is inevitable unless you're on the tee box, which even then might not be totally even so, we have to be able to do this from there.
Speaker 2:It's teaching us how to, of course, be mobile in our joints, but with the right intention and the right approach, we're also building the strength in our muscles to protect those joints, and that's also a that's going to help us with aging, but it's going to help us have more power in our swing, is going to help us be able to generate more distance All of these things that we want.
Speaker 2:You asked about rotation as we move up the body and get into the core and we get into the spine. There's a lot of twists in yoga which, inherently, are going to help us rotate. But we learn how to activate our core muscles, and I'm not just talking about the abs, I'm also talking about your back, your sides, your hips, your pelvic floor, your shoulders essentially everything that is surrounding and protecting your spine. That's what I refer to as the core. You learn how to engage those muscles and use the breath to then help you not only find the link through your spine but get that deeper twist to coil through the abdominal muscles and then explode as you move through your golf swing.
Speaker 2:So all of that again starts at the ground. You're generating that force that you push down and pull up. You draw it in through your muscles, turn through the spine, work with the joints and that's getting us that beautiful distance and that strong, long backswing that we want, and it just translates to the ball soaring as far as you want it to more or less.
Speaker 1:I love it. What a great explanation, so good sending me off on these tangents.
Speaker 2:I get excited I love it.
Speaker 1:I love it. I think it's it's really important for people to know this information, to at least have it, and the, the elegance and how you explain it, lauren, is phenomenal and and it helps us uh, you, I'm a student of yours and it helps us who are students of yoga or people or people that are thinking about it, like, the translation is really strong. It's a very, very powerful translation from the practice and discipline of yoga to the golf course. How it translates in these are things that are happening, happening like even beyond our conscious awareness. Right, you know, I mean, if, if you can, if you can become conscious of the breath to the point where you are unconsciously deep, diaphragmatic breathing, I mean, wow, it's trainable, it's doable, this is trainable, this is doable, this is a thing.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, it's the questions that I have pondered from the people that have given me these great, just simple questions like hey, man, you know, how do you get used to being, how can you go from two to three under, three to four under, four to five under? Or, if you're coming down the stretch and you're starting to get in your head, how can you get back to the breath? How can you get your mind back in your body where it needs to be. I mean, as soon as you get out of the present moment, all bets are off.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean you're done. You know, I got a chance to hang out with Luke Clanton last month. He's the number one amateur in the world. He just turned pro. Really a great kid, played for Florida State, phenomenal player. He's going to go off and have a great, great professional career.
Speaker 1:And we asked him this question, me and a buddy of mine that got to hang out with him. We asked him like how do you get used to being like stupid, under par? And he said the moment you start thinking about it, you're dead. And I said well, how do you do it? He said well, I had to get trained, I had to get my body used to it. How do you do it now?
Speaker 1:He says I focus on the present moment. How do you do it now? He says I focus on the present moment. How do you do that? I do it through the breath. I mean, it's literally that simple. Simple but not easy because the head is like you know I I liken the head to, you know, when you turn on a garden hose full blast and the things spewing all over the place and you're trying to catch it. That's how my head operates. It's like going all over the place and it takes. It takes something to catch it, something. So connecting to the breath and uh has been a very powerful revelation for me and for a lot of other people.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that the breath is the most powerful tool that we have and the beauty of it is we carry the breath with us at all times and when we're in tournament play and in these high pressure situations we can't have our massage therapist right next to us, we can't have our favorite recovery tools, we can't have the ice bath or whatever it is, but we do have the breath. We know how to utilize it effectively and efficiently. It is why, literally a game changer. The other thing I was going to say and I may have said this in one of our previous conversations on here I once had a teacher in the Nashville area who would constantly say in his classes if you truly focus on your breath, it is impossible to have a thought, and I think that's true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, repeat that again.
Speaker 2:If you are completely focused on your breath, if you truly lock in your focus on your inhales and exhales, it is impossible to have a thought, and the moment that you notice a thought starting to come in, that focus on the breath is gone.
Speaker 1:Boy that is so powerful, and that's the yellow brick road to getting into the all exalted state that we want to get into, and that's the zone that's in flow.
Speaker 2:It's not as shiny or as new and exciting as a set of brand new clubs, but at the end of the day, it's far more effective.
Speaker 1:Wow, what a great quote, what a powerful statement, lauren. I mean, just think about you know, for those that are listening, just contemplate that. I would like that to be at the forefront of your thoughts, especially when you are going to go out and you want to test this out. Give it a test drive. Give it a test drive on the golf course. Just just see what happens and you'll start to notice quickly how much you're in your head. You know, it's one thing I love about yoga it's almost impossible to be in your head. As soon as you go into your head, especially if you're doing any of the balance poses, you're going to lose your balance right away.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, go into your head especially if you're doing any of the balance poses, you're going to lose your balance, right?
Speaker 1:away. Oh yeah, it's game over, it's. It's like instant manifestation. As soon as you're in your head, you're done and you have to. You have to recenter and refocus and listening to what. Listen to what Lauren has to say. I love it. You always are saying connect to the breath, breathe, you know, relax your face. Things like that Also important, and these are such the simple commands that we can give ourselves to get us out of fight or flight, which unfortunately, there's a lot of people that play golf and in fight or flight you know a lot of them do yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's sad because you know we're, we're, we, we're. It's recreation. So we're trying to recreate reality, but yet we're still imprisoning ourselves by this very phenomenon of being in our head, being, you know, upper tier or upper part of our body breathing where it just facilitates that. You know it's just in your. Your energy goes where your attention goes, and if you can get your attention down there in the belly breathing that way, it's remarkable how powerful and transformative it is. I mean I I called upon it for the first time last year, playing in my club championship, and it worked, and it works every single time. You may not get the results you want, but you're going to have a heck of a lot more fun instead of thinking about it, your head spinning, I wonder what is going to happen on the next shot. I wish I didn't do that on number eight, when you're on the 17th hole and your head's all over the place. That's no way to play golf.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:That's no way to live actually. No, it's a shitty way to operate on both planes. So that's one of the things that I this was an like when I decided to commit to it, commit to the practice of yoga. This is a blessing that I didn't see happening. It really is a blessing.
Speaker 2:That tends to be the case. People often go in wanting to get more flexible or just wanting to relax in general, but it is. It is a gift that keeps on giving.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, I talk about it. I talked about it with my friend the other day and I've talked about it with you. I think that most, most dudes in the NFL are are yoga practitioners. I know that most of the offensive and defensive linemen are yoga practitioners practitioners most that there is a yoga instructor specific for each NFL team.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And if they're doing it, we need to be doing it.
Speaker 2:Yes, I would say so.
Speaker 1:I mean because they're having car wrecks on every play and their bodies are getting twisted every which way from Sunday and if they're immobile, something's going to break. Right, they're going to break something, and you know, this is something I think that should be a big part in your, in someone's toolbox. It's a, it's a, it's a. It's a. It's a walking, living, moving meditation as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, 100%.
Speaker 1:Talk about that just for a quick sec, like how is that, how does that manifest, how it's like okay, lauren and Jesse, okay, you got me somewhat convinced, but how is the discipline and practice of yoga, an actual moving, breathing form of meditation?
Speaker 2:Well, I think meditation is another one of those things that people hear about and they're like oh, I would benefit from that, but they're like I can't sit still.
Speaker 2:I've never been able to sit still, that's fine, you don't have to.
Speaker 2:What I love about, and I view even my own yoga practice as a form, a moving form of meditation, or even like a moving form of prayer, as it were, because and I think the moving part of meditation, or even like a moving form of prayer, as it were because and I think the moving part of it you are physically clearing out energetic blockages, and if I just lost people on that phrase alone, just know it's good for you and it's helping you relax.
Speaker 2:But the moving standpoint, when you are focusing on your breath and again this is when you are focusing on your breath, and again this is either in a physical yoga practice or when you are on the golf course when you're focused on the breath, you're getting out of your head, you're feeling, into your body, you're becoming more aware of the steps that you are taking, how your feet connect to the ground, how you can feel the ground under your feet when you're standing over a golf ball. You're much more aware and appreciative of your surroundings. So I mean golf is one of the most beautiful sports because of the locations that we get to play in.
Speaker 2:Yet if we're so focused on being frustrated about our slice or chicken winging it, we're not appreciating the beauty of of nature and the healing powers that we are immersing ourselves in.
Speaker 2:So it allows us to very intentionally become present and yes, we're moving and we're not sitting still, but we are doing the things that our body ultimately wants us to do, which is to be still, even if internally breathe. Honestly, when you take a deep breath and you feel your body relaxing, it's almost like your body's saying thank you, and then you again, you, you clear out. In yoga there's a saying of like let go of what is not serving you, and that can be kind of confusing, but essentially it's just like let go of what is not serving you, and that can be kind of confusing, but essentially it's just like let go of what you don't need. Or I like to add on give yourself permission to let go, because sometimes we don't want to become fully uncomfortable yet and we're, we're holding on tightly and that's okay. But even just giving yourself permission to relax into the moment can have a profound impact.
Speaker 2:And I think the more you practice that, this kind of moving form of meditation and letting your golf game be, that it returns to a game that, a is enjoyable, b is helping you relax and C you feel better and you move better and at the end of the day you're playing better. But again it comes back to clearing out things that you don't need letting go of what is not serving you and just returning to that practice over and, over and over again and just letting it strengthen like a muscle. So that's what I think of when I think of a moving form of meditation, but especially in terms of how we approach our golf game.
Speaker 1:I couldn't have said it better myself, and that's why you do what you do, lauren. So in closing, real quick, you're accepting students, right, you can accept students on your golf performance dot com.
Speaker 2:Yes, there's a monthly and an annual membership. Performancecom yes, there's a monthly and an annual membership, and I also have a few online courses available. If you're just looking for. Hey, I just want, uh, an XYZ lecture and class focusing on distance. That's there for you. But I also work with folks one-on-one, um, in person if they're in the Jackson Metro, but I also work with people over FaceTime and it might sound strange but honestly it works pretty well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I would highly recommend working with her. I've hit her up many times for thoughts and Lauren always is really great at figuring out what your individual needs are and can design a program specifically for you needs are and can design a program specifically for you. So I mean, lauren, I got to tell you your answers in this conversation were phenomenal and I'm going to leave the listeners with this who do you have to become? You know, who do you have to become to get to where you want to go in this game, because it's a holistic thing, it's not just one thing. There's no magic bullet. So who do you have to become? And the, the, the practice and discipline of yoga it's it's certainly helping me become who I want to become and I thank you for your inspiration and your guidance as a friend and as a teacher, and I really appreciate you, lauren, and I'm sure the people that listen will also appreciate you as well and your words of wisdom.
Speaker 2:I'm grateful for you.
Speaker 1:Grateful for you too, my sister. So I'll make sure to put everything that you need to get a hold of Lauren in the show notes. I highly encourage it. Oh, almost forgot, you are in the latest edition of Golf Digest 2 with will find a series of movements.
Speaker 2:Honestly, these are movements that I turn to time and again when working with golfers, movements that do everything that we talked about today help you with your balance, help you get more grounded, help you build lower body stability and then that upper body mobility that we all need in the golf swing. So, yeah, be sure to check that out, thank you.