Joga is an athletic-based style of yoga that speaks to the athletic mind and athletic body and has become popular with some of T.O.’s top athletes such as the Toronto Blue Jays’ José Bautista.
Joga, originally defined as jock yoga, incorporates a unique blend of postures and breathing techniques and helps find balance in strength and flexibility and improves breath control and recovery. Its journey started in Japan.
While modelling in there, Joga founder Jana Webb was excited to learn about a yoga class that was taught in English.
After braving the subway and navigating the maze of tiny streets (you’ll know this is no small feat if you’ve ever tried this in Japan), Webb reached her destination only to discover a yoga certification class. Would she like to join? She did.
The training she completed is called ISHTA (integrated sciences of hatha tantra and ayurveda) yoga and Webb was one of the very first to be certified in Canada.
Her love of yoga developed only after a serious injury when she tried yoga as part of rehab. However, she found that many of the postures did not work for her very athletic body. And so, Joga was born.
Webb also developed a number of sport-specific programs including Yoga for Golfers and Yoga for Runners. Now there are 300 certified instructors across Canada, and Webb has trademarked the name.
The difference between Joga and yoga is that Joga was designed for athletes and athletic movements. Traditional yoga involves static long holds, which doesn’t necessarily make sense for athletic movements.
Webb now trains many of our country’s top athletes, including members of the Blue Jays, Maple Leafs and Raptors, and she has a standing contract with the Argos.
For more than one reason, I was excited to try this. It sounded more challenging than the usual yoga classes I had tried since moving back to Toronto.
And I’m sure to irritate a few yogis here, but although the classes were relaxing, I felt the need to go running afterwards to actually get a workout.
There are three basic components to the Joga practice: the breath, the physical postures and then the relaxation and meditation.
The postures are designed to incorporate power and flexibility while challenging balance and core strength. Precise postures are used that build joint stability and improve joint mobility.
Many of these movements in Joga are not a part of the usual strength training and cardio workouts that professional athletes do on a daily basis.
So how did the athletes react at first? “They hated it,” says Webb. “But after a while, they began to see the results.”
Now Webb has a loyal following in the city. In fact, as I was leaving the one-hour session, a well-known Raptor was just arriving. Indeed, after one hour, I did not feel the need to go running. In fact, I felt so amazing that I’m considering trying out for the Raptors.
