{"id":7549,"date":"2022-10-22T09:30:24","date_gmt":"2022-10-22T09:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yogajournal.com\/?p=105087"},"modified":"2022-10-22T09:30:24","modified_gmt":"2022-10-22T09:30:24","slug":"former-tennis-pro-boris-becker-is-taking-and-teaching-yoga-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/2022\/10\/22\/former-tennis-pro-boris-becker-is-taking-and-teaching-yoga-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Tennis Pro Boris Becker is Taking\u2014and Teaching\u2014Yoga in Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tennis phenom Boris Becker has been \u201cinstructing fellow prisoners\u201d in a \u201cspecial type of yoga and meditation,\u201d according to an article published in the German tabloid Bild<\/em> earlier this week.<\/p>\n

In April, Becker was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for failure to disclose assets related to his 2017 bankruptcy. He is currently serving time at Huntercombe Prison, less than an hour\u2019s drive from Wimbledon Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a sportsman, he knows only too well the highs and lows of victories and defeats. He is sharing his life experience with his fellow prisoners,\u201d said a source close to Becker, reported Bild.<\/em><\/p>\n

Becker\u2019s life in the news<\/h2>\n

Becker made history in 1985 when, at the age of 17, he became the youngest tennis player as well as the first unseeded player to win the men\u2019s singles at Wimbledon. Known as \u201cBoom Boom\u201d for his aggressive serve, Becker took home the Wimbledon trophy twice more and won three other Grand Slam titles in his 16-year career. During that time, he also drew almost as much news coverage for his angry outbursts, typically directed at himself or his racket, as his strong forehand and intense playing style.<\/p>\n

After retiring in 1999, Becker became a television commentator and mentor to other tennis players. The media continued to scrutinize his life, focusing on an illicit romantic escapade prior to his divorce, his various business ventures, his conviction for tax evasion by German courts in 2002, as well as the bankruptcy and subsequent imprisonment.<\/p>\n

\"Boris
Boris Becker reaches a return after falling on the clay during 1989 Roland Garros French Open.<\/span> (Photo: Marc Francotte\/TempSport\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The mental fortitude of athletes\u2026<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s unclear the exact role yoga and meditation play in Becker\u2019s life, although it\u2019s not uncommon for athletes\u2014including tennis players\u2014to incorporate yoga into their training to enhance both physiological and psychological agility and stamina.<\/p>\n

What is more apparent is Becker\u2019s understanding of mental fortitude. Professional tennis player Novak Djokovi hired Becker as his coach in 2014 following two Grand Slam final losses. \u201cWe\u2019re not significantly changing anything in my game\u2026no one-handed backhands, stuff like that,\u201d Djokovic told reporters shortly after he announced his decision to work with Becker, according to a Reuters article. \u201cThe biggest part he can contribute is the mental approach. I felt I dropped two or three titles in the last two years I could have won. I felt there was a mental edge I was lacking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic went on to win five out of six tournaments where he competed, including the coveted Grand Slam, while working with Becker.<\/p>\n

Becker continued to share his understanding of what it takes to be a success with junior tennis players in online trainings, including the World Tennis Conference in March 2021. \u201cMentality is a lot about controlling your emotion,\u201d Becker explained, according to an article in Tennis TourTalk.<\/em> \u201cYou practice the confidence part, the mentality part, every single day outside of tennis. It starts with how you approach life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve me, there are 10 different situations a day I could scream,\u201d Becker explained. \u201cPeople disrespecting me, people being nasty, people don\u2019t understand me. Ultimately, I hurt myself. By breathing in and out, try to understand the other person and why he is like that. So when you go on the court, and there is a difficult situation, breathe in and out, and don\u2019t let your emotions take over. That is the secret.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sounds a lot like yoga.<\/p>\n

\u2026but at what cost?<\/h2>\n

When Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open<\/a> in 2021 and, a month later, chose to step back from Wimbledon, she cited depression, social anxiety, and the need to care for her mental state as her primary concerns. Becker publicly questioned her decision<\/a>, asserting that pressure is part of the pro tennis lifestyle.<\/p>\n

But he later changed his approach and emphasized the need for greater understanding of the plight of professional athletes. \u201cThe struggle is real,\u201d said Becker in an interview with The Guardian<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s easier said than done\u2014with winning comes expectations and responsibilities\u2013but feeling good about yourself will always be more important than winning. The tennis community has to make sure they\u2019re not putting players under too much pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Becker knows firsthand that pressure takes its toll. In his autobiography, The Player,<\/em> Becker revealed his drug and alcohol addiction, which he said began with sleeping pills.<\/p>\n

Yoga in prison<\/h2>\n

In recent decades, sport psychology has been experiencing a shift from performance enhancement through focus and imagery to also include management of self-talk, focus, anxiety, and depression through awareness of the breath and bodily sensations. There is also an increased emphasis on treating substance abuse.<\/p>\n

The practice bears a considerable resemblance to certain aspects of yoga, meditation, and mindfulness. Becker may have already been on his way to understanding how to navigate the challenges he\u2019s faced prior to his recent incarceration. In an interview with the BBC in 2015, he explained, \u201cThere are many disadvantages of getting older, but one of the advantages is you become a little calmer, a little wiser, you understand more who you are and who you are not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYoga is such a practical kind of practice that supports transforming character,\u201d says James Fox, founder of the Prison Yoga Project<\/a>. Fox began teaching yoga to inmates in San Quentin 20 years ago before launching a training program for yoga teachers to bring \u201ctrauma-informed, mindfulness-based yoga directly to prisoners to support their desire to change their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most incarcerated individuals receive cognitive behavioral therapy to develop understanding of how and why they ended up where they did, explains Fox. Although this is necessary, continues Fox, what trauma experts and therapists in recent years have learned is that the healing process has to involve the body.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re no longer doing a competitive sport, yoga is taking you out of that competitiveness, especially for men,\u201d says Fox. \u201cYou\u2019re doing something in order to allow you to more deeply access yourself. And from that, you get clear thinking, clear insight, into aspects of yourself that you haven\u2019t really spent time experiencing.\u201d<\/p>\n

At some point, continues Fox, whether you\u2019re incarcerated for life without parole or two and a half years, you say, \u201c\u2018This is my life. How do I want the quality of my life to be?\u2019 Because that\u2019s something you still have control over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s also obviously stepped into karma yoga by sharing yoga with his fellow inmates. That\u2019s fantastic,\u201d says Fox. \u201cI think Boris Becker is using his time well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yoga Journal and Outside Inc. support Prison Yoga Project through Find Your Good, <\/a>a campaign to encourage individuals to support the planet and others. Donate to Prison Yoga Project.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Former<\/figure>\n

The Wimbledon champion is instructing other inmates in yoga and meditation, a German paper reported earlier this week.<\/p>\n

The post Former Tennis Pro Boris Becker is Taking\u2014and Teaching\u2014Yoga in Prison<\/a> appeared first on Yoga Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37,35,36],"class_list":["post-7549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ayurveda","tag-blogs","tag-yoga","tag-yogacourseware"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}