What yoga style to chose for a poker player?

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

I went to some beginner classes of Satyananda Yoga in a small town in Sweden 2 years ago. I then had a short routine that I did every day before playing but after I while I stopped doing it.

Now im in Melbourne, Australia for 4 months and there are so many different yoga styles here to chose from so I dont know which one I should go for.

Playing poker for a living is very emotional and deep breathing is one of the things I do when my emotions start to rise after I for example lost a big pot.

I want to become more emotionally stable, get better at breathing and being more focused on the moment.

#2

kossa_mu,

I’m sorry to disappoint you, but if you want to practice yoga, you need to practice yama and niyama. It’s kind of hard to practice truthfulness, non-harming, and non-greed when you’re at a poker table trying to do everybody else in. I used to play a little myself, but not so much anymore.

#3

Why do you think that?

I was able to get a lof of the positive things from yoga and meditation before when I didnt know anything about that.

Mediation is also something that is getting more common in my profession.

#4

I think that because I’ve been there. Poker is based on deception, yoga is based on dispassion. You can’t stop yourself from feeling emotions in a game where there’s a lot of money on the line. You would have to become so detached that winning or losing wouldn’t matter, you would just see it all as the play of the gunas. The excitement of the game would have no appeal to you. If you could get to a state like that, chances are you would lose interest in poker altogether. Or you could train yourself to have such a high degree of self control that you could create the illusion of having no emotion, which would allow you to deceive your opponents.

That’s not what you want from yoga. If you want to practice yoga, do it for your health. If it helps your game, thats a fringe benefit. Any kind of yoga will do. Try a few, and maybe you’ll find one that you like.

Deep breathing is a tell, by the way.

#5

The goal is never to not have any feelings at all but reducing them and still be able to play your game.

Im playing online and not live and I play about 4 tables and 800 hands per hour. Somtimes you lose a lot of hands in a short time and then your emotions rise and shuts of some of your thought process. To still be stable and play good poker is sometimes very hard and there is where deep breathing comes in.

Mediation and yoga is then a way to be able to perform better in the same way as I perform better when I do 15 min of running before I play.

The games higher up are getting extremly hard and you are almost only playing against other players that also play fulltime so you have do to everthing you can to get better.

Here is what my mental coach said about meditation:
“My opinion is that mediation can be of great value. It can help you increase mental control, help you to increase awareness/recognition of problems, keep you mind clear of distractions, and make faster decisions.
There are limitations to meditation. Most significantly that it often won’t resolve underlying reasons for the causes of specific mental game problems. In this way, think of meditation as something that can help you manage the problem, but can’t eliminate it.”

So Im just wondering what would be the best for me to start with?

#6

The pefect way to disengagement. I suppose the strength, steadiness, and grounding focus of iyengar, with some quiet hatha sprinkled in would do the trick.

#7

Maybe you should try Yin yoga.
In yin yoga you hold the postures passively for several minutes, streching the connective tissue (ligament, fascia) around a joint.
You have the time to meditate and you will learn to let go and to accept things as they are. To live in the moment.
Yin enhances the flow of prana (life force).
It is also a great complement to other yang forms of yoga, like Vinyasa, Hatha and more.
Maybe not that much breathing focus that you might be looking for.
But it?s super!:wink:

#8

Thank you. I will look up hatha and yin yoga then.

#9

Johnny said: …I want to become more emotionally stable, get better at breathing and being more focused on the moment…
This seems like a well thought out set of intentions.

In 2004 I found myself at a yoga conference, standing in the foyer just before a “yoga demo”.
Next to me was an older and very sweet senior Iyengar teacher.
To her I turned and expressed my bewilderment about how Yoga could be demonstrated or why it need be.
Her reply stuck with me.

She said if one person in that room, watching the physical practice, was inspired enough to go deeper within themselves,
to deepen their practice, to deepen their living, their discipline, or their commitment, then the “show” was worthwhile.

I see it has been mentioned that the classical path of yoga begins with yama and niyama.
And that is true and there is a reason for that truth.
However, it is also quite obvious that we do not live in a context that adheres to that order.
Ergo a yoga practice of one ilk or another is available to anyone with a sincere desire for it.

As for the myriad of flavors…yes that makes the waters quite murky.
I would suggest a practice with a robust lineage though I’m also of the feeling that the student
needs to actually sample some teachings in order to find what is for them.
In my experience there are only a few practices that come close to “robust” while most offer one or two things.

I personally would look for a practice that instructs alignment-based asana, safe but effective pranayama,
and a meditation practice that does not advocate the myopic view of meditation as having no thoughts.

gordon

#10

poker yoga-this is something new to me.

#11

When I played poker for a living (1985-2000), I found jogging before playing worked best for me. This was backed up by daily records that I kept, and it would probably be an individual thing. You should prove for yourself what works best and it should be verifiable in the daily records over time.

I chose lower risk games such as 7 card stud as opposed to pot limit texas holdem because the emotion fluctuations were much easier to handle. Disciple and emotional ‘going on tilt’ were the main downfalls of most poker players, it is a game of judgements (free of emotions).

Also, you need to look honestly at yourself each year to judge the pros and cons of it all. For many folks the cons of it are too high. For me, it was fine.
Best wishes, Gil.

#12

[QUOTE=kossa_mu;52387]I went to some beginner classes of Satyananda Yoga in a small town in Sweden 2 years ago. I then had a short routine that I did every day before playing but after I while I stopped doing it.

Now im in Melbourne, Australia for 4 months and there are so many different yoga styles here to chose from so I dont know which one I should go for.

Playing poker for a living is very emotional and deep breathing is one of the things I do when my emotions start to rise after I for example lost a big pot.

I want to become more emotionally stable, get better at breathing and being more focused on the moment.[/QUOTE]

Have to love these Ahimsa cherry pickers.
Poker is not harmful, no more than any competitive business or sport, biblically it isn’t even a sin, “the lot is cast into the lap the decision therofe is OF the Lord.” and all that.

So now onto a fair question.

I must assume you have already explored Larry Phillips: Zen and the art of Poker. Such a fun read I should revisit it.

Keep practicing, embrace your practice, non-reactiveness.

So begins the lesson:
[B]Yoga Sutras 1.12-1.16: [/B]
[B]Practice and Non-Attachment [/B]
[I]Abhyasa/Practice: Abhyasa means having an attitude of persistent effort to attain and maintain a state of stable tranquility (1.13). To become well established, this needs to be done for a long time, without a break (1.14). From this stance the deeper practice continues to unfold, going ever deeper towards the direct experience of the eternal core of our being.[/I]

[B]Practice: YIN[/B]

[B]Vairagya/Non-attachment:[/B] The essential companion is non-attachment (1.15), learning to let go of the many attachments, aversions, fears, and false identities that are clouding the true Self.

Here is a nice link on the efforts I’ve cherry picked and meditation that may calm your mind, nerves, breathing, and direct you on the path.

http://www.swamij.com/yoga-sutras-11216.htm

Peace be the journey
Namaste

#13

Hi, I do not know where in Australia you are but there is a new Yoga studio in Brisbane called Bonfire. They teach Hot Yoga which is similar to ( but not identical with ) Bikram Yoga. The founder of the studio speaks Swedish :slight_smile: fairly well.
AlbaRose

#14

it is up to you what works for you:) have you tried yoga nidra?

#15

Deep Meditation.