Meditation and yoga key to Watson fitness

Former Australia international Shane Watson believes meditation and yoga are responsible for overcoming his previous injury troubles.

Published : May 08, 2016 15:05 IST

Shane Watson plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.
Shane Watson plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.
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Shane Watson plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.

Former Australia international Shane Watson believes meditation and yoga are responsible for overcoming his previous injury troubles.

The all-rounder called time on an international career blighted by a series of physical problems following the World Twenty20 in India in March.

However, the 34-year-old, now playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, thinks he has finally found the solution to remaining injury free.

"If I was helping someone coming through who has similar issues to me, there are two things I would definitely recommend," Watson told cricket.com.au.

"The first is the mediation side of things – just have a bit of chill out time, because life and cricket is all very busy and you just need time for your body and mind to relax a bit. But the most important thing is yoga.

"For quite a while a lot of people were saying you shouldn't stretch, you shouldn't be over-flexible, so I hardly stretched. But now I've been doing yoga and it's just changed things totally.

"I would have got a different result if I had have done yoga throughout my career, there's no doubt.

"It's only half an hour a day before training, before playing. It's pretty simple and I think that might have made a big difference."

Watson discussed the various methods he underwent in a bid to maintain peak fitness while representing Australia.

"For a lot of the time throughout my career I was pretty desperate to be able to say fit, so I was willing to try anything legally to get fit and stay fit," he continued.

"For a period of time I used to go to sleep with a specific machine that had sensors that were attached around my legs, around my ankles.

"It was more about regeneration, sending through a mild electric current that you couldn't feel but it was a way to regenerate your muscles and your body while you were sleeping. I did that for a couple of years.

"I got into the Ayurveda side of things, understanding Ayurveda medicine which is based on ancient Indian medicine. I travelled with an altitude machine for a bit to be able to train at altitude.

"The other thing I tried for quite a while was dry needling. I was getting that done five times a week and I did it for about 12-18 months."

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