Become a Member

Get access to more than 30 brands, premium video, exclusive content, events, mapping, and more.

Already have an account? Sign In

Become a Member

Get access to more than 30 brands, premium video, exclusive content, events, mapping, and more.

Already have an account? Sign In

Brands

People

Olympian Cortney Jordan Truitt on the Connection Between Swimming & Yoga

Cortney Jordan Truitt's athletic performance reached new heights after she added yoga to her training.

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.

Cortney Truitt began her yoga practice as a freshman in college, but she wasn’t an immediate convert.

“In a class setting, I had trouble focusing on myself,” she says. “It was hard for me to see other people complete poses so easily, while I struggled to do the basic ones because of my disability.”

Truitt was born with cerebral palsy that caused partial paralysis in the left side of her body. She started swimming as a child to relieve the severe back, neck, and hip pain associated with the condition. But swimming became more than pain relief; she started competing in Paralympic events in 2004. Today she’s a three-time Paralympian and a six-time world champion with 26 medals to her name.

She restarted her yoga practice in 2016 in order to combat the mounting stress of pursuing her master’s degree and juggling three jobs as a student-teacher, swim instructor, and child wrangler at a local gym—all while training for the 2016 Summer Paralympics. But she noticed yoga also improved her breathing, helped with muscle recovery, and tamped down her pain.

“There are a lot of connections between swimming and yoga,” she says. “The need to control your breath and focus really helped my performance.” The payoff: four medals in the 2016 Games. “I truly wish that I would have started incorporating yoga into my daily routine and training plan earlier in my career,” she says.

Truitt stopped competing professionally in 2018. Now a fifth-grade teacher, she still practices yoga every day, experimenting with different forms based on what her body needs. “Swimming made me stronger, yoga made me calmer, but teaching is one of the ways I feel like I am making the world a better place,” she says.

See more:

How Yoga Helps This Olympic Fencer Feel in Sync

How Yoga Helped This Athlete Make Peace With Her Body—And Her Mind

This Olympic Diver Experienced Chronic Pain—Until He Found Yoga

Yoga Fine-Tuned This Olympic Swimmer’s Out-of-Water Routine

You Can Do This 15-Minute Yoga Flow Anytime, Anywhere

Ah the hour-long yoga class. It’s quite luxurious, isn’t it? But let’s be frank—some days, it seems impossible to carve out a large chunk of time for your practice. If you ever feel this way (and who hasn’t?) know this: even a few minutes of movement can make a huge difference in how you approach … Continued

Keywords: