The intent of the yoga sessions Rainbow Wahine volleyball players attended last winter was to "quiet the mind" and increase flexibility. The effects might be coming into focus as the leaves turn on the Mainland.

Hawai'i coach Dave Shoji characterized the yoga experiment as "cross-training" and a "change of pace." Second-year associate coach Mike Sealy put the program together with wife Romey, who has practiced yoga 12 years and taught for four. Her concentration was on breathing, posture and flexibility, with Hatha movements as warmup, leading into Kundalini — a form of energy released with coordination of breath and movement.

Mike Sealy said those who come into yoga cold consider it "an alien life form" with its mantras, meditations and strange-sounding poses, which often look stranger than they sound. Pretty much every Rainbow Wahine with the exception of Kathy Gregory, Caroline Blood and the "hyper flexible" Raeceen Woolford had no previous experience.

Its impact on the team might never be obvious, but one of yoga's greatest attributes is that it never hurts. Romey's 90-minute classes were big on stretching, "body consciousness" and mental discipline.

"We suffer from distractions easily," she said. "Some players you can almost see getting overwhelmed. Yoga calms you down so you can concentrate, with breathing techniques and other things. ... You can push your body a little farther. The mental strength makes you realize I can do more than I think I can do."

It might help explain a few changes in the 'Bows since ugly losses to Oregon State and UCLA early this season. It also could have made a difference against New Mexico State: A year ago Hawai'i let a 20-12 fourth-game advantage get away at NMSU, along with its NCAA-record 132-match conference winning streak; two weeks ago, a UH team with five new starters outlasted the Aggies 23-21 in the fifth at Las Cruces, fighting off six match points in the process.

"We felt we were a better team," Shoji said, echoing his reaction of a year earlier. "When we followed assignments we scored a lot of points. We just didn't have enough experience or concentration to do it all the time. Some players had stretches where they struggled, but they all came back and played well when they had to."

It might be a stretch — no pun intended — but that type of physical and mental fortitude was a huge part of what the Sealys were trying to accomplish back in January. Yoga is not something you master in moments or even years, but it is faithful about rewarding you on a regular basis, whether it is with the sudden ability to touch your toes or somehow summon the focus and energy to keep a rally alive three hours into a match.

The 12th-ranked 'Bows go into tonight's match with Fresno State alone atop the Western Athletic Conference at 6-0. They have won three of their four five-game matches, and been brutally honest about the mental breakdowns they are trying to overcome. Clearly, they have made strides.

Yoga is not new to their sport. Olympian Mike Lambert, a Punahou graduate, took up Ashtanga yoga — a vigorous form — as a Stanford senior in an effort to increase flexibility. He calls the book "Power Yoga" his "bible."

UCLA coach Andy Banachowski has had his team do yoga twice a week the last four years. Some of his players were Romey's students when she lived in Southern California. "It's part of our regular practice routine," Banachowski said. "It's helped some with our flexibility and, I think, it's helped with our demeanor on the court. We're able to learn how to maintain a calm. Everybody has not bought into it yet, but we're getting there."

Mike Sealy says the 'Bows did not do enough yoga to make results apparent. But he believes "things come about now that remind them of the mental clarity stuff we tried to do last winter. Now they can see it."

Romey, from her yoga background, sees it in the players' ability to conserve energy by not "over-thinking." She believes yoga can act as a "filter" to eliminate distractions between realizing what you need to do and reflexively accomplishing it.

In other words, simplifying a sport prone to all kinds of complications. Woolford took yoga three times a week this summer, but says some of her teammates were skeptical.

"Romey did a good job of explaining to us how yoga would help us test those mental and physical barriers," Woolford said. "How it's helping us incorporate mental strength with physical ability and how your mind will actually take you beyond that point that you've never been physically."

NOTE

Tickets to today's match cost $19 lower level and $16 (adults), $10 (seniors 65-older), $6 (students 4-18) and $3 (UH students) upper level. Parking is $3.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.