For Donovan, the two aspects of her life overlapped constantly prior to the coronavirus pandemic hitting the season hard.
The seven-times capped centre, now in the Wales Women Sevens squad, is helping rugby players go to the next level by implementing ‘yogability’ into their fitness sessions.
Yogability is Donovan’s creation – a mix of yoga and mobility work and she believes it can benefit men and women of all ages and fitness levels as well as those in professional sport.
“Yogability is designed for those who need to work on flexibilty and mobility while maintaining strength. The aim is to improve strength through range, body awareness and balance as well as all-round mobility. Yoga without the zen if you like,” said Donovan.
“It’s not a case of doing more yoga makes you a better rugby player, but it can help in aspects of the sport. If yoga can help you extend your career or prevent injuries, then why wouldn’t you do it?
“It can have physical and mental benefits for the players. A lot of teams do yoga during pre-season and then stop, but I think more people and teams are getting into it now as part of their regular programmes.
“I work with Bristol Bears and I’ve worked a lot with guys like George North and Sam Warburton too along with athletes from other sports.”
Donovan’s status as a Wales international means she is close with current Wales Women squad players and they regularly attend her classes at her new business premises – Yoga Hub in Cardiff.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19 and the ensuing lockdown, Donovan has started delivering regular classes free of charge via her Instagram page.
“I just wanted people to have some fun, try something new, or even just have something to set an alarm for,” she said. “Doing a Yogability class before breakfast gives some sort of structure during this uncertain time. I want people to keep active and stay positive – if I can help even one person through my free ‘live’ classes, I’m happy. All of these classes are for all abilities and general ‘problem’ areas such as hips or hamstrings. It can be physically demanding but the more you do the easier it becomes.”
The Bristol players and other clients are currently continuing with their work with Donovan via specific Yogability videos.
“Generally rugby players can be quite tight in terms of their muscles because they do so much physical and attritional work,” explained Donovan.
“We work on their flexibility, but at the same time they don’t want to be hyper mobile or over flexible. If you’re too flexible you lose your power so it’s about striking that balance.
“When you learn about the way rugby players move and what they need, it all becomes quite easy especially because I come from a background as a competitive athlete myself.
“A common misconception of yoga is there is just one type when in fact there are many different options.
“We talk about strength through range and it’s much better do 10 minutes each day rather than a two-hour slot every two weeks.”
You can find Alecs’ free Yogability sessions on Instagram – @alecs_donovan1 at 8am every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and on Sunday evenings at 6.30pm.
