Yoga
Discover the Health Benefits of Why You Should Learn YOGA!
Enjoy the benefits of this whole body fitness practice at any age.
photos by Melissa Hall
I had all I could take. The empty tubes of muscle relaxing heat rub were mounting. My husband wasn’t happy that part of our nightly routine included him slathering analgesic heat cream on my aching joints.
Instead of my age, I was feeling more like 80. Every bone, joint and tendon in my body ached from doing the simplest activities. Even an extended drive in the car left me with stiff hips that moved like a rusty gate.
I’d toyed with yoga for about a year. Stacks of practice DVDs and several DVR’d episodes of Namaste and Inhale cluttered my TV time. But it wasn’t until I signed up at the local gym and got serious about improving my health that I started reaping the benefits.
The physical and emotional improvements came slowly, but within six months, the nightly joint and muscle pain rubdowns were a thing of the past. I discovered that my posture improved, my balance was better, my attitude is more positive and my body is more flexible. And all because of 75 minutes of yoga, three times a week.
Get Moving
It’s a fact that as we age, we become more sedentary. “We carry around a few extra pounds, have joints that creak and ache at times, have muscles that haven’t been used forever,” says Felice Rhiannon, E-RYT, PYT, author of A Vibrant Life: Yoga in the Middle Years and Beyond (2008, Trafford Publishing). Inactivity results in our muscles shortening, tightening and becoming weaker. Our lack of weight-bearing activities contributes to osteoporosis. Because we move and stretch less than we used to, our joints deteriorate and become less flexible.
Yoga practices “can empower us to engage in new projects, rekindling our dreams and taking us to some uncharted territory,” adds Rhiannon. A regular yoga practice directly improves our thinking, sharpens our perceptions and understanding. It can be an effective treatment technique for conditions like arthritis/bursitis, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, low back pain, breathing difficulties, poor blood circulation, digestive issues, chronic pain, stress and sleep disorders.
According to the National Institutes of Health, more than one-third of adults try yoga or other non-traditional forms of medicine to help eliminate pain. “I’ve treated an enormous amount of people who have been able to avoid back surgery by using yoga therapy,” said orthopedic surgeon and UCLA Assistant professor Michael Sinel. He cautions patients to be evaluated by a medical specialist first.
“Yoga is so adaptive,” says Patricia Law, a San Diego hatha yoga instructor. “ It adapts to what state your body is in. It accommodates lifestyle as well as physical limitations. It’s a nice, easy way to get back into exercise.” Law was in a serious car accident when she was 18. That painful experience got the dancer interested in yoga. “Even with all the chiropractic care I had received, I was still having back pain. It wasn’t until I began practicing yoga that I felt relief.” That was nearly 30 years ago, when she was the youngest one in her class studying to become a yoga instructor.
“Yoga helps release tension, increases blood flow, eases movement. It teaches you how to recognize the tight areas in your body, to pay attention to pain,” Law says. “It helps you learn to breathe properly, improve lung health. It teaches you to relax and let go.”
Reaping the Benefits
Yoga has been shown to help alleviate or reduce many health challenges, making it an increasingly popular exercise choice. You can find a yoga classes pretty much anywhere – health clubs, YMCAs, and city recreation programs.
“Yoga is a system that is designed to take care of mind, body, and spirit alike,” says Joanne Hamlin, CYT at Yogadotcalm Yoga & Pilates in Lawton. “Most people begin a yoga practice by working the physical postures (asanas) which not only increase flexibility and strength, but that also greatly improve balance and focus. This system of forward bending, backward bending, twists, and inversions is true structural therapy and has a proven effect on the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system; easing fatigue and anxiety and boosting positive energy levels for mind and body. Its yoga’s effect on the nervous system that will give you the post-yoga feeling of calm and bliss.”
Yoga also provides other benefits. “As muscles strengthen, bone density increases. This, of course, is beneficial to the prevention of osteoporosis and in preventing serious injury in the event of a fall. As muscles gain flexibility, there is less drag on the upper body, allowing one to stand and sit taller with ease. The neck and shoulders carry less tension and the lower back is more open. Ankles, knees, hips, wrists and shoulders will have marked improvement in flexibility,” says Hamlin. “You do not have to be flexible to begin a yoga practice.”
In addition, Jane Foody, an experienced, registered, yoga teacher (E-RYT), says, “Yoga is incredible for the aging body and mind.” Foody, with more than 10 years in the field, has seen people physically look younger after a few years of practicing yoga. “Because of the way yoga inverts and moves the body it causes improved blood flow as well as the improved elasticity in the skin because of the stretching.”
Yoga improves digestion that tends to slow down after people turn 30, adds Foody. “It stimulates digestion because of the twists and the deep breathing. Yoga improves the way people breathe, which affects a person’s entire body and sense of well being.”
Yoga practitioners know that it is more than an exercise program. It is a holistic experience that rejuvenates the mind, body and spirit. Even among those who practice the westernized, more fitness-focused yoga know that its payoffs are more than physically beneficial. “Through deep relaxation exercises, yoga teaches you how to be calm. It’s a chance to slow down in our otherwise busy day,” says Law, “and take a few moments to be at peace and focus on our physical, mental and spiritual selves.”
What more can you ask from any wellness or fitness program?
Take a Breath
Mom was right when she told you to take a deep breath and count to 10. Many therapists, doctors and yoga instructors agree. Because deep breathing releases tension from the body and clears the mind, it is an easy way to improve both your physical and mental well-being.
As we get older, we fall into a pattern of shallow breathing. And it’s not uncommon for adults to hold their breath when feeling anxious or under stress. Since shallow breathing limits your oxygen intake, it adds further stress to your body by denying the calming effects of air. Becoming better at deep breathing will help you to break this pattern. Here’s how.
Get in position. Sit or stand up straight, but don’t arch your back. It’s important to have good posture when taking a deep breath. If you slouch, the diaphragm and other organs are compressed, making it harder to breathe deeply.
Let your hands help. Place your hands on your stomach, just above your waist. Exhale completely through your mouth.
Breathe in. Slowly breathe in through your nostrils. Let the strength of your inhalation push your hands away from your belly. Imagine that you are inflating your stomach like a balloon. Think about oxygen being pulled up from the bottom of your stomach to the middle of your chest to the upper lobes of your lungs.
Pause for a moment. Clear your mind as you hold your breath for a count of two to five.
Breathe out. Slowly and steadily breathe out through your nostrils, pushing all the air out of that balloon you just inflated. Notice how your hands move back in as you slowly contract your stomach. Your exhalation should be a little longer than inhalation.
Try it again. Don’t give up. Mastering deep breathing is not as easy as it might seem. If you are really tense and feel as though you are holding your breath, simply concentrate on following your breath in and out.
For a better night’s sleep. You can do breathing exercise lying on your back. This technique can help you relax before you go to sleep for the night or fall back asleep if you awaken in the middle of the night.
Practice makes perfect. Improve your technique while standing in line at the grocery store, sitting in traffic or waiting for the next bank teller. Take these little moments throughout the day to practice good posture and improve your deep breathing.
Claire Yezbak Fadden is an award-winning freelance writer and mother of three sons. Follow her on Twitter @claireflaire.
Posing in both pictures is Joanne Hamlin, CYT and owner of Yogadotcalm in Lawton.
