Yoga For All Ages

Yoga For The Elderly:

This is a time when many people – whose earlier lives may have been too hectic for regular practice – discover the benefits of yoga. Notice how much more confidence they have than older people. This confidence is based on a strength and suppleness that makes them far less prone to accidents and falls. From as early as the 30s, muscles start to stiffen and joints lose their range of movement. As the years pass, even people with good posture start to walk and turn less smoothly. Long-term yoga practice can delay the onset of these restrictions by many years, but taking up yoga in later life can also reverse some of the changes age has made. By encouraging correct posture and maintaining flexibility in the spine, it helps to delay the effects of aging. Starting each day with a routine lasting 20-30 minutes leaves you in good shape and gives you time to clear your mind for the day.

Daily Yoga Routine:
You should include asanas from each of the main groups, to work all parts of the body; standing, sitting and lying down; back bends, forward bends and twists. The following iis a gentle and effective seres suitable for older beginners.

1. Warm up by performing the Cat movement several times to get your spine working.
2. Stand up in the Mountain pose, to centre you and help keep your balance steady. As people age their sense of balance starts to fade, and it is this as much as loss of strength that leads to potentially dangerous falls. Keeping a good sense of balance gives you the same confident stride you had when you were young.
3. Move into the Standing Side Stretch. Check that you are breathing naturally and in rhythm with your movements: in as you lean downwards, out as you come up. Return to the Mountain pose and take a moment to feel centred again.
4. Now move into the Standing Forward Bend, keeping your knees slightly bent if you are new to this. If you feel any strain on your back, just move forwards enough to put your hands on a support such as a stable piece of furniture. Concentrate on keeping your back flat and your head in line with your spine.
5. Return to the Mountain pose for a few moments, then lie down on your stomach and move into the Cobra pose. Keep your elbows bent and focus on opening your chest, letting your shoulders sink down and back, away from your ears. When you look upwards, do not to let your head tip back. You’re aiming for a natural curve at the neck, without compressing the vertebrae. The same goes for the lower back, don’t push yourself up with straight arms and an unnatural arch in your lumbar spine – it’s the thoracic vertebrae in your upper spine that need to move.
6. Lower your chest and come smoothly out of the Cobra, then push your hip back and bend forwards into the Child pose, relaxing your spinie by letting it curve in the other direction.
7. Move into a kneeliing position and into the Dog pose.
8. Next, go into the Bridge, to increase flexiblity in yoiur spine. Keep your heels and your arms on the floor, with your palms facing down. You are aiming for a gentle curve in your spine.
9. Roll on to your side and sit up, then move into the Cow pose. This is meant to promote long life, because it opens your chest and stops your lower back stiffening. If you find the leg position difficult, simply sit or kneel with your spine straight.
10. Complete your routine by relaxing for a few minutes in the Corpse pose. Come up by rollong onto your side.