September is National Yoga Month. If you’re not already on the yoga bandwagon, there are plenty of reasons to give it a try. Before you think you have to twist yourself like a pretzel to get the benefits of yoga, think again. Yoga can benefit just about anyone and everyone—at any age or fitness level. Here are several ways that yoga can specifically benefit seniors:
- You can go at your own pace.One message you’ll hear over and over from good yoga instructors is that you should listen to your body. Some days, you may be able to do more than others, based on how your body is feeling. There’s no pressure with yoga to push yourself (although there are some types of yoga that provide more of a physical challenge if that’s what you want). Bottom line: If you have chronic physical challenges, yoga can still be a welcome addition in your life.
- Yoga can improve balance and stability. Even if your balance and stability are excellent right now, practicing yoga can help prevent future problems.
- Yoga improves your sleep. With the current emphasis on better sleep, this benefit of yoga should make just about anyone give it a try—but especially any senior who’s having trouble getting quality shut eye.
- Yoga reduces stress.Yoga forces those who practice it to be in the moment and focus on the various poses that are part of a given routine. In turn, the practice of yoga poses, deep breathing, and the culminating shavasana (where you lay still) fosters great stress relief.
- You’ll become more flexible.Looking to loosen your joints? Then we’ve got a yoga prescription for you. Yoga poses will help lubricate your joints as you perform gentle stretches.
- You’ll build bone strength. Bone density is common as we age—yoga can be an antidote to fight against this. Regular yoga can help improve joint health and slow done bone thinning.
There are several types of yoga you can perform, from restorative yoga (super-relaxing) to vinyasa flow, which focuses on a quicker flow of poses. There’s even a kind of yoga called laughter yoga.
So just how can you get started? Find out if your community center or gym has yoga classes (some may even have classes especially for seniors). An added benefit if attending a class is the social aspect of meeting others. If in-person classes aren’t available, there are plenty of videos available to try on YouTube. Here are online links to information on yoga poses for seniors:
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