People of all ages take up yoga to get the kinks out of their bodies, strengthen bones and muscles, improve posture, breathe better, relax, and improve their overall health and vitality. With good reason, says Suza Francina, a noted yoga teacher and author of The New Yoga for People Over Fifty. She says that older students who attend class regularly for at least six months report increased strength and range of movement. That, in turn, enables them to return to physical activities they thought had become permanently hampered by aging: gardening, climbing uphill and climbing stairs, biking, dancing, reaching and bending without strain, sitting comfortably on the floor in various positions, and getting up from the floor with confidence. Yoga counters the effects of the aging process by moving each joint in the body through its full range of motion -- stretching, strengthening, and balancing each part, says Francina. Francina particularly advocates yogas weight-bearing postures, as current research increasingly supports their benefits for musculoskeletal diseases like osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Inverted weight-bearing yoga postures, where the bones in the arms, wrists, and hands are strengthened by supporting the weight of ones body, all work to prevent osteoporosis and other problems related to a weak skeletal structure, she says. Muscles shorten and joints tighten with age, and most popular forms of weight-bearing exercise can create further stiffness. Yoga, on the other hand, stretches the body to relieve stiff joints and lengthen muscles.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 15:56:23 +0000
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