Yoga for Seniors – Safely Reduce Aches, Pains, and Stress-Related Issues Taking Advantage of Yoga Exercises!

Your doctor remarked at your last physical that your joints are far too stiff; “You must have a great deal of unnecessary pain” he stated. “Are you going to give me something to help?” you asked.
“Yes, some good advice. Take a yoga class and reap many more benefits in addition to increased flexibility,” was his reasoning, but without the luxury of having a long conversation about yoga, you go looking for more information…

Soothing the Body and the Soul
Yoga has been a health option publicly encouraged for mature people in western cultures most of the last century. The practice of yoga involves poses, breathing techniques, and exercises that may be started out with ease and increased in intensity as the practice is mastered.

Today, yoga is making headlines as a health alternative even more frequently because, unlike Zumba, an aerobic dancing method that is wildly appreciated by children and young adults for the party atmosphere that is created around the execution of the practice. Yoga can be practiced at a far slower pace. The results for senior health are significant, but the stress on joints is reduced.
Advocates for alternative cures nearly always mention yoga for anything from nasal discomfort or other respiratory distress to cancer, weight loss to immune enhancement, and stress reduction to increased strength. Like any means of self-healing, the results are different in everyone.

Reduce Pain, Enhance Posture
Noninvasive options for back pain are often limited by the imagination of the victims. If an adult is unable to visualize his or her body in a yoga posture, the pain is not going to be reduced. Yoga is body/mind congruence. Like the person who buys an exercise bike and does not have any physical change because the bike remains in the shipping carton, until the body and the mind- set to work, no change will occur. The gentle stretching of yoga will often ease back pain from muscle tension, stress, strain, injury, rupture, or illness. This statement also applies to pain in any other part of the body.

Yoga for seniors offers timeless benefits...

Medical Professionals Take Notice!
Along the same vein that the U.S. Navy has finally recognized that meditation is a stress reducer when sailors are in a submarine, the medical profession has found that the mind, body, soul connection of yoga stabilizes blood pressure, pulse rate, enhances circulation, eases respiratory ills, strengthens cardiovascular muscles, sends positive feedback to organs, sooths the gastrointestinal track, boosts immunity, and speeds up metabolism in those who practice the techniques. Inner peace is one direct, and indirect (a quiet conviction that you’re doing something positive for yourself) benefits that senior yoga practitioner can expect.

Not only will the inside of the body benefit from the practice of yoga, but seemingly unrelated areas of a person’s core or soul may also be improved. There is evidence that detoxification occurs from yoga positions – therefore, aging is slowed. As the posture is enhanced, the overall look of the adult frame is balanced. There are typically more strengths, higher-energy levels, better sleeping, and balance in the yoga practitioner. Some practice yoga to stabilize their weight or reduce cellulite due to stretching of muscles.

Body awareness is an additional benefit of practicing yoga. As the adult becomes joined in the physical activity, the mental awakening, and the core centering the comprehensive integration of body, mind and spirit commonly produces an overall enlightening of consciousness of self. This sensitivity may include improved sexuality, self-control, mood, self-acceptance, along with a reducing in depression, anxiety, and/or reoccurring stress. Many advocates of yoga practice state that the mind-body connection often results in a more positive outlook on life. Previously hostile thoughts may be replaced with calmness, better social skills, and increased ability to concentrate, recall, or attend to the activities of their day.

Management of Diseases or Disorders
Asthma, allergies, and arthritis respond with a positive change to yoga, as does back pain (and scoliosis), cancer, constipation, and epilepsy. The complications of menopause can be better controlled as can obsessive-compulsive disorder. Nerve involvement, like migraines, sciatica, and carpel tunnel syndrome respond to yoga positioning. Even muscular dystrophy and chronic bronchitis can be eased from regular yoga exercises.

Scientific Evidence of Yoga Benefits
Actual testing of those who do and do not practice yoga have identified the following benefits: positive changes in cholesterol/triglycerides, the lymphatic system, glucose/sodium levels, red blood cells, vitamin integration, and functioning of the endocrine system as a whole. There is evidence that regular yoga practice reduces the risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, and type II diabetes.

Physical Changes
Those who practice yoga are less likely to have a physical injury due to enhanced muscle tone. Their muscle groups are more in balance as is their nervous system. The breathing aspect of the practice improves oxygen use by the body. The feeling of calmness reduces competitiveness, increases reaction time, makes them more agile, and eye-hand coordination is improved. A graceful movement pattern and increased endurance often replaces stiffness when normal activities are attempted.