Stretch away your aches and pains
HIS PROGNOSIS was grim. After suffering a severe stroke, doctors told Steve, 61, he would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. A previously active man, he was devastated by this cruel turn of events. Then his daughter-in-law brought him to my yoga classes twice a week, in an attempt to rediscover some of his lost mobility.
After several years of practice, his life, again, changed for ever — only this time for the better. His body eventually healed.
He has been able to travel again and was even able to walk a small section of the Great Wall of China. Where once life looked bleak, things became so much brighter — thanks, in part, to yoga.
Another lady in her 50s came to me, weeping profusely. She had a problem with her back after a car accident and an operation to help had not worked.
Her mobility had been affected, and she was in agony. Her friend brought her to see me, and she said all she wanted to do was have the ability to walk around the shops for half an hour, and if she could drive her own car again, that would be marvellous.
After two years of doing two yoga classes a week with me, she has been on a cruise down the Amazon and was able to join in on a short trek through the jungle.
These are just two of the almost miraculous tales of transformation I’ve seen in my 40 years as a yoga teacher.
I’ve seen how yoga — with a bit of care, gentleness and time — can have an extraordinary healing effect on the most broken of bodies. If yoga is so restorative for the seriously ill, imagine how it might help your aches and pains.
From osteoporosis to sciatica, sore backs to brain fog, yoga can help alleviate some of the most common debilitating conditions associated with growing older. At 75, I’m living proof of this, and, touch wood, am ageing much slower than some people in their 70s. I’ve practised yoga for more than four decades and am so grateful for the body it has given me.
TODAY, in the final part of my series on anti-ageing yoga, I’ll show you how it’s never too late to rejuvenate your body, and explain how it can help your health, mood and mind.
I’ll demonstrate the best stretches for easing ailments, and tell you how yoga can deepen and improve your night’s sleep — a common complaint as the years pass.
As you age it’s expected that your back will stiffen, your shoulders droop and your knees seize up. But it hasn’t happened to me — and I put it down to yoga.
Of course, if you have any medical issues, it’s always best to speak to your doctor before any new exercise regime. And it’s vital to remember you should
never strain when practising yoga — just move gently and slowly and your body will loosen with time. However, age need not be a barrier to yoga — my oldest student is 86, and can keep up with the younger ones!
Indeed, of the many benefits of yoga, the one which most people report is the incredible effect on their flexibility and mobility.
The joints and spine normally stiffen with age. For lifelong flexibility, it’s necessary to work the joints carefully and in all possible directions, which can be achieved through regular yoga.
Using every joint, in every way possible, stimulates the synovial fluid, which lubricates them and helps prevent deterioration and arthritis. With regular practice you will be surprised at how quickly the joints loosen up.
If you work at it carefully you can keep your joints flexible right up to the end of your days.
Yoga also has the added bonus of strengthening muscles around the joint, giving it support.
And it can strengthen bones by stimulating them through stretching and doing weight bearing movements, thereby helping prevent osteoporosis.
For those unlucky enough to already have osteoporosis, gentle yoga can be vital as it improves balance and co-ordination, which could help you to avoid slips and falls. The Sideways Body Raise, shown overleaf, is fantastic for this.
The benefits don’t stop there. Yoga also improves elasticity of your ligaments and tendons, and can help to remove the calcium deposits that can collect around the joint surface, so helping your joints remain flexible for life.
For those of you who find one hip or leg stiffer than the other, yoga can help, too. It can bring balance to the body — especially if your weight falls on one leg more than the other.
Most physical peculiarities can
be soothed by a simple stretch, like the delightful Cat Stretch on this page.
And it’s not just bones that yoga helps. Our internal organs and muscles are, too.
How? Well, yoga works every part of you, inside and out. Today, people often sit for hours in unnaturally hunched positions, which hinders the circulation of your blood, leading the body to literally stagnate.
Just a few stretches and bends can help bring fresh blood to all parts of the body.
The Cobra Pose, for example, which I showed you in Monday’s paper, stimulates blood flow to the kidneys. The Back Stretch, shown in Saturday’s paper, massages the heart. The spleen and liver are helped by the Simple Twist, which was also demonstrated in Saturday’s paper.
The more blood that flows to each region of the body through these stretches, the more new cells are stimulated into being. As yoga helps tone muscles inside the body, it also improves blood flow to the heart, lungs, bowel and every other part of your body.
It can even help you feel sexier. After all, if you feel blocked by worries and tension, you won’t be in the mood for romance. And medically speaking, if yoga strengthens your pelvic floor and improves your flexibility, it can logically only lead to a better love life, no matter your age.
Of course, yoga also encourages deep breathing, which increases the amount of oxygen in the body. The reality is that very few of us breathe properly on a daily basis. As we get older, or when we are stressed, our breathing becomes shallower, filling only the top part of our lungs.
But a yoga breath starts at the belly, fills the sides of the ribs and then fills the top of the chest, right up to the collarbone.
By making the lungs work hard and breathing deeply, you fill the lungs properly and send extra oxygen into your system.
As oxygen is required for every one of your cells, the more there is in your body, the better you feel. I’ve witnessed again and again how yoga makes people become more tuned in to the world around them.
Joining a yoga class can also bring you into a whole new sociable set. Some of my students have been with me for several decades — they meet their friends at my class, have a chat and a giggle. They meet people of every age — from their teens to their 30s and beyond — and from all walks of life. What can be more enlivening?
I believe that by working as a yoga teacher for so many years, constantly learning new things and meeting new people, I haven’t allowed my mind to age too quickly.
And because I’m so mobile, I’m always off on a new adventure — and that, in my opinion, is one of the most anti-ageing things ever. Discovering somewhere new and meeting new people makes me feel alive — and a smile is as good as a facelift!
All in all, yoga has taught me that youthfulness is an attitude, not a number.
Staying curious and excited about life keeps me feeling young, and yoga means my ageing body hasn’t held me back. My husband and I have recently been to Mauritius, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama, and we have a map at home where we mark where we want to go next.
We shouldn’t look at old age as a time to go and sit in a day care centre. There are still things to do, people to see. I’ll never give yoga up — it helps me find the fun in every single moment. And I know it’s never too late for yoga to help you embrace life, and live each of your days to the fullest.