Yoga And Other Eastern Therapies Can Positively Impact The Health Of Older Adults
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As you age, preserving your health may be more important to your quality of life than your career, spouse, or children. Once the first aches and pains appear, you quickly understand the wisdom of the saying, “Without your health you don’t have anything.” However, enduring creaky joints and failing capacities isn’t an inevitable destiny; much of your aging process depends on your lifestyle choices.
Science has recently begun investigating the influence of Eastern movement modalities on the well-being of older adults, and their findings offer hope to those looking for self-care techniques especially for seniors. Here’s how yoga and other Eastern therapies can positively impact your health.
The Importance Of Physical Movement For Older Adults
Only 25% of the variation in human life spans occurs due to genetics. The rest is a matter of your lifestyle choices, especially keeping your muscles and joints flexible and fluid. Eastern disciplines help older adults prevent the most common diseases and ailments associated with aging, especially decreased bone and musculoskeletal health. Since they work for all fitness levels, you can find a style right for you that will help you get the recommended 150 minutes of moderate physical activity each week.
In addition, yoga and other Eastern therapies include social, mental and emotional benefits as well. Loneliness increases mortality. Attending group classes lets participants meet new people. Evidence supports that yoga and other meditative practices improve cognitive function and help ease anxiety and depression.
Types Of Yoga And Eastern Movement To Explore
1. Explore Styles Of Yoga. Start by learning about the various yoga styles before you go to your first class so you have a better idea of what to expect.
- Hatha Yoga is a catch-all phrase referring to yoga that focuses on body postures and breathing. There are many types of hatha yoga classes and levels of expertise, so ask your teacher ahead of time to recommend the right class and level for you.
- Vinyasa Yoga keeps you moving without pause from pose to pose, connected by the breath. It’s perfect for people who want a more cardio-intensive experience and like their yoga almost dance-like.
- Power Yoga focuses on more powerful holds specifically designed to improve muscle strength, giving you a mix of an endurance, cardio and flexibility workout.
- Yin Yoga is a gentle yoga style with floor-based poses held for two to three minutes. It is fabulous for deep fascia work and relaxation.
- Restorative Yoga is super-gentle, although the emotional release can be intense. With prolonged holds of 15-30 minutes per pose, you will focus on your breath-body connection and restoring balanced energy flow throughout your body.
- Kundalini Yoga has a spiritual foundation grounded in Sikhism that focuses on chanting and breathwork to release the energy coiled at the base of your spine.
- Chair Yoga is done while seated or using a chair for support, and is especially suited for anyone with aches, pains, minimal flexibility or balance issues.
2. Get An Energy Flow With Tai Chi. Tai chi might look like a gentle flowing dance, but it’s a martial arts form that Shaolin monks and Chinese military leaders once practiced it. Tai chi combines a series of movements linked together to form a sequence as you direct chi — your body’s vital energy — to flow in healthy balance.
3. Feel Each Movement With Qi Gong. This ancient practice predates tai chi and is still used in many places in China today, including public schools and hospitals, as part of daily exercise and self-care. Unlike tai chi, which unites several movements, qi gong focuses on one basic move at a time, allowing you to fully feel the flow of chi in your body. The science of medical qi gong is specifically for healing of disease.
4. Learn Self-Defense With Aikido. If you are thinking about self-defense as you age consider aikido, which highlights joint locks and throws, but is based on redirecting your opponent’s energy back against them. While focusing heavily on the mental component and principles of nonviolence, you’ll still learn what to do if a linebacker charges you.
5. Master the Karate Chop. Karate originated with Chinese kung fu but arose as its own sport in Okinawa, Japan, which you might recall from “The Karate Kid.” Although this martial art combines individual katas, or movement routines, with physical combat, it’s highly personalized. You’ll learn how to spar safely and maybe master a fun party trick or two, like how to break a board.
Recommended Daily Yoga Poses
If you can’t fit a live class into your schedule or budget, YouTube is a fabulous resource of free yoga teaching material, with some videos as short as 10 minutes. Explore YouTube at home on your own or sign up for a class — you’ll feel better inside and out.
- Standing backbends: Reach overhead with an inhale, palms touching. Lean slightly back to stretch your lumbar spine, only going as far as you can without any pain. Pain is the signal you have gone to far. Return to standing and repeat the motion, this time bending to either side, pausing for a breath at each extension.
- Standing forward fold: Stand tall, extend your arms overhead and hinge forward from the waist. Slightly shift your weight back so you feel it in your hamstrings, not your lumbar spine. Cross your arms at your elbows, making a gentle back and forth tick-tock motion as you lower your chest closer to your thighs. Option: Bend down as far as you can and touch your knees, shins or toes.
- Chair pose: Stand straight, then bend your knees slightly, forming a chair shape with your lower body as you extend your arms upward, biceps parallel to your ears.
- Child’s pose: Kneel on the ground padded with blankets or your mat, knees wide. Surrender your upper body between your thighs, reaching forward with your arms. Option: Keep your arms close to the sides of your body and back
Mia Barnes is a freelance writer and researcher with a passion for holistic healing and healthy living. She is also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the online publication Body+Mind magazine.
