I teach yoga for the aging body. I am a yoga therapist and chose to be one to help spread the wisdom of yoga to help others age in a healthy comfortable manor.

Aging doesn’t have to be negative. Sure there are physical and physiological changes that can cause pain and discomfort but if we raise our awareness and adopt healthy lifestyle practices we can avoid many of the discomforts.

In addition to the physical practice of yoga, we learn to get away from all the negative thoughts that contribute to stress and the cascade of ill health they contribute to.

As we age we need to be cautious of certain movements and also uncover bad patterns we have developed over the years in our bodies and in our posture. Our bones, muscles, connective tissue and nervous system go through a degeneration process as we age but we can stay ahead of this with yoga. We do poses that stimulate our bones, strengthen our muscles and keep our joints loose and moist. By moving our spine in all directions we bring fluids to the joints to nourish, repair and restore health in the vertebrae and vertebral discs. In addition, we learn to realign our spine to improve our posture, which will help us with our balance.

As we stretch in our poses we release tension and unblock the flow of our energy. The stimuli from our feet travels throughout the tissues of our body to the brain to turn on the muscles that we need for balance and we free this up every time we come to the mat to practice.

Loss of balance is one of the most worrisome aspects that diminish with age so it is beneficial to focus on the muscles and proprioceptive nervous system to help enhance our sense of balance.

In yoga, we concentrate on strengthening specific muscles, joints and nerves that support our core or center and this will improve our strength, balance and overall mindset and how we embrace the aging process.