This is Your Over 50 Body on Yoga

Any questions? 😉🤣

As we age, our body becomes less adaptable to what we do to it. When you were 20, you could pull an all nighter, sleep a couple of hours, then be fine. If you try that when you are older, it might take you a week (or more) to recover and feel normal again. An injury to your 20 year old body healed much faster than with your current body. Our tissue doesn’t regenerate like it used to. That’s why my aging body needs yoga. Maybe yours does too.

An aging body can be a frustrating place to live. It doesn’t feel the same, it doesn’t look the same, it doesn’t behave the same way that it used to when we were younger. Our body requires more upkeep and maintenance just to operate at baseline. An older car needs more maintenance, so do you. Managing your body can become a full time job. Thankfully yoga exists.

The wisdom of yoga is that we don’t have to adapt ourselves to the practice, it adapts to us. A yoga practice can be modified to be more challenging, less challenging, focused on strength, focused on stretching, focused on core work, all of the above, or none of the above. Our yoga practice might be off the mat, where we work on our mindset and keep our body in stillness.

These things keep you feeling comfortable in your skin, regardless of age:

• building and maintaining muscle and bone strength
• increasing mobility to find more ease in daily movements
• improving balance, and being able to shift your weight with better stability (think going up and down stairs)
• finding acceptance of who you are right now and loving and embracing that person

Yoga for strength

Keeping your body strong as you age helps you age more “gracefully.” It can be frustrating when you can’t do what you did when you were younger. Strengthening the muscles and bones will slow down the effects of sarcopenia (muscle loss) and osteopenia (bone loss), both of which are a natural part of aging.

Practicing weight bearing exercise, even when using your own body weight, slows the loss so you feel stronger and more stable in your daily movements. Yoga focuses on functional strength, with each movement using a group of muscles, rather than isolating one at a time, as is common with traditional weight training.

We use multiple muscles at the same time when we get a milk container out of the fridge, or go up and down stairs. When you raise your arms over head for Warrior 1, or move from Utkatasana (Awkward Pose) to Tree pose, you strengthen a group of muscles that work together to create stability.

Yoga creates the strength you need to stand up from a chair, to pick up a laundry basket or a child, as well as swing a golf club or tennis racquet. Functional strength, which includes core strength, allows you to live your life with less struggle and more ease.

Yoga for mobility

While scrolling through social media, all sorts of bodies practice yoga and show off amazing feats of flexibility. While it looks amazing for a picture, that kind of flexibility is less practical for day to day living.

Putting your foot behind your head isn’t necessary when you need to reach down and put on your socks. You don’t need to do a full split, but you might need to reach up for something on a high shelf, or look over your shoulder while driving.

Yoga practices that encourage functional mobility, rather than extreme flexibility, are more useful in the long run. They help you feel less tight and stiff, and move comfortably through your day.

Unless you stretch regularly with mindful movements, your joints and muscles get stiff and you don’t move as well. Achiness, stiffness, and pain don’t have to be part of your daily life. You might just need a 15 minute yoga practice.

Yoga for balance

Practicing balance is important as we age. Like I said in my post “Practicing Physical Balance Helps with Life Balance,” you gotta use it or lose it. Balance is something that most of us take for granted. You don’t think about it while you’re moving through your day, unless you fall. Balance helps you walk up and down stairs, especially when carrying things, like bags of groceries. It aids your ability to run, bike, and play sports where you shift your weight around.

It’s easy to practice, just stand on one leg for as long as you can. You can work on balance while you brush your teeth. Bonus points if you switch hands when you switch legs! You can also balance on one leg while doing dishes or preparing food. Stand on one leg while you wait in line.

Practice yoga poses like Tree pose, Airplane pose, Half Moon pose, and Dancer’s pose. Yoga cultivates physical strength and balance, as well as mental focus. It’s hard to balance on one leg while thinking about your to-do list. You need to be fully present and feel what your body is doing.

Yoga for self love and acceptance

While many people practice yoga for the physical benefits mentioned above, the most profound “side effect” of practicing yoga is self-love and acceptance. Each time you come to your mat, you are working with the body you have and honoring how it feels. You notice the stories you tell yourself (I’m too much, I’m not enough, I’m not worth loving, I’m too fat, thin, tall, short, old….), and notice how false those stories are.

You start to accept your aging body as it is, with its smile lines and creakiness, and learn to love yourself just as you are. Letting go of self-judgment, self-criticism, and self-doubt are some of the best things I have lost by practicing yoga. Self-love, acceptance, and confidence are some of the best things I have gained.

Join me on the mat!

Coming in June:

I know we just started Spring, but Summer is just around the corner! Join me online for the Summer Yoga Kickoff! 15 minutes classes on Wednesday, and Friday mornings through the whole month of June, plus 40 minute classes on Mondays (that you could take as a 20 minute class if you wanted to)! Movement and Meditation, Mindful Core, Head to Toe Stretch, Sun Salutations, and Strength and Balance classes to start off the Summer feeling your best! Move your body to build strength, increase mobility, improve balance, and find yourself. Click the button below for more information or to sign up!