March 28, 2024

Yoga offers a kinder, gentler alternative for health and fitness

Health and fitness ranks among the top 10 resolutions people make every New Year.

For seniors, yoga offers health and fitness benefits that are less stressful on bones and joints while providing a multitude of mental benefits.

Mental wellness and stress

Mental health is a key component in any yoga practice. As a yoga instructor guides students through poses that stretch and strengthen muscles, he or she is also teaching them how to quiet their mind and focus.

Michelle Wilson, certified yoga instructor at Radiant Wellness Solutions, said yoga offers clarity and a sense of ease and peace.

“I think that is the gift of a balanced yoga practice,” said Wilson. “You leave feeling like your well is filled back up so you have energy, but that energy is clear. It’s balanced. It’s focused. You know yoga is that body, mind, spirit connection, so they feel more strengthened in all of those areas to go and face whatever challenges are there.”

LeAnn Morris started taking yoga classes with Wilson in 2008 and said she tries to incorporate some yoga stretching and poses in her everyday life.

“Yoga taught me a better way to breath,” said Morris. “I was getting more oxygen into my lungs, and that was huge. With that, I felt a little more mentally sharp. It has positive thinking effects, too, and ... the whole philosophy that it’s okay to slow down and just enjoy the moment.”

For seniors in a care giver situation, yoga can give them some time to focus on themselves in a really kind way, said Wilson.

“They can really focus that care on themselves so they can be bolstered and strengthened for everything else that they have to do,” said Wilson.

Mary Jane Weisshaar has only been doing yoga for six weeks and said it helps her with stress through offering her a distraction from what’s going on in her everyday life.

“It’s a very calming, quiet atmosphere,” said Weisshaar. “You’re able to focus on what’s going on with your body.”

Full-body healing

As individuals age and reach retirement, their stress doesn’t disappear, and it can take a toll on their physical bodies as well.

“The stressors can sometimes just change and look differently,” said Wilson. “They may not be stressors from a job, but they may be stressors from a fixed income or other challenges or diminishment in health. I think they still have stress in their lives, like all of us do. What yoga is really good at doing is turning on that parasympathetic nervous system.”

The parasympathetic nervous system is the antithesis of “fight or flight” explained Wilson. She calls it “rest, digest and restore.”

“What yoga does, specifically through the mindfulness of movement and breathing, is it flips that switch from ‘fight or flight’ to ‘rest, digest and restore.’ When the body is in ‘rest, digest and restore,’ that is exactly what it does. All those long term repair and healing processes that it puts on the back burner when it thinks we’re in an emergency get a chance to come to the forefront,” said Wilson.

Wilson said when the body is in its rest and restore mode, that is when individuals experience a balance of mood, better sleep, decreased inflammation, and a more positive outlook on life.

Flexibility and balance

Through a daily yoga practice, seniors can improve their flexibility and balance, which may lower their risk of falling.

“I’m 80-years-old and as I age, I have learned to pace myself, so to speak, so I’m more careful about how I move,” said Weisshaar. “Yoga helped me a lot with maintaining my balance when I walk or just normally function in my daily routine.”

Morris has struggled with vertigo and said doing yoga regularly has helped alleviate her symptoms and regain her balance.

Wilson said yoga has saved her personally from falling because her body is used to standing on one foot or engaging different core muscles.

“Balancing isn’t something we consciously do in our everyday life and as we age that balancing skill can diminish if we’re not really conscious about it,” said Wilson. “Every yoga class, whether a chair/gentle class or a standard yoga class, there’s definitely a balancing component in it. But, with yoga for folks with limited mobility or limited experience, we use the wall or a chair for a prop so it is safe. So they’re still practicing balance, but they’re doing it in a way that’s safe for them and then over time that can build.”

Aids with breathing

A large part of any yoga practice is learning and practicing proper breathing, and it helps individuals with issues such as asthma or COPD.

Vi Cimock has struggled for years with breathing issues. She started her yoga practice by taking the classes offered at Southern Prairie YMCA, but recently started taking classes with Wilson and said she notices a difference in her breathing.

“In some ways, for people who have a ... history of breathing challenges, part of yoga is almost like creating a new relationship with breathing,” said Wilson.

Wilson said the benefits of yoga apply equally to anyone, regardless of age. A regular yoga practice will improve flexibility and mobility, decrease levels of stress, depression and anxiety, increase energy and improve sleep quality.

“I think the benefit of just being able to slow down and take care of yourself is really huge, and yoga is definitely not a competition,” said Morris. “It is something that is sustainable because you’re just moving at your pace.”