Yoga can be practiced by the elderly – 04/21/2023 – Equilíbrio

In the mid-1960s, Lawrence Nees noticed some pain he had not felt before. Getting up from the ground also seemed more difficult, her body was less flexible. Nees’ wife was a former yoga student, and when he retired from his job as a professor of art history at the University of Delaware, he decided to join her.

Now 72 and a yoga devotee, Nees says his flexibility is better, as is his balance. “I became a believer,” he points out. “It’s not about getting younger, it’s about slowing down the inevitable aging process.”

By adding regular yoga practice to her repertoire, Nees joins a large number of seniors who roll out their mats several times a week. Research suggests that it may be wise to embrace yoga as you age, and some studies have even linked it to improved metrics experts use to check cellular aging.

Others revealed positive changes in brain health. For example, a recent small study found that healthy older adults who had been practicing Hatha yoga for two years performed better on certain cognitive tasks than a control group.

In short, yoga can be beneficial for seniors. But before embarking on a new practice there are a few things to remember.

Look for a class adapted to your needs

Nees and his wife take a “gentle” yoga class in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. While not specifically geared toward seniors, gentle yoga moves at a slower pace, with fewer intense poses, and often includes more meditation or breathing work.

Their class is led by Ann Grace MacMullan, a 52-year-old instructor who is in charge of sessions attended mostly by seniors. She also practices gentle yoga, which gives her an understanding of its effects on the body.

Other options for seniors — depending on limitations — include chair yoga, restorative yoga and Hatha, which focus on slow, controlled movement.

Whichever style you choose, it’s important to find a teacher who can customize teaching to your needs. Please call before attempting a class to see if the instructor regularly works with seniors or is able to address specific health concerns. For example, when Nees walked into MacMullan’s class, he was suffering from the aftereffects of a virus that attacked his diaphragm, making poses that required him to lie on his back impossible.

“Ann worked with me, helping me do some standing or sitting poses,” he says.

Teresa Simon, a New Jersey yoga instructor in her 60s, says it’s crucial for senior students to communicate with their teacher during classes. If someone has arthritis or vertigo, she wants to know so she can offer alternatives to specific movements or keep the client in a chair or on the floor.

“If you come to class feeling tense, the good instructor will get you through it and feel better afterwards,” points out Simon.

know the limits

Yoga, however, is not a cure-all for aging. “There are two main areas of decline as we age,” says Gene Shirokobrod, physical therapist and owner of Maryland-based Recharge Modern Health and Fitness. As we age, we lose muscle and our tendons harden. Yoga won’t reverse this either, but it may play a small role in preventing a larger decline.

To avoid muscle loss, you should build habitual strength training outside of yoga. “Yoga challenges your body, but usually not enough to provide continued muscle growth,” Shirokobrod points out.

The practice of yoga will also not significantly increase the flexibility of the tendons. “Aging tendons are hardening because they are losing fluid and becoming less flexible,” says Shirokobrod. “You can’t change that by holding a yoga pose.”

You may not be able to increase tendon flexibility, but by pushing your joints and muscles into their greatest range of motion you can improve how well they move.

Even that includes a caveat: If you have joint problems, posing to the limit can be uncomfortable, though usually not harmful. The key is to stay within your body’s limits – something a good instructor can help you identify.

“If you’re practicing with an instructor who teaches with these bodily changes in mind, you’re in a safer, more realistic environment,” says Shirokobrod.

It is also normal for your balance ability to decline with age. A common solution is to use a chair or wall to stabilize your body while you learn single-legged positions.

There are other considerations to keep in mind. If you have osteoporosis, avoid certain movements such as cat, cow, or forward bends. “Aggressively rounding your back isn’t advisable,” says MacMullan, “because you’re at greater risk for compression fractures in your upper spine.”

Additionally, osteoarthritis can cause discomfort during positions that strain the wrists or ankles, so inform your instructor and ask for modifications if necessary. If you’re concerned about a medical condition or injury, Grace suggests a shorter, more frequent practice rather than occasional longer sessions. One study showed that to increase bone density, participants with osteoporosis needed to spend 12 minutes a day at least five times a week doing the same poses.

“Make practice part of your daily routine rather than committing to an hour-long practice,” she wrote in an email. “Yoga is not just exercise. It’s a way of life.”

Yoga can also benefit the mind.

Aging can be stressful. Most seniors have faced their share of grief, loneliness, mobility issues and perhaps disturbing changes and transitions. Helping with mood and mental health is perhaps where yoga works most. “It’s not just physical positions,” says MacMullan. “It’s a whole system of ethics, meditation and breathing that engages our minds, spirits and emotions.”

Margie Linn, a 72-year-old retiree from Pennsylvania, sees three benefits to her practice: physical, emotional and social. “I’m happy to see other people when I go to class,” she says. “There’s a real sense of community.”

Aim to practice consistently a few times a week, preferably in a classroom setting for at least one of the sessions. If you are at home, you can attend live online classes, which also provide a sense of community.

While it’s not a magic elixir for aging, yoga can go a long way toward improving your quality of life. “It makes you move,” states Shirokobrod. “If you’re looking at whether yoga is a positive or a negative in this age group, it’s a positive.”

Start with these moves

If you’d like to try gentle yoga – or simply add a few poses to your daily life, MacMullan recommends “a little movement in several places.” That means moving your whole body, exploring the range of motion at each joint: tilt your head from side to side, roll your shoulders back and forth, and gently arch your back. Twist your torso using your core muscles. You can perform any of these movements sitting, standing, or lying down.

Here are some other exercises MacMullan suggests to get you started. If they are difficult or you have trouble balancing, brace yourself against a chair or the wall, and perhaps check with your doctor before trying anything that might be uncomfortable.

Start by working with your base, the feet. Standing, lift all ten fingers, she opens them wide and puts them back on the floor. Lift the thumb, pressing the little fingers down. Then lift your little fingers, pressing down with your first two fingers. Some fingers may not cooperate. Alright, just try it.

• calf raise

Standing and holding onto something for support, raise your body onto your toes and back down. Inhale when going up, exhale when going down. Try to go slow.

If you wish, you can add arm swings by extending one or both of your arms out to the sides as you inhale and lift, then lower your arms as you exhale and plant both feet back on the floor. Do 5-10 of these raises and see how you feel, working at your own pace.

Sitting on a chair, cross your right knee over your left. Then, using his core muscles, he twists his body to the right, letting his arms fall where it feels best. Switch sides.

Or try it on a rug or bed. Lie on your back with both knees bent, cross your right knee over your left and let both knees slide to the left with your arms extended out to the sides. Switch sides.

Stand on one leg for one minute a day on each side, every day, using support if necessary. If you have knee or hip problems, you can reduce the time based on how your body feels. Or, measure the time you can balance on one leg by the number of breaths you take while holding the position – that could be two breaths, or 15 (about a minute for the average person).