Yoga
Years ago yoga was thought of as an alternative practice. Today, yoga is widely accepted as a complementary therapy for the mind, body and spirit. Whether it’s the physical aspect of twisting your body into poses while sweating and breathing heavily or the awareness of breath, this ancient healing art – over 5,000 years old – helps its students of all ages change their health, happiness, fitness level and life for the better.
Stretching, breathing and mental focus in yoga reduces stress, back pain, arthritic pain, blood pressure and heart rate. Yoga improves balance, muscle strength and overall feelings of well-being.
Lydia Morton, an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher at the Lafayette Center for Yoga, recommends any type of Hatha yoga class or slow-flow yoga class for seniors. She also recommends a Yin yoga class that focuses on breathing, stretching and a deep sense of awareness.
Yoga is accessible to anybody and everybody. It is practiced by people who are on medications for high blood pressure or arthritis; by people undergoing physical therapy or returning from surgery; by people with Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis; and by people recovering from lung cancer and heart attacks.
“The main thing you want to be careful of in yoga is to have a qualified teacher,” Morton advises. Certain postures can raise the blood pressure or put too much stress on joints. A qualified yoga teacher should tell a student to adjust the poses depending on the student’s individual health concerns.
Morton suggests a yoga teacher who has at least 200 hours of teacher training and who is registered with the national governing body Yoga Alliance. This may be hard to find in some states like Louisiana. “But if that’s not available to you, I still don’t think that you shouldn’t practice yoga,” she says. Go out and try a teacher to see what is right for you.
A New Dynamic in Healthcare
Because most illnesses are complex, patients respond better to a combination of therapies. An integrative approach of combining the wisdom of the past with today’s science and technology allows patients of all ages more options to promote and maintain their individual health. With this new approach, seniors can benefit from the best of both health disciplines: complementary therapies that engage the whole person to heal the body from within and modern medications and surgery when necessary. Emerging research and acceptance of complementary therapies by the conventional medical field will continue to bolster the popularity, effectiveness and safety of these natural therapies.
