Aging gracefully, aside from living long, has always been one of the concerns of many people, especially those who are already through with the prime of their life. And so many concern themselves with looking young. But how about feeling young inside and out? Well, that is something one can get with yoga.

Contrary to what some people might be thinking, yoga is not just for the young and middle aged. It is not just about body bending, muscle flexing, and upside down postures that you probably often see in magazines and TV. As a form of exercise that is good for your physical and mental well-being, yoga can actually be practiced by anyone of any age. So if you’re not that young anymore and are starting to have or already have the maladies of old age (that is, rheumatism, arthritis, high blood pressure, etc.), do not fret because you can still—and you should better—practice yoga.

Certain yoga asanas or postures are ideal for the not-so-young. These postures help balance the mental functions and prevent health problems. The following are some of them.

How To Do Yoga for Seniors (video)

Dog Pose. As this asana’s name suggests, you get on the floor like a dog: kneeling and hands flat down with fingers pointing forward. You bend your spine towards the floor and bend it back up, tucking in your abdomen and lowering your head. Then you relax your muscles and let your spine arch naturally towards the floor. The dog pose exercises your back muscles and improves the flexibility of your spine, though is not advisable if you have a back pain or injury.

Double Leg Raise. Here, you lie flat on the floor and bring your both your legs up so your torso and legs would form a 90 degree angle. But here’s the catch: you do that without bending your knees and with your back always flat on the floor. Yes, this exercise is a bit hard to do exactly according to the rules, but hey, practice makes perfect. And if you’ve practiced enough, you can try to “upgrade” by bringing your legs down more slowly each time. The double leg raise will strengthen your muscles on your back, legs, and abdomen.

Locust Pose. Designed to relieve fatigue and strengthen your abdominal and limb muscles, the locust pose is one of the quite simple exercises in yoga. You just lay flat on your stomach with your arms at your sides. Then bring your head up then slowly lift your upper body and arms, with the latter maintained parallel to the floor. Then lift your legs to complete the locust-like position.

Corpse Pose. This is one of the most basic yoga exercises. Not because it is easy but because it is practiced in almost every yoga session. It is often used as some sort of transition between other yoga exercises, because it requires less movement. You lie on the floor with your arms lying relaxed some distance away from your body. You rotate your legs one at a time inside and out. Then you turn your head left and right to exercise the spine. And then you do the slightly difficult part: you stretch yourself out by pulling your limbs, neck, and body away from each other, while practicing deep or abdominal breathing. Concentrate on your breathing and clear your mind. This pose reduces stress, helps you concentrate, and is good for insomnia, diabetes, and constipation.

Chair Yoga. Chair yoga is one of the least physically straining forms of yoga and can be performed by just about anyone and was specifically developed for the elderly. Another great thing about chair yoga is you can do it sitting down and can do it just about anywhere. A chair is used for support while doing yoga poses, enabling even handicapped individuals to perform the yoga poses.

Yoga has been very popular for sometime now. Its popularity has surpassed any known body fitness regimen. The number of yoga practitioners is growing exponentially. Studios proliferate here and there and everywhere. Books, videos, and other forms of instructional materials are produced like hamburgers. But what exactly does the combination of body contortion, breathing exercises, and meditation do to an individual? What are the real benefits of yoga?

Practitioners claim there are many benefits, and so do medical studies and researches. Yoga, which is simply based on the premise of uniting the body, mind, and soul, has surprising benefits for the whole being of a person—from managing diseases to connecting to the inner self.

Physical Benefits
Perhaps the most known benefits of yoga are the ones that are strongly associated to the physical wellness of a person. In fact, it is its physical benefits that draw more people to yoga. By doing yoga poses, both simple and elaborate, the body muscles are stretched, thereby making a person stronger, more agile, and more flexible. Yoga also massages all organs of the body, including those that are not externally stimulated. This, in turn, keeps the body from afflicting diseases, or gives off warnings at the first sign of disease.

Yoga poses also make an individual more aware of his body alignment and patterns of movement. After consistent practices, an individual starts to show remarkable improvements in posture, balance, and energy.

Biochemical Benefits
Medical studies have found that yoga positively impacts the body chemistry of a person, resulting in an improved heath. Yoga, for instance, was found to lower cholesterol and triglycerides levels in the body, and therefore can help people with hypertension and heart ailments. Yoga movements also improve the lymphatic system, which consequently boosts the body’s immunity function. In addition, yoga is said to increase red blood cells in the body. An increased level wards off the possibility of anemia.

Psychological Benefits
The amount of concentration required to doing yoga poses trains an individual to quiet his mind, dwell only on the present, and leave the anxieties of the past and the future. When done with deep and mindful breathing, it gently disengages a person from the surrounding tension and allows him to embrace the calmness of being. As he regularly practices yoga, he learns to live at peace and deal with stressors and generally all the troubles of life with a better outlook and positive attitude. The general outcome is a happy, peaceful, and relaxed person.

Spiritual Benefits
The spiritual benefits of yoga may not be comprehensively explained by scientific researches and studies, but practitioners report that practicing the disciplines of yoga allows them to get in touch with their inner selves, cultivate a deeper sense of self-awareness and confidence, and have better relationship with others. It also opens a window to connect better with their God and have an improved understanding of them. Though not always easy to understand, life for them has suddenly become meaningful.

The spiritual benefits of yoga prove that it does not just heal and improve the visible and physical, but also corrects the invisible and underlying foundations of confusion, unhappiness, and stress. Yoga is all about the complete health of a being, and it provides that by bringing completeness to the body, mind, and soul all at the same time. There lies the beauty of yoga.

Have you ever gone to the gym and worn loose-fitting clothes that almost covered you from neck down, just because you didn’t want others to see your flab, sags, and other embarrassing “assets”? Then you should probably try naked yoga.

If you think that naked yoga is about doing yoga naked, then you couldn’t be more right. Naked or nude yoga indeed is practicing yoga without clothes on. It was popularized in the west in the late 60’s when some filmmakers depicted it in their movies. And not long after, groups teaching naked yoga slowly started sprouting out. The first groups, however, had been mostly for male only and had few students. But what can one expect? Even if you belong to one of the most liberal-minded nations in the west, you probably would still know about physical personal privacy, which is, not showing your naked body to total strangers.

Today, this kind of yoga has already gained considerable popularity even among women. Most classes are just all-male or all-female, but many yogis are now also holding co-ed classes in which they don’t run out of students. So, you might ask, how could all these people do the whole mind-body-spirit yogic exercises while being butt-naked in the presence of other people? The answer: they just let go.

Different yogis have different ways of instructing students in naked yoga classes. Some let their students mingle, while some don’t, because they want to make it clear that their classes aren’t for people merely looking for romantic partners. But one thing is the same among nude yoga instructors: they will all do their best to put you at ease in their class.

Yogis help their students let go of embarrassment and any uncomfortable feeling by telling them that one’s body is a temple that contains oneself. Clothes are merely materials used to protect the body and are not extensions of the body. Thus, one should not feel any discomfort when removing his or her clothes. Clothes, as yogis say, are not really in accordance to the principles of yoga. They aren’t referring to the clothes per se, but to clothes as symbols of social division, materialism, and lack of respect for one’s body.

Well, isn’t it true? People wear clothes to show they are distinguished and have money to spend. People judge other people by their clothes. People wear and don’t wear certain types of clothes, because they want to hide their bodily imperfections—scars, sagging breasts, birthmarks, stunted manhood, cellulite, etc. And thus, people don’t accept themselves—their bodies, especially—as they are.

As for letting other people see what your mother only saw when you we’re a baby, yogis would tell you that you should not be embarrassed because we are all part of nature; we are equal, we are the same, and we are one. Thus, you should think of other naked bodies as something natural. And, just as with your own body, think of other’s bodies as sacred temples you should respect. In this way, you get to respect others’ bodies and accept your own as it is.

But aside from these “freeing one’s body” reasons, naked yoga also gives the advantage of letting the yogi see the actual alignment of the student’s body. Even with body-fitting clothes or so-called yoga outfits, the yogi might still miss what the student is doing wrong in a yogic posture or asana.

Having done yoga using only their yoga mat, some naked yoga practitioners find it indeed a better way to do yoga. So why not try it yourself? At least you wouldn’t have to worry about butt crack peeping while you do certain poses.

There is no reason for an expecting yoga practitioner to give up yoga for, at least, the next nine months. There is also no reason for any pregnant woman not to try yoga for the first time. Yoga is generally safe to do during pregnancy both for long- and first-time practitioners. There are, of course, modifications in yoga exercises to accommodate the changes and ability of a pregnant woman’s body and rev it up for the demands of pregnancy. These prenatal yoga exercises specifically teach pregnant women birthing breath skill, relax their mind and body, provide emotional relief, and stretch their muscles, all for setting the stage for easier labor and childbirth.

What should you keep in mind?
Pregnancy is a delicate condition, so if you’re regularly attending a class not specifically for pregnant women, inform your teacher of your condition at once to incorporate modifications and assist you during classes. If, however, you are a home practitioner, make sure to consult prenatal yoga materials such as videos and books. This is not the time for overdoing and pushing your body. Yoga is supposed to keep you in shape and help feel better and not the other way around.

Avoid Bikram or hot yoga classes during pregnancy. The hot temperature, usually 90 degrees or higher, during these classes puts danger to the health of a growing fetus.

Mind which trimester you are in. Modifications vary according to trimesters since your body also undergoes changes as you progress from one trimester to another.

In your first trimester, morning sickness and nausea are common and may present challenges. If you do have them, it is best to tone down or skip classes. Avoid exercises that require breath retention and rapid breathing; instead start practicing birthing breath, one that allows you to inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Poses that aimed at strengthening the abdominal muscles should also be avoided, as your muscles are more prone to tear this time. On the contrary, poses that have you lying on your belly are allowed since the fetus during this stage is relatively small. You can, however, stop doing them any time you feel uncomfortable.

Your sense of balance begins to change during your second trimester. Therefore, be extra careful when doing standing positions. For support, you can stand with your heel pressed to the wall or use a chair. This time, do not attempt to lie on your belly to avoid compressing the uterus. Also, start avoiding poses that require you to lie on your back for a long time since they may affect your blood flow and cause dizziness, nausea, and shortness of breath. Your doctor, however, may advise you to lie on your side, so make necessary adjustments with your teacher when doing lying positions.

The third trimester is probably the hardest time to practice yoga as your tummy now is larger and heavier and your body can’t perform as well as before. But don’t push; relax with your poses now, while applying further modifications to fit you in. Just remember to avoid inversion poses and those other that do not feel comfortable. As your due date nears, you don’t necessarily have to stop doing yoga, but be extra careful.

Listen to your body and take heed if it calls you to stop. Experiencing pain and discomfort is its most common signal, so listen well. Don’t take chances and force yourself into doing a prenatal yoga pose. Remember to ALWAYS ask for modifications or alternative poses.

Yoga is often portrayed in the media using visuals of people standing on their heads or lying on the floor in some twisted position. No wonder, people get the impression that one has to be really into it to practice yoga. What they don’t know is that yoga can be practiced by anyone, even by handicapped and old people. One type of yoga such people can pursue is called chair yoga, one of the least physically straining practice of yoga.

What is chair yoga?

It is not really some type of yoga, which came from the Indian culture. It is called such simply because the practitioner uses a chair as support to practice yoga positions. Those who practice chair yoga don’t need to lie on the floor or stand for a long time or do some contortionist positions. With a chair as props, certain yoga positions become easier to do for practitioners. That is because chair yoga is designed for those who are not so capable of doing those things. They are the elderly, the disabled, and the injured.

Aside from the disabled and elderly, who else can engage in chair yoga?

If chair yoga is designed for the disabled and the elderly, why can’t younger and more physically able people do it? It can be done by practically anybody. Pregnant women can do it as well as people who have health problems. They just have to make sure that their yoga instructors know everything about their condition.

Parents can also do chair yoga with their kids; that way, they get to exercise as well as spend time with each other. And who else can practice chair yoga more often than those who are virtually glued to chairs? They are the office workers who stair at the computer all day, the commuters and frequent travellers who spend significant time in transportation vehicles, and of course, students who have to wait for their professors in class.

What are the benefits of chair yoga?

Like the practitioners of regular yoga exercise, those who have practiced chair yoga can attest to the good physical effects of chair yoga. Because of its meditative practices, chair yoga reduces stress levels, helps you concentrate more easily, and gives you a more balanced mental state. By relieving stress, this type of yoga also removes one of the factors that induce over-eating; thus, it also helps one reduce weight. It can increase one’s flexibility and endurance. Chair yoga can also prevent or slow down the progress of cardiovascular and bone diseases such as osteopenia, osteoporosis, and scoliosis. Plus, it is proven to improve the health conditions of people with asthma, high blood pressure, fatigue, anxiety, carpal tunnel syndrome, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, diabetes, and vertigo, among others.

What basic chair yoga exercises can one practice?

Chair yoga exercises are easy to do because they are commonly breathing, meditation, and stretching exercises. One basic technique is deep breathing: You place your hands on your ribs. Slowly inhale while feeling your rib cages expand, then slowly exhale while slightly pulling your abdominal muscles in. Another is the neck stretch combined with deep breathing: Take a deep breath as you tilt your head back to the fullest but comfortable degree you can, then exhale as you tip your head forward and down until your chin touches your chest. And there’s the twist where you hold the back rest of the chair with your right hand, while you sit on the chair’s front edge. Put your left hand on your right knee. Inhale deeply and then exhale as you slowly twist your torso as far as you can comfortably.

Everyone knows staying in shape and keeping off extra weight during the holidays is tough. Here’s a great video with 3 yoga poses to do for the holidays to keep your body in shape when you may not have access to your normal yoga helpers. These are very easy to remember poses, so you won’t even need to watch the video if you are away from your computer.

The holidays can be a very stressful time of year for some people. Yoga can be a very effective way to reduce and relieve your stress level.

More than 5,000 years ago, yoga was considered as the oldest form of self-development. This practice involves ethical disciplines, physical postures, breathing techniques, and meditation.
Although first practiced in the East, it is now gaining popularity in the West. In Britain, for example, it is being used to relax workers and make them healthier and more creative.

Over the years, the practice has been regarded as a reliever of stress. It is a combination of stress reduction techniques, which includes exercise, breathing control, and body relaxation. The increasing popularity of yoga has allowed more people to realize the benefits of this practice to reducing stress.

Yoga originated from the word “yoke” meaning to bring together or unite. This Indian practice is the union of the mind, body, and spirit. Whether its for managing stress or improving physical health, there are various benefits that you can obtain from this form of exercise.

Practicing this ancient form of exercise provides several benefits such as reduced stress, lower blood pressure, decreased heart rate, to name just a few. Its benefits are so plenty that it has a high payoff for the amount of effort you exert.

This form of exercise involves stretching some parts of the body and performing various poses, while maintaining slow and controlled breathing. At the same time, it provides relaxation and energy. There are various styles that have been developed and the movements may vary depending on the style.

In addition, some of the styles focus on the spiritual aspect. The other styles are purely designed as an exercise.

Not only does this form of exercise present physical benefits but also psychological benefits. Regularly indulging in this practice aids in reducing stress and develops your sense of well being. Likewise, it promotes spiritual benefits and makes you feel connected with God or Spirit.

Specific poses can be conducted in any location or venue and a single program can last for hours or minutes that will be determined by your schedule.

While it has its advantages, the practice also has its drawbacks. First, you need to commit some of your time to the practice. Second, for some people with physical disability, the various moves can be difficult.
Another drawback of the activity is that you can be self-conscious when performing some of the poses. Attending a class can be costly on your part but learning from an e-book or video can be more daunting.

When compared with other methods of stress reduction, the practice combines the benefits of breathing techniques, stretching, fitness programs, meditation, and guided imagery in a single technique. For the physically handicapped, basic breathing exercises, meditation, or guided imagery might be the best option offering the same benefits.

Instead of taking pills or herbs, you should instead commit your time and effort to the practice. Every time a class ends, you will be required to perform a corpse pose-savasana for relaxation.

At first, forcing yourself to do this exercise can be difficult but eventually you will feel relaxed in your body or mind. A savasana pose will help you resume your normal routine feeling refreshed knowing that you can now battle the stress that you experienced in your life.

If you have not discovered the benefits of yoga yet, then this is the opportune time to try it out.

With an increasing number of celebrities replacing their gym equipment with incense burners and other yoga paraphernalia, one can say that yoga indeed has taken Hollywood by storm. The growing popularity of this practice is manifested in almost all health magazines nowadays, wherein a page is allotted to recommend yoga to their audiences. Madonna, Ricky Martin, Meg Ryan, and J.Lo, among others, often grace the covers of these magazines.

What’s the hype all about, you ask?

Celebrities testify to the benefits of yoga, especially as a shape up, calm down routine. With all the hustle and bustle of show business, famous people need to calm the frenzy and get back in touch with themselves (and boy, there’s no better way than doing so while shedding off unwanted body mass). Yoga is a methodology for achieving these results.

More than that, however, yoga is well-known for its healing and relaxing effects. In a lifestyle magazine column, yoga guru Danny Paradise (Madonna’s first mentor) talks about the inner peace that yoga instills in its devoted practitioners. He says it clears the mind of negative thoughts while it creates a sense of well-being and calm. As quoted from him, “yoga was created to free people in all ways…from the limitations of their minds and bodies, from teachers, teachings, attachments, expectations, from dependency on any person or thing. It is a personal, private journey to liberation.”

Celebrities have greatly contributed to the popularization of yoga in Hollywood and in the United States. Madonna, who is old enough to be a granny, for instance, boasts of a twenty year old’s physique (and she gives all the credit to her yoga practice). Even the crowd-favorite basketball team, Los Angeles Lakers, speaks of their belief in yoga as a performance booster and flexibility ritual. They say that yoga tends to lengthen their muscles which make them less prone to strains and injuries.

Perhaps, yoga is indeed a perfect regimen for celebrities who want to cope with their paparazzi-crazy existence. Sometimes, especially when things get blown out of proportion, they turn to yoga for balance and strength. This apparently is way better than hearing of them looking into alcohol, sex, and drugs to get their feet back on track.

Here are other reasons why celebrities embrace yoga:

1. Mental relief. Yoga is a perfect abatement from bodily and mental exploits. The hectic schedules of celebrities keep their minds under pressure, thus making it necessary for them to put a new spin in their busy lives. Yoga is a recreational activity that provides diversion and entertainment while calming the mind.

2. Bodily strength. There are a lot of yoga poses that challenge one’s balance, strength and flexibility. For them celebrities who need to retain their poise forever, yoga helps them maintain a good image while increasing the body’s physical strength. It also boosts the body’s natural defenses against chronic sicknesses.

3. Muscle toning. Yoga is said to be a very effective weight loss ritual. While doing yoga, celebrities improve their posture and reduce muscular tension while burning calories and excess body fats.

4. Identity element. Yoga has become a fashion statement for most celebrities and their fans, especially since Madonna and Jennifer Aniston got in the yoga bus. It gives people the impression that one lives a happy, healthy and productive lifestyle.

The word Yoga originated from the Sanskrit translation for “union.” Originating from Ancient India, it refers to the union between the mind, body, and spirit. It actually refers to “asana” referring to the act of making physical postures or poses.

For many people, yoga simply involves stretching. In reality, it involves maintaining the balance of the body by improving strength and flexibility. This is attained by performing various postures, each offering certain physical benefits.

It is believed that this ancient practice actually offers several benefits. You may have tried this practice before and you have realized that it does offer some advantages to your body. Here are the various benefits that can be derived out of this practice.

This Indian practice introduces new methods of stretching your tight body leading to more flexibility, offering a wide range of motions to the muscles and joints. Eventually, you will improve flexibility in your back, hamstring, hips, and shoulders. Aside from flexibility, most of the positions provide new methods for supporting your own weight, such as balancing on a single leg or self-support with the arms.

Aside from that, some of the exercises offer slow movement when executing or finishing the positions, which can boost strength. Due to your new found strength as a result of the various exercises, you can look forward to improved muscle tone. Over time, regular practice can help you get long and lean muscles.

In addition, improved flexibility and strength aids in the prevention of various kinds of back pain. If your job entails sitting in a computer or driving a car, you are prone to having back problems. Exercises such as these can help relieve you from the tightness and spinal compression.

Do you experience shallow breathing or do not give much thought to your breathing. Pranayama, a kind of breathing exercise, focuses on breathing and proper use of the lungs. These kinds of exercises also help free the nasal passages as well as the central nervous system.

Aside from the physical benefits it offers, you can also gain some mental benefits from this Indian exercise. Asana is an extremely physical activity that can lead to a calm mind. Meditation techniques helps you be conscious with the way you breathe and free your thoughts.

Moreover, engaging in a physical activity is an effective way of reducing stress. As these exercises require a great deal of concentration, you will slowly realize that all your worries and troubles are slowly going away. Slowly but surely you learn to forget the past and set your mind on the future.

Finally, engaging in these exercises can boost your awareness of your own body. Even small and subtle movements of your body can already be an improvement in the alignment of your body. This way, you will become comfortable with how your body looks leading to better posture and improved self-confidence.

All of us are very much aware of what regular exercise can do to our body. However, rigorous training and physical activity may require your discipline. By undergoing this ancient Indian exercise, you may be able to develop the discipline that would help you keep up with the rigors of physical activity.

Yoga may be something new to you but this ancient form of exercise may do wonders for your body and personality as well.