Types of Yoga for Seniors

As you age, everything naturally slows down. Your metabolism slows down which can lead to weight gain. Your mental focus isn’t as sharp and depression can start to set in. This leaves you feeling tired and useless. It even causes you to not want to get up and get moving. This is the main reason you need to get up and get moving.

Yes, your joints are probably achy. But most research shows that the more you sit, the more joint pain you can have. You need to stay as active as possible and keep those joints lubricated. It may take time to find the perfect balance, because too much activity can have the same effect on your joints—aches and pains—as not enough.

But, yoga is a great program for seniors to get them moving, keep those joints lubricated and it incorporates breathing, which is great for your overall health.

When most people think about yoga, they think about classes with the majority of participants being women and especially younger women. But, did you know that yoga for men is becoming increasingly popular? Especially yoga for the senior man.

Let’s face it, you’re probably at that stage in life where you don’t want to do a bunch of jumping around. Playing basketball with your friends once in a while is great, but it’s not something you need or want to do every day.

Going to play a round of golf is a great idea, too. But if you’re on a fixed income, this can be an expensive form of exercise on a daily basis. It’s best to save it for the weekend when you and the guys can get together.

You can go for a daily walk, but if it’s cold or the weather is bad, we all know this can make your joints ache and causes you to not want to get out and walk.

The solution may be yoga.

Why Yoga?

Yoga is great for your joints, it’s gentle and you will see and feel results quickly. As you age it’s important to stay flexible and active. Yoga can help in both areas.

Another benefit of yoga is that it will help you control your weight. As you age your body doesn’t burn calories as fast making it easier to gain weight even though you’re consuming the same number of calories.

Did you know that over one third of adults aged 65+ are obese? This is due to a slower metabolism, even when they aren’t eating more food. It’s also due to being less active. We tend to want to slow down as we age. It could be from achy joints, not enough energy, or a number of other reasons. To combat this, you may need to make some dietary changes and lower your calorie consumption, even if it’s just a little bit. You also want to stay active. Yoga is a great way to keep your body moving.

Mental health concerns for senior men are huge, as well. After providing for your family all your working life, many senior men fall into depression after retiring, or when their children leave home. The suicide rates for senior men is escalates because of they feel they have a lack of purpose at this stage in life. You’re supposed to enjoy retirement, but many men feel like they are wasting away if they don’t have something to do.

However, you can do something. Just because you no longer punch a time clock or go to work each day, this is the perfect time in your life to start volunteering. It’s a great time to help others and still feel useful in life. Adding yoga to your daily routine can help you feel good and keep you active.

Yoga can help all areas of mental health, including improving your sense of balance and improving your sense of self-worth. But it’s also great for helping keep your mental focus clear and sharp.

Not only that, we’re going to touch on how it’s great for having a social life in your retirement years. You don’t have to sit around the house and waste away. There is still plenty of things to do with your life and fun times to be had. Finding some yoga buddies is a great way to stay in shape, have fun and develop new friendships. It may even be more fun than that weekly game of Bingo at the local community center.

And, if you’re on a fixed income, joining a yoga class is much cheaper than playing a round of golf every day. Besides, if the weather is bad, you can’t get to the golf course. You can, however, get to the gym and meet up with your yoga class. It may be the perfect solution for you!

Types of Yoga for Seniors

If you are brand new to yoga then you may want to start off with Hatha yoga. It’s particularly good for beginners, as all the movements are slow. Plus, it will introduce you to the basic yoga poses. It also focuses on breathing and flexibility, which is very good for older adults. It helps relieve stress and promotes better relaxation.

If you prefer a style that involves lots of stretching and breathing then Vinyasa is another good choice.

There are many different styles, if you are not sure where to start, then ask at your local Yoga center for their recommendations. Many places have a free introductory class, so take advantage of that first.

Top Benefits of Yoga

1. Helps to Relive Stress – there’s just no way to avoid stress these days. Yoga will help you learn new relaxation techniques for both your body and your mind. It’s also a great way to stay away from all the distractions of modern day cell phones and instant messaging.

Yoga does not have to be about woo-woo spiritual stuff. Simply learning to breathe and clearing your mind is a great stress reliever. No need to try and find enlightenment or anything cosmic—just enjoy the moment.

2. Better Flexibility – yoga is going to help you improve your physical posture. As you age it’s so easy to start slouching when sitting, and not standing up straight and tall. You will learn yoga asanas that will help loosen up your tight muscles and get you moving more. Who doesn’t want to stop feeling so stiff and sore all the time?
   It’s also very gentle on your joints. You don’t have to go into a full pose like the rest of the class if your joints don’t have the flexibility. You can modify all the postures and gradually increase your flexibility and joint mobility.
3. Increased Muscle Mass – as you learn to move and stretch more, your muscle fibers will improve. It can also be helpful to start lifting light weights as well. This will help reduce those flabby folds of skin around your upper arms and mid-section. Maintaining or increasing your muscle mass is also great for your joints. Having muscle tone reduces the stress on the joints and keeps everything together.
4. Helps to Prevent Further Injuries – yoga helps you to become more aware of what’s happening to your body. You will start to understand the signs when your body says to stop. Instead of ignoring them, as you would have done in your younger days, you pay attention to those signs. This in turn helps prevent further injuries that may have you out of action for weeks at a time.
5. Improves Your Breathing – senior men tend to find it hard to make time to just sit down and relax. Yoga can help you relax and focus on your breathing. Did you know that improving your breathing can help fight off depression? Your brain needs oxygen. When it doesn’t get the oxygen required depression can start to set in.
6. Improve Your Body Odour – yoga helps you to remove toxins from your body. After a while, it’s possible that you won’t smell as sweaty after your practice. Of course, you may still have some body odor, but as the toxins are removed from your body, the odor should become less offensive and smell more like average sweat.
7. Improves Your Social Life – Finding a class that caters to senior adults and attending on a regular basis, is a great way to meet people your age and expand your social circles. It can lead to friendships outside of the class environment. Getting together with friends, especially with friends who enjoy being active, is a great way to keep yourself active, too. It also creates enjoyment and fun in your life.
8. It Keeps You Feeling Young – When you’re active you just feel better about yourself. You also have the energy and the mindset to want to get out and do more. This can lead to you getting out and helping others, as mentioned above. When you help others, it helps you feel invigorated, elated and young at heart. This may be one of the best benefits of yoga for seniors. You don’t have to feel like you’re no longer needed in society. Get out and help others. You are still a valuable asset to society and your community. Having a daily yoga routine can help you keep those feelings alive.

Tips for Your First Yoga Classes

1. Observe – At school, you may have gone to the back of the class to hide from your teacher. For your yoga class, you still want to aim for the back of the class, the first few times, but for other reasons. If you go to the back of the class you can watch what the other participants are doing. You won’t have to strain your neck or shoulders trying to watch how others are doing a certain pose. You will notice that each person is at a different level of fitness and flexibility. This can help you adjust the posture to your level of fitness and flexibility. No everyone will do the posture exactly the same. As an example, in tree pose there may be some people who place their foot higher up on their thigh, while others place their foot in the ankle area of the standing leg and others may place their foot close to the knee area. This helps you adjust where you feel comfortable placing your own foot, because you see different variations of the same posture.
2. Forget Perfection – Remember that yoga is brand new to you, so don’t expect to do every asana or pose correctly the first time out. In fact, it may take months for you to be able to do some of the postures correctly. For men, your current build can interfere with some of the moves, at first. Eventually your body will become accustomed to moving in a different way, and will react accordingly.
3. Breathe – A huge part of yoga is breathing correctly. Take the time to learn how to breathe correctly. It will help reduce your stress and hormone levels. Especially cortisol, which is a stress hormone and loves to keep a hold on your belly fat. Proper breathing is, by far, the most important thing you want to learn first. Once you’re breathing properly, the postures will become easier. Not only that, you’ll feel much better.

SUGGESTED YOGA POSES FOR SENIOR MEN

When it comes to yoga poses, there are so many that it can be difficult to know where to start. If you plan on practicing at home use the following suggestions as a guide.

Mountain Pose

This is a low impact movement that has a focus on your breathing and body awareness. It’s also a basic pose that many other poses derive from. The benefits of this pose are that it can help you with back pain and improve your posture.

1. Stand with your feet apart at hip width and keep your arms at your side.
2. Now spread your toes and press them into the floor, pay attention so you can distribute your weight evenly.
3. Next step is to squeeze your thigh muscles.
4. Now it’s time to get your body aligned. Your head needs to be positioned over your heart, your heart over your hips and finally your hips over your ankles.
5. Focus on your breathing and as you breathe in lengthen your spine, push your head towards the ceiling.
6. As you breathe out relax your shoulders and reach with your fingertips towards the ground.
7. Hold this for 5 breaths and work up to 10 as you become more comfortable with it. You may feel light-headed as you give your brain more oxygen than its used to.

 Tree Pose

This is a great pose to help you improve your balance. Balance is one thing that seniors often struggle with. As you age, you lose some of your equilibrium, especially if you don’t make a point to keep it in shape and active. In addition to better balance your leg muscles will become stronger.

1. Stand with your feet together and place your palms together at your heart level.
2. Select a point to focus on with your eyes and then focus on it. This will help you keep your balance.
3. Now lift your right foot off the floor and turn your knee towards the right side, then place the sole of your foot on the inside of your left leg. Aim for your ankle and shin if possible. This can be tricky so proceed slowly. One modification is to lift your heel an inch or two from the floor at first, then increase the height as your balance improves. It can be helpful to hold onto the wall for added support if necessary. Also note, if you can’t aim your knee away from your body, this is fine. Do the best you can. Tight hip joints may keep you from doing the posture correctly, but it’s a good posture to do daily. Over time, your hip flexors should loosen up and allow you to point your knee out more.
4. Your aim is to raise your arms above your head, and stretch out your fingertips. Then hold this pose for 20 seconds. It will take time to reach this so just keep on practicing.
5. Don’t forget to repeat with the opposite leg.

Low Lunge Pose

This is one of the first poses that gets you moving your body. A low lunge will help improve your hip area, strengthens your muscles and helps to relieve tension from your body. This pose is a little easier to do balance-wise, as well, which is why it’s recommended for seniors.

1. 1. Start with your feet hip width apart and your arms at your side.
   2. Bring your left foot forward and bend your left knee until it is directly over your ankle.
   3. Now lower your right knee to the ground and tuck your back toe under. If this bothers your knee you can use a towel to help take off any pressure you may feel. (Note: If you can’t bring your knee to the floor, simply do the pose like the image above.)
   4. As you inhale circle your arms and stretch your fingertips upwards. Exhale and relax your shoulders by pushing away from your ears.
   5. Hold, while breathing for 20 seconds.

1. Repeat with the other leg.

Bridge Pose

This is a pose that will help you increase your balance and strengthen your lower back, leg and hip muscles. It also helps to open up your shoulders and your heart.

1. Lie on your yoga mat on your back with your knees bent, keep your feet flat on the floor – aim for hip width apart.
2. Place your arms straight along the sides of your body.
3. Press the palms of your hands onto the floor – focus on tightening your quadriceps (front of the thigh) and your stomach muscles.
4. Now slowly work on lifting your hips and spine. (Basically, lift your butt off the floor.) If you find this difficult only lift your buttocks as far as you feel comfortable. Over time, you’ll be able to lift it higher as you gain muscle strength and flexibility.
5. Hold this pose for up to 30 seconds.
6. Slowly release until your back and hips are flat on the floor.

Legs Up the Wall Pose

This is the perfect pose to use at the end your daily practice. You will find it helps to calm you. Experts say this pose also helps with insomnia, digestive problems, tired legs, anxiety and helping with mild depression.

1. Place folded blanket against a wall. Scoot until your buttocks touch the wall. Your knees should be bent over your chest.
2. Keep your back and shoulders flat on the floor, and extend your legs up the wall. Make sure you feel comfortable and restful.
3. Allow your head and chest to rest, relax your muscles and allow your hands to rest on the floor.
4. Try to remain in this position for up to 15 minutes. While resting focus on breathing deeply.

Please remember that you can modify these poses to suit your ability or your needs. It can be helpful to use yoga blocks, cushions, a chair or a rolled-up blanket or towel.

Never force yourself into a pose. You never want to feel pain. A slight discomfort is fine when you are stretching.

Always focus on breathing deeply as this helps to loosen up your muscles and will improve your respiratory system.

Adding yoga to your life can help give you back some of the enjoyment you’ve been missing from sitting around too much. It’s an overall full-body exercise program that can be easy and gentle on your joints.