If you're looking for a way to boost your mental clarity, improve your fitness, and support a healthy aging process, yoga may be a great fit for you. Older adults can experience many health benefits from practicing yoga, including improved balance and flexibility, relief of depression symptoms, reduced pain, reduced blood pressure, and more.
Here, we'll take a more in-depth look at some of the ways that yoga can support the aging process, as well as some of the exercises you can use to get started on your yoga journey.
Benefits of yoga for seniors
No matter how new you are to the concept of yoga, it's easy to get started with a gentle practice that will support your mental and physical health needs as you get older.
Older adults can experience many benefits from establishing a regular yoga practice, including:
- Reduced stress. It's natural to hold tension in your body, and practicing yoga can help to relieve some of the stress that's held in your shoulders, neck, and upper back. You may also find that the mental focus yoga requires can give you a break from the never-ending to-do list you keep in your mind.
- Better sleep. Practicing yoga may make it easier for you to fall and stay asleep at night. If you've been struggling with insomnia, or you're finding that you're staying up too late or waking up too early, yoga may help you regulate your sleep cycles.
- Improved heart health. From helping you manage your blood pressure to reducing blood cholesterol to regulating blood sugar levels, yoga can have myriad benefits for cardiovascular health.
Of course, it's important to check with your doctor before beginning any exercise program, especially if you have health concerns like high blood pressure, diabetes, or other issues that may affect your ability to work out.
Gentle warm-up exercises
Whether you're new to yoga or you've been practicing for years, it's a good idea to start your practice with a gentle warm-up that prepares your muscles for challenging movement.
Try these simple ideas to get ready for your practice:
- Centering: Start by standing in the center of your mat in mountain pose (feet rooted into the mat, standing tall, shoulders back). Bring your palms together in front of your heart and take several deep breaths, listening to the sound of the air moving in and out of your lungs.
- Hamstring warm-ups: From your mountain pose, reach your arms high overhead, and then bend forward at the waist. Allow your hands to fall to the floor, bending your knees if necessary.
- Wrist warm-ups: Sit cross-legged and bring the backs of your hands together, with your fingertips pointing toward the floor. While keeping the backs of your hands in contact with one another, rotate your fingers toward your chin, then toward the wall in front of you.
Seated yoga poses
Starting with gentle stretching in a comfortable seat can help your mind begin the process of easing into your practice. You can also return to these seated poses whenever you need a break during a more strenuous practice.
Try these seated positions at the start of your practice:
- Easy pose: Simply sit cross-legged on your mat, with your shoulders pulled down and away from your ears. Allow your hands to rest comfortably. If you feel so inclined, go through a few slow neck circles.
- Staff pose: Continue sitting up tall, with a straight spine, and move your legs out directly in front of you. Keep your heels flexed and your palms on the ground next to your hips.
- Seated forward bend: From staff pose, lean forward while thinking about keeping your spine straight. Bend at the hips, extending your hands toward your feet.
Standing yoga poses for balance and flexibility
Standing yoga poses can help to promote balance and up the intensity of your practice.
Try these standing yoga poses to challenge your focus and boost your flexibility:
- Raised hands pose: Start in mountain pose, and notice the connection between your feet and the ground. Raise both arms above your head and press your palms together.
- Chair pose: From mountain pose, bend your knees as your hips sink back, as if you're about to sit in a chair. Raise and straighten your arms so that the creases of your elbows are in line with your temples.
- Standing forward fold and ragdoll pose: From mountain pose, bend forward and allow your arms to fall to the ground (bending your knees slightly is fine). Grasp opposite elbows and allow the weight of your head to pull your shoulders forward, while you rock side to side.
Breathing exercises and mindfulness
In addition to your yoga practice, you may want to engage in mindfulness and meditation practices to keep your mind relaxed and calm both on and off of the mat. Guided meditations, like this one, can be a great way to unwind. Breathing exercises can also help your mind to stay calm no matter what stresses life brings your way. Box breathing—inhaling for four seconds, holding your breath for four seconds, exhaling for four seconds, and holding again for four seconds—can center your focus quickly and easily.
Evidation: Here to support healthy aging
Seeing your progress in real-time can help you build the motivation to keep pushing forward, even when things get tough. Using fitness and nutrition trackers can provide you with the data you need to make decisions that support your health. Whether you're tracking your daily steps or are using an app to track your progress in yoga, seeing health data can help you to see that you're moving in the right direction.
At Evidation, we're here to support you through every step of your wellness journey. Our app uses the health data you're already tracking to provide content-based insights that can help you take the right next steps to support your overall well-being. Click here to learn more about how it works (and how you can start getting rewarded for sticking to healthy behaviors) today.
