5 Reasons Why Yoga Keeps You Young
September 29, 2008 by GiGi
Welcome back!
Whether it’s the purity of a baby’s soft skin or the alertness of a young intellectual’s mind , we are all in search of the fountain of youth. Well, maybe we don’t have to look much farther than by taking a few yoga classes at a nearby yoga studio or fitness gym.
Americans are devouring the ancient tradition of yoga more quickly than any new age-defying skin product, super vitamin or surgical procedure. Here are a few reasons why:
1) Yoga Keeps the Spine Young: According to Indian philosophy and Indian sages, age is measured not by the number of candles on your birthday cake, but by the flexibility of your spine. Yoga works to improve the elasticity of the spine through its thousands of postures or asanas. These myriad postures, which are also done in conjunction with deep and rhythmic breathing, work the spine and muscles of the body through a dual action of push and pull. Areas of the body are elongated (the pull action) as those same areas are strengthened using the resistance of your own body weight (the push action) in any given posture.
2) Yoga Makes Skin More Youthful: Have you ever noticed how a person, who has just endured a traumatic event like a divorce or job loss, looks a few years older? There is truth in the adage that stress ages us. Yoga is a powerful countering force to the age-promoting effects of stress.
A German study of a group of women showed that yoga can reduce stress, thereby reducing the appearance of wrinkles and smoothing over the lines in the forehead. Yoga may work its magic by reducing oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is linked to a host of aging conditions and illnesses from wrinkles to heart disease to Alzheimer’s.
3) Yoga Eases Aches and Pains: As we get older, our joints and muscles lose their elasticity. Yoga helps to restore the dryness and tightness that is associated with the debilitating conditions like arthritis and back pain by its ability to stretch and improve the circulation and mobility of these restricted regions. Any cardiovascular exercise promotes optimal levels of oxygen, but this dual action that yoga demands forces oxygen into tight areas of the body thereby improving oxygenation throughout the entire body.
4) Yoga Keeps You Happy: Chronic pain, constant stress or loneliness is strongly correlated with depression and decreased energy. As people with a chronic ailment adopt a consistent yoga practice, not only do their physical symptoms start to improve, but their mood does as well. The better we feel, the better we look as our outer appearance starts to reflect the vitality we feel inside.
5) Yoga Keeps Your Mind Agile: Research is revealing that keeping your mind active is just as important to reducing the effects of aging as eating a healthy diet. Since many of the asanas in yoga require concentration as we not only focus on the movements themselves, but also how the breath corresponds to each movement, our minds are continually being challenged. These subtle but powerful brain exercises are like feeding our minds heaping bowls of Superfoods, keeping them young, alert, healthy and alive.
As more and more Westerners turn to this ancient Indian practice of breath and movement, it is becoming more apparent that the connection between yoga and youth is full of benefits for the body, mind and soul, regardless of age or agility.
Heather Ashare has been a dedicated practitioner and instructor of Ashtanga yoga for several years. As the yoga expert at DietsInReview.com, she shares simple and effective ways to make yoga a part of your life for greater fitness and wellness. DietsInReview.com also provides healthy recipes, weight loss tools, nutrition and health guidance in the Diet Blog and reviews of more than 490 diet plans.
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Hello GiGi
I am following you on twitter and come to check out this post and I find it very interesting, I look forward to reading more of your post
Thanks, Ronnie!
Actually that’s a guest post from one of the writers at dietsinreview.com. In exchange, I did a guest post for them which you can find here:
8 Little Known Facts About Anti Aging Foods
Do you have or can you recommend a great Yoga video I can purchase? Thanks!
Great question. There are many fabulous and not-so fabulous yoga videos on the market. First, think about what kind of yoga you are looking to do: Gentle, restorative, power yoga? Next, let’s think about where you are getting the instruction from. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the following teachers who are not only respected teachers but they have also created their own line of yoga videos as well. Rodney Yee, Patricia Walden, Seane Corn, and Richard Freeman are all great teachers who are worth investigating.
Amazon.com and Gaim.com are great resources and both have well-stocked inventories of DVDs and videos.
Good luck and have fun!
Thanks so much for such a quick response Heather. I’ll check these folks out and see which video best fits my needs.
For years, I had lower back pain and neck tension. I started doing a simple yoga video twice a week – it was 20 minutes long and pretty basic – and that really helped. I still visit a physical therapist once a month, but I know yoga has helped ease my aches and back pain. I strongly suggest using Karen Voight’s Yoga/Pilates DVD – it’s very easy, relaxing and simple.
Oh, yes, I love Karen Voight’s Yoga/Pilates DVD!
thnx for sharing..
Nice points, it’s quite interesting for what Yoga is useful. I should learn it. Did anybody knows a good book about this topic?
Great Post! Yoga has been around a lot longer than most people think. It consists of ancient theories about the mind and the body and connecting the two. Research has been done to find what benefits we obtain from doing yoga workouts. The benefits of Yoga range from Well being, better social skills, self acceptance, increased well being ect. Having equipment in your home that allows you to work out in a place that you feel safe and comfortable would also be a good idea.
Great Post! Yoga has been around a lot longer than most people think. It consists of ancient theories about the mind and the body and connecting the two. Research has been done to find what benefits we obtain from doing yoga workouts. The benefits of Yoga range from Well being, better social skills, self acceptance, increased well being ect. Having equipment in your home that allows you to work out in a place that you feel safe and comfortable would also be a good idea.
Yoga stretches reduce physical stress while increasing physical relaxation… Yoga is a Safe Solution to Weight Control… Yoga offers the way to obtain and keep the tremendous mental and physical health benefits …
Your article about yoga is informative. To lose weight, it is important to do so, not just by doing diets, or exercise programs, which are too tedious, which may yield results but which do not keep you that way. Sometimes after sudden loss of weight the skin sags making one feel worse. The best approach is to lose weight gradually and for good. Yoga offers a good solution to this problem. Yoga tones the body in a uniformed manner, unlike any “weight loss program” which claims to decrease your butts by this much inches and waist by this much, leading to side effects. Yoga can be practiced at any age to keep the body supple.
I agree with this post full-heartedly and I am going to yoga tonight! yay
It is amazing what yoga can do. i do yoga every night before I go to bed or I can’t sleep. It relaxes me and makes me happy!
I love to do both yoga and pilates. i think that it helps to keep your mind and body calm.
Pilates´s last blog ..Pilates Wunda Machine