Yoga = Fit Body = Active Mind = Anti-aging
21 January 2011
Yoga has become my new boyfriend. I’m constantly thinking and talking about it, I buy nice outfits to wear for it and downward dog is my favourite position. If I had a choice, I’d do yoga everyday as it has so many facets that I’d never tire of it – there’s yin yoga if I want a relaxing stretch, pranamed for some solace and vinyasa if I want to get my heart racing. My favourite is hatha and I always get butterflies in my tummy when I go on my Saturday date with hatha 3.
Very few people retain their strength and vitality till the middle age. More people are looking much older than they actually are, thanks to the highly-stressed, sedentary and polluted lifestyles we lead. However, you would be happy to know that our body has the unique ability to renew or regenerate at the cellular level. One way to do that is to practise yoga. Here’s how yoga can help you reclaim your vitality:
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, done in conjunction with deep and rhythmic breathing, work the spine and muscles of the body through a dual action of push and pull.
Yoga Makes Skin More Youthful: 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. Apparently, by practicing inverted yoga postures, you can turn back gray hair to its natural color (upside down class here I come!).
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 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.
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.
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 (try doing a standing mermaid and you’ll know what I’m talking about!). These subtle but powerful brain exercises are like feeding our minds heaping bowls of Superfoods, keeping them young, alert, healthy and alive.
Ommmmm…
Yoga has become my new boyfriend. I’m constantly thinking and talking about it, I buy nice outfits to wear for it and downward dog is my favourite position. If I had a choice, I’d do yoga everyday as it has so many facets that I’d never tire of it – there’s yin yoga if I want a relaxing stretch, pranamed for some solace and vinyasa if I want to get my heart racing. My favourite is hatha and I always get butterflies in my tummy when I go on my Saturday date with hatha 3.
Very few people retain their strength and vitality till the middle age. More people are looking much older than they actually are, thanks to the highly-stressed, sedentary and polluted lifestyles we lead. However, you would be happy to know that our body has the unique ability to renew or regenerate at the cellular level. One way to do that is to practise yoga. Here’s how yoga can help you reclaim your vitality:
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, done in conjunction with deep and rhythmic breathing, work the spine and muscles of the body through a dual action of push and pull.
Yoga Makes Skin More Youthful: 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. Apparently, by practicing inverted yoga postures, you can turn back gray hair to its natural color (upside down class here I come!).
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 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.
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.
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 (try doing a standing mermaid and you’ll know what I’m talking about!). These subtle but powerful brain exercises are like feeding our minds heaping bowls of Superfoods, keeping them young, alert, healthy and alive.
Ommmmm…
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