I wanted to write about movement and mood. Lynn urged me to give yoga a try for 5 or more years but it seemed a little hokey to me. Then, a doctor told me that everybody tends to have trouble with the Achilles tendon as they age, except for dancers, wrestlers and yoga practitioners. About the same time, a friend mentioned how much she was getting out of taking a yoga class. That did it. There were enough indications and references piling up that I thought I better look into it. I took yoga classes for four or five years, one class a week for 90 minutes. After a while, I knew the routines well enough that I stopped taking formal classes.
I had a great teacher, one who knew her stuff, who had practiced yoga herself and taught it for more than 13 years. She was gentle and continuously advised us all to try each position that she recommended but only to the extent that felt right for our body, our strength and our condition. I think most people think of yoga as a tool for increasing flexibility. I certainly did. Flexibility is one of the major sections of fitness and may well be the one of most importance as we age.
I am short and have tight hamstrings, so I can't fold in half sitting on the floor or standing up. There are lots of moves I can't do and lots of stretches that most young women can rather fully and easily while I can't do hardly at all. I was not surprised by that but I was a little embarrassed by my continuing inability. The teacher probably said every ten minutes in every single lesson not to worry about not bending as far as others or stretching the way others could but I still felt a little ashamed. Then, one day, the teacher couldn't make the class and we had a substitute teacher from another town. Right at the start, she announced that she couldn't do some of the poses very far. I thought that was great! Here was a teacher that had some of the same limitations I did.
What I didn't expect from yoga was mood elevation. We didn't do much in the class but the postures but I found that I came out of the class in a good mood. Even when I went there a little sore or with a cold and not in much of a good mood, I would return feeling happy.
I write this because it is just about impossible to find pictures of older people or physically limited people or stiff people doing yoga. And yet, most anyone who can move at all, can do at least a little bit of a stretch. In our town and other places, there are classes of "chair yoga" and "yoga for seniors" and "chair yoga for seniors". In the chair classes, most everything is done seated in a chair or holding on to one. In such a class or any class, the student needs to try things slowly and stop or omit what hurts or seems inappropriate for them.
Local classes, books, videos, YouTube online videos such as this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qeyE3ZjqB8 can lead to a practice that you can do in a few minutes every day and that will give you a lift mentally, emotionally and physically. The point is that it is not a matter of being 24 years old and beautiful or having a stunning body. It is a matter of feeling good.
