Yoga Stretches
Advanced age can stiffen our limbs and make it difficult for
us to move around especially during cold weather.
If you are one of those people who frequently suffer from
stiff and painful limbs during cold weather, do not hit the bed
and curl up in misery.
Swallow a pill will relieve the pain for a while but
eventually, when the power of the pill wears off, you begin to
feel that niggling pain again. To help you relieve the
stiffness and pain at in your limbs, muscles and joints, you
should do yoga stretches regularly. Yoga
stretches will help tone your muscles and keep your
joints more supple.
Yoga is a very safe exercise. It is non-competitive and does
not require you to test your strength and endurance abruptly.
Note that yoga stretches are done slowly and gently, so even if
you are already advanced in years and your bones and muscles
are no longer as flexible as they used to be, you are not
really in direct danger of hurting yourself when doing yoga
stretches.
In fact, if you do yoga stretched regularly, you will be able
to rebuild your lost muscles and feel stronger. A lot of
elderly people who are into yoga, reported that they feel a
renewed sense of vigor after doing yoga exercise for
sometime.
Mountain
Pose
This is another of the most popular yoga stretches, because it
offers so many benefits and for almost the entire body. You
want to begin by standing with your feet hips width apart and
then lift your toes up. Now you want to lengthen your tailbone
so that your posture is correct, and relax your shoulders down.
Lengthen up through the top of your head and take five to ten
deep breaths, then relax and repeat.
Look for a good class schedule. If you feel quite stiff when
you wake up in the morning, you should not force yourself to go
to a yoga class early in the morning. A yoga class sometime
during the middle of the day or late in the afternoon will be
better for you. Once you find the right yoga class, you should
talk to the instructor and tell him or her about your physical
problems. Talking to the instructor is very important so that
the instructor can design a modified routine that will suit
your needs.
It will take time before you can regain some of your muscle and
joint flexibility. Depending on your age and your lifestyle it
may take a few weeks to loosen up those joints and muscles.
However, the good news is that once you have considerably
strengthened your joints and muscles, it will be easier for you
to move around and do whatever you want to do.
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