Why Yoga?
Yoga is a superb health-enhancing practice.
Physical activity results in numerous great health benefits, including improvement of quality of life. It also enhances the body's physical ability to resist, delay and at times even eliminate the onset of several debilitating diseases. This is particularly true for seniors, for whom these classes are intened.
Strength and Balance
Yoga can be tailored to widely-varied physical capabilities or limitations of class attendees. It's non-threatening, has no side effects and can be considered preventive care, and in some cases, curative.
The age group that needs the most health support (55 plus) is either unfamiliar with yoga's health benefits, or is preconditioned to seek only medical solutions offered by traditional medical treatment such as drugs and surgery. In most cases seniors simply can't afford even these costs.
Yoga, taught by professionals who are skilled in teaching seniors, could greatly reduce the rapidly rising costs of:
- senior medical care
- institutionalization
- prescription medicine
Benefits of practicing Yoga
Yoga utilizes a combination of:
- breathing (expanding the lung's capacity to handle an increased amount of oxygen intake) to rejuvenate, repair and create new cells;
- meditation (calming the mind, releasing stress and anxiety);
- physical posturing (asanas), designed to strengthen the musculo-skeletal structure, to increase bone density by doing weight-bearing exercises (to prevent osteoporosis); lubricate joints (reducing arthritis);
- alignment (or re-alignment) balances of the body's skeletal structure;
- stimulation of the endocrine system which promotes the increase of beneficial hormonal activities.
