Staying Young With Yoga
Greetings!
This week BSA discusses How to Stay Young With Yoga. It
seems as though today more than ever regular citizens like you and I
try to fight the aging process. Millions of dollars are poured into the
anti-aging industry from creams to lotions to pills and more. But do
they really work? One remedy that surely works is yoga.
, 
How to Stay Young With Yoga
If
you spend any time in yogic circles you will see there is a
youthfullness and vigor that surrounds them. Many of the yogic greats
like Iyengar and Jois have succeeded in keeping a young attitude and
fresh energy about them. The bottom line yoga keeps you young. It keeps
you young in a way that really counts. Yoga poses and pranayama
(breath-work) keep the organs, joints and nervous system healthy and
young. When your internal systems are vital then the outer body looks
refreshed as well.
When
your body feels good then you feel good and look forward to getting out
of bed in the morning and delving into the day. This is what yoga can
do for you. When you practice yoga you are more in touch with self and
connect to inner wisdom. This in turn gives you a new persepctive of how
you view things in life. A childlike wonder takes over and this is the
secret behind retaining your youth and embracing new things.
Our
bodies age not only by the years that roll in but by the range of
motion they get used to. If you practice yoga your body becomes accustom
to a full range of motion and the result is healthy joints and a
healthier appearance. Without proper exercise, the body contracts and we
lose height, strength and flexibility. Yoga poses reverse the aging
process by moving each joint in the body through its full range of
motion, stretching and balancing each part.
How Old Are You Really?:
Insteadof
looking at your chrononlogical years or how many wrinkles you may have,
take a look at how flexible your spine is. In yoga there is a saying:
"You're only as young as your spine." Our spine contains more moveable
parts then any other part of the body. When the spine gives way there is
another part of the body that suffers. The key is to keep your spine
flexible because when you can still bend forward or backwards, then you
are still young.
One
of the best yoga poses for staying young is headstand. It is said that
daily headstand practice can turn grey hair back to its natural color
due to the increase in blood flow to the hair shaft. In fact, when one
masters headstand practice and can stay in the pose for several hours it
is said to halt the aging process all together. Headstand is an advance
pose and should be done with supervision, so it's not a pose you want
to jump right into if you haven't tried it before.
The
next time you look in the mirror and you are discourage by the wrinkles
or grey hairs, make a commitment to do something about it other then
reaching for a new cream. Make a commitment to begin a yoga practice and
keep your body in the best possible health. Trust me, the next time you
look in the mirror you may just be surprised.
Namaste,
Mary Jane - Yoga Teacher & Feng Shui Master
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