More Reasons To Practice Yoga
The media today usually portrays the average yoga practitioner as a limber young girl in her early twenties, with a big smile on her face as she is pulling off a confusing (and almost acrobatic pose). If this puts you off and deters you from wanting to take up yoga, dispel those thoughts. Anyone can take up yoga. From a five year old to a 95 year old, yoga is an exercise that will benefit everyone, and even reverse some effects of the aging process!
While yoga isn't the fountain of youth, it is a very soothing exercise that works your joints and muscles very gently, getting them back in shape so you become more flexible. You are not supposed to feel any pain as you practice yoga. Your muscles are gently stretched so they lengthen without any risk of injury, making it an ideal form of physical exercise for everyone, especially the elderly.
One of the major benefits of practicing yoga is the deep breathing exercises. Inhaling deeply brings more oxygen to the brain and helps keep the heart and lungs healthy. Exhaling also serves to remove stored toxins and tension from the body, and these both help in restoring a youthful, more energetic feel to a person.
The next step is to find the right yoga class for you. In Kamloops, there are many places that hold yoga sessions, such as ashrams, studios, gyms, schools and community centers. There's bound to be one in your area. If you've never taken up yoga before, try looking for a beginner's class to start you off. Even if you're physically fit, it's best to start with the beginner's class and work your way up to the advanced levels. Here, you'll learn the basic yoga poses that will serve as the foundation of your yoga practice. This way, your body and mind will have time to get used to the poses and internalize them.
If you're worried that you can't practice yoga on the floor because you might not be able to get back up again, worry not. Some instructors offer a kind of yoga that you can do while sitting down! Chair yoga is a kind of yoga that can be practiced seated in the chair, or with a chair to help you balance. Make sure you check the credentials of your instructor to see how much experience they have in teaching chair yoga. A certification is the best way of knowing whether or not the teacher has experience.
You're not too old or too stiff to practice yoga. It doesn't matter how fit or how old you are. Anyone can do yoga, and so can you!