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Published:
August 4, 2020

Yoga After 50 For Dummies

Overview

Improve balance, flexibility, and overall well-being

Yoga is a terrific way to stay fit and improve mental clarity, balance, agility, and flexibility. Written by the founding president of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, this book takes the guesswork out of starting or continuing yoga at 50 and beyond. You’ll learn how to adapt stances and breathing to your changing body to reap the benefits of this ancient practice and use it to calm your mind and body—one pose at a time.

  • Discover step-by-step instructions for more than 45 poses
  • Relieve stress
  • Leverage your breathing
  • Target weak spots, avoid injury, and deal with pain and chronic conditions
  • Discover yoga apps and videos
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About The Author

Larry Payne, Ph.D. is the founding president of the International Association of Yoga Therapists and coauthor of Yoga For Dummies. Named "one of America's most respected Yoga teachers" by the Los Angeles Times, he also developed Yoga programs at UCLA School of Medicine and Loyola Marymount University.

Sample Chapters

yoga after 50 for dummies

CHEAT SHEET

When practicing Yoga over the age of 50, remember to adjust your routines to fit your body. And it’s equally important to know that such adjustments in no way diminish the fundamental concepts of Yoga practice or philosophy. Yoga, in general, should feel good to you and be good for you. If it doesn’t or it leads to some kind of discomfort, you may not be recognizing what your body is telling you.

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Articles from
the book

Anyone who thinks that Yoga is just about poses, about being especially mobile or flexible, is really ignoring what some people would argue is the most important part of the practice. Yoga is a philosophy of life — and, as such, offers a lot of important insights on ways to find more joy in life and reduce suffering.
There’s a dangerous way of looking at Yoga that says every posture must conform to a traditional view of the pose. If Yoga is going to serve you, it must fit you.The challenge, of course, is that everyone is different—bodies are different and need different things. Without a doubt, the best way to shape your Yoga practice is to listen to what your body needs.
If you have only 15 minutes to practice Yoga, this routine is for you. I have given this sequence a lot of consideration, often times using postures to both compensate for a pose that occurred before and/or prepare your body for a posture that’s coming up.It may take you additional time to complete the sequence as you read the instructions next to each pose.
The obvious advantage of having a regular Yoga program is that it requires you to move in ways that you otherwise would not move during the course of a normal day. And by movement, I’m referring specifically to the stretching and strengthening that keeps your body flexible, straight, and strong, no matter your age.
Breath work is an essential part of the Yoga tradition. I’ve even spoken to a number of experts who say that the real purpose of postures and movement in Yoga is simply to prepare the body to sit and breathe for extended periods of time. I know from my own experience that the breath can be a very powerful tool in stress and pain management.
The good news is that, with practice and determination, the brain and body discover how to find balance. And that fact doesn’t change as we get older. What does change with age is your resiliency. And what that means to you during physical activity is pretty straightforward: You are more prone to injury. Injuries may be more serious and probably will have a greater impact.
Unlike other physical activities, such as golf or scuba diving, you don’t need a lot of expensive equipment to practice Yoga. A few items are useful to have, while some other things are completely unnecessary.The following sections take a look at a few key items: Comfortable clothes Mats Blocks Blankets Bolsters Straps and other accessories Comfortable clothes Yoga clothes may seem like a trivial topic to some, but some people feel like they need to spend a fortune on brand-name Yoga clothing to be accepted into the Yoga community.
Although you may be very capable of benefiting from other Yoga routines, this article has a 15-minute seated sequence for those hindered by excessive weight or those stuck behind a desk all day. I call it Desk Yoga or Executive Yoga. This specific routine is designed to get you moving without doing any excessive folding (which may be uncomfortable for some people).
Preparing your muscles and joints before moving in and out of various yoga poses helps to reduce the possibility of injury, especially from over-stretching. Moving in and out of a pose before holding it is referred to as PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) — also called the dynamic/static approach.
When practicing Yoga over the age of 50, remember to adjust your routines to fit your body. And it’s equally important to know that such adjustments in no way diminish the fundamental concepts of Yoga practice or philosophy. Yoga, in general, should feel good to you and be good for you. If it doesn’t or it leads to some kind of discomfort, you may not be recognizing what your body is telling you.
Function over form basically means that you should give top priority to how a particular Yoga pose serves you and your body and not be so worried about how it looks. Some of the most common postures in a Yoga practice also are some of the safest, providing you modify them whenever needed. While you may receive numerous benefits from any given pose, including strengthening and stretching, your first objective is to enhance the health of your mind, as well as your spine.
Sometimes referred to as Yoga Nidra, Yoga sleep describes a state in which the body completely relaxes, while the mind remains at least somewhat focused. The practice is as old as Yoga itself and is sometimes viewed as a form of meditation.It is actually quite different, however. During meditation, your mind stays on a conscious level.
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Frequently Asked Questions

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