Ageing gracefully isn’t about looking younger than your actual age. It’s about living your best life and having the physical and mental health to enjoy it.
As we age, we lose degrees of strength, elasticity and stamina. These qualities deteriorate over time. Through yoga practice, we will honour our body by slowing down the ageing process at a cellular level and maintaining a good level of strength, mobility and flexibility to function better in our day-to-day activities.
A significant factor in physical health is mental stress, so there is more to ageing gracefully than addressing the body. Yoga is proven to stimulate the vagus nerve, thus activating the relaxation response, and inducing a sense of calmness, while decreasing stress, allowing us to deal more effectively with daily stressors and anxiety.
To age gracefully, one needs to anticipate the inevitable changes. You grow old gracefully by choosing your attitude and approach to change. Living the yogic principle of ‘letting go’ will allow us to age gracefully due to the peace which emerges from not needing things to be different from how they are.
Ageing is not a choice, yet ageing gracefully certainly is! Yoga is a great tool to help you achieve this. I am glad that I offer gentle yet effective one-on-one sessions for older yoga beginners who do not feel ready or comfortable joining a group class. As everyone is different and has unique challenges and strengths, these sessions are tailor-made to the specific needs of each individual.
