Something that improves with age? You.
Is it really a "New Year" if you just get older?
What if you could truly "renew" instead of aging?
It's possible. Without creams, medications, treatments, plastic surgeries. With yoga. Did you ever wonder why yoga is the only exercise regime that actually makes your body feel better as you age? Can you say that about running? Or rock climbing? Biking? Baseball? I can't think of a single other regimen, exercise or sport that reverses the affects of aging; in fact, all of the aforementioned accelerate it.
I started practicing yoga at 15 years old, with a young, unknown TV yogi named Lilias Folan.
Little did I know then that yoga would become my anti-aging secret. After 40 years I can say from experience: yoga is my ticket to aging gracefully.
Lilias, now her in her sixties, can confirm this. I met Lilias up close and personal about five years ago at an Omega Yoga Conference in NYC. She is WAY taller and more stately than she appeared on the small screen - even past age 60, she towered over me (Ok, I am only 5'1"...but Lilias also dwarfed most of the women AND men in the room) as I went up to thank her for...well, everything...
Lilias and I are both women who stuck with yoga throughout our lives and can both say, from experience, that it,s not just yoga that gets better with age...it's you, on yoga.
When you have had a regular yoga practice, your body doesn't rebel against the aging process; it flows into it. Without back pain, stiff joints, a tight neck...and you can maintain your muscle tone. No flabby underarms or muffin tops....
Your yoga gets better too. Not just your poses. Yoga has helped me to accept the changes I am going through as I age...but also, to not accept what most medical people say: that those are "tough changes that I must be "resigned" to." In fact, change is fun.
Most people close their eyes in yoga poses. But yoga has taught me to open my eyes and look forward to the next step.
Some days I look at myself in the mirror and wonder, when did those wrinkles get here? I look at my 26 year old daughter and wonder, how could a 25 year old have a 25 year old child? (must be one of those yoga miracles).
But I am not afraid to look and mostly I like what I see.
If you're starting yoga as an older woman already, no worries...because yoga also turns back the clock on your body. Stiffness, soreness, tiredness, ailments of age can literally disappear with a regular yoga practice...especially if that yoga practice is hot yoga. You are never stuck with wherever you are right now...everything changes and that can be for the better, even as you age.
Here's what Lilias has to say about yoga and aging:
In the mid 1960's I went to my family physician... I wasn't sleeping well, I was out of shape and my energy level was low. I was hoping for a quick cure, a prescription note and a handshake... Instead, he... suggested I get involved in an exercise program. Around that time I also discovered a book called Yoga, Youth & Reincarnation by Jess Stearn... Soon after reading Stearn's book I started taking yoga classes at the local YWCA and instantly felt better after the first class. Eventually, I was guided to an ashram in upstate New York where I met Swami Chidananda, then president of the Sivananda Divine Light Society. He lit the torch in my heart and inspired me to love, serve, meditate and realize my divine potential.
How has your experience with yoga evolved over the years? Years ago I was teaching in a television studio for my show Lilias! Yoga and You. At that time, I was literally teaching to a red light, not a living, breathing being. It was difficult since I wasn't physically connecting with my students but I never felt alone in the class. Through the power of television I connected with people of all ages and various backgrounds. Teaching on television taught me how to teach to many levels. Today, I am able to connect with students on a more personal and tangible level through in-person classes and teacher training programs at in Cincinnati. This is a very different teaching experience from my days in television! Now, I focus more on how to inspire students to take yoga and put it into their lives so they can learn about themselves by connecting with their inner landscape.
What is your hope for the future of yoga in the United States? My hope is that yogis can continue to soften their hearts, join together, break down the barriers that separate us, and continue to send out love, light and healing to our planet.
Lilias has often been quoted as saying she could never be sure if anyone was really watching her little TV yoga show back then.
Well, Lilias...I was watching, every morning at 6AM and every evening at 11:30PM. And I'm still here.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Reader Comments (3)
In January 2013, I will have been practicing yoga for 3 years. The differences in ME since then are dramatic. Physically yes, and emotionally YES, a deepened sense of well-being. A trust and knowing that I am where I am supposed to be, at home, in Hot Yoga. Thanks to all of the wonderful teachers at Riverflow, I look forward to another year. A heartfelt THANK YOU!!!
Happy new year, all you wonderful Riverflow folks, and Rhonda, thanks for the inspiring post. And thank you all for sharing a practice that never fails to remind me to "go with the flow" in all areas of my life.
Though I've only been practicing yoga since April 2012, the changes in my body were so apparent from the beginning. Coming from a hardcore, bootcamp, runner-background, I was always living with sore, knotted muscles. Now that I lead a life full of yoga, I no longer experience that constant soreness and knotty muscles--yoga gives me a full body massage. Also gives my significant other a break ;)