For me, Yoga is the best exercise to take up. That’s what I said in one of my earlier blog, “Start to live a healthy life”. It makes you feel better by improving your stamina and mood, and keeps you healthy and strong without exposing you to injuries.

Age

After passing the 50’ mark and being considered old and frail by normal standards, it becomes more and more important that you do a sport where injuries are not too common and dangerous. Weight Lifting Bars and other heavy impact fitness club equipment can give a lot of problems to your back, neck, spine or hip. Especially if you think you must push yourself to the limit with a loud scream and groan every time you make a move. An Essential Rule, you don’t want to walk out of the gym worse than when you walked into it, don’t you? Running is even worse. Due to the constant impact on your knees and joints. A “No, No” as well.

This is why I prefer Yoga for myself. With Yoga, you feel your body and control yourself how far you want to push it. As you use only your own body weight, it is highly unlikely to get injured. This doesn’t mean it cannot happen, but there is a much lower risk. Difficulties arise mostly only for people that are a bit too competitive for the level they are in. Yoga however is to improve yourself, not to show off to others.

Good teachers will not push you or adjust you into a pose before you are ready. Usually they ask you to repeat a simpler pose many, many times until you are ready for the next one. That’s why it is good if you have a great teacher. A good teacher is sharing his practice with options, so everybody can follow.

Flexibility

When I talk to friends to join, I often hear “I am not flexible enough to do that”. Now this is exactly the reason why you should take up Yoga, to get more flexible. Especially men who can build up an impressive amount of meat/muscles with their exercise and due to the habit of bulking up, we need to balance it out with stretching. These men have to train their muscles again to move in the opposite direction.

Or the men that build up only their tummy muscle to a big ball and cannot reach their tows anymore. These men can lose weight, strengthen their core and start learning to reach their tows again. So next time somebody asks you to join, say yes I need it, I have not enough flexibility.

Muscle mass, strength and posture

Physically inactive people can lose as much as 3% to 5% of their muscle mass each decade after age 30  Now look at your body, and you will understand why it is sagging. You do not have to have a ripped tummy, but a body that can hold together everything inside and out. This automatically will ensure that you have a nice and straight posture as well. Don’t blame it on age, it is your decision and making how you look. Kazim Gürbüz, a 95-year-old yogi from Turkey is the living example for that.

Did you know that falls are a leading cause of injury and death in older Americans? With your strength and flexibility fixed up, you will be much more secure on your feet and the likelihood of falling is minimized. Your reaction is faster and if you fall, your muscles and flexibility will protect your body better. And this is valid up to very old age.

Yoga works the muscles of your entire body evenly. If you go to the gym, you work one muscle after the other, and it can get quite boring. In Yoga, you use all your body to move into the different positions and with this build up flexibility and strength. The feeling when you realize that all your muscles start strengthening is incredibly good and is also a fantastic confidence booster. Yoga is relaxing, strengthening and a cardio workout exercise all in one session. It just depends on the sequences you use. Except for a mat, you do not need any other equipment to do your exercise.

Keeping the cool

“I DO YOGA BECAUSE PUNCHING PEOPLE IS FROWNED UPON”. That’s not what I usually do, but it sure feels that way sometimes after dealing with people the whole day. Physical poses, controlled breathing and relaxation techniques will calm you down after a long day of frustrations in your working life. Nothing does bother you anymore after a good Yoga workout.

Sex & health

Regular Yoga exercise gives you better sex. With the increase in stamina, your blood flows where it has to go. No need for a blue pill. Another great advantage is that the females or males you meet at a Yoga class are all “What you see is what you get”. There is no hiding from any roll or bulge when Yoga practice starts. It is also great to see how people change to the better after regular practice. Why not try to find your new partner there. You can sniff out if she/he has the right smell and has all the forms you enjoy. The common interest is already there. Give it a try. It worked for Alec Baldwin.

Also, more regular Yoga exercise can lower your medical bills. What is not to like about that.

I hope these points make you think to take up Yoga. Find a nice studio or teacher, join the group and start working on that body of yours. Very soon you will find like-minded friends, and you will build your own group of Yogis.