I’m not flexible enough to do Yoga. I've heard this more times than I can count. Yoga makes you more flexible. But there is much more.
There are many physical benefits from a regular Yoga
practice. I personally like to
categorize them in four ways. These
benefits are strength, flexibility, balance, and endurance. While many non-practitioners of Yoga may think
it is all about flexibility, the other benefits of Yoga are also important. While there is no doubt that you gain an
increased range of motion in your hamstrings, shoulders, lower back,
quadriceps, and other muscle groups,
the other three benefit areas also make life more livable and enjoyable. Yoga is not just about pretzel poses but is rather a form of exercise with numerous benefits.
The ability of a Yoga practice to increase core (abdominal
and lower back muscles) strength,
along with the awareness of how to use those muscles in day to day activities, means that your chances for back injury
decreases and your ability to do core based activities increase. Many Yoga poses are specifically designed
to work on core strength. For many (if
not most) people, these poses are the most difficult to endure and require the
most effort in a Yoga practice.
Because we generally live a chair based, sedentary life style, our core
muscles weaken over time. Getting them
back to a level where they should be takes effort. Many people have told me that Locust pose
may be their least favorite. This is
not because it is a challenging pose to get into, but rather because it works
directly on the part of their body where they are weakest. There is no doubt that working on your core
is not easy, but the benefits are worth it. In addition to your core, Yoga strengthens
your legs, shoulders, and other important muscle groups. This increased strength allows a practitioner
to more readily engage in other physical activities such as hiking as well as
being physically better able to perform day to day activities that require
strength.
From the perspective of balance,
Yoga helps us keep our balance as we age.
Yoga has both arm and leg
balances. These balances require mental
focus, strength (core, arms, shoulders, and legs), and of course balance. As people age, the chances of having
injuries from falling increase due to lack of balance and strength. Poor balance can lead to falls and fractured
bones or hips. Yoga poses where we work on core and leg
strength for balancing (along with the mental focus on balance), make balancing
as we age a brighter prospect. Standing in Tree Pose, where my standing leg
has to be strong and engaged, my core muscles active, my pelvis neutral, and my
focus involved in keeping me standing balance provide numerous benefits.
When I stand in Warrior II in a hot Yoga practice, holding
the pose after moving without stop for 30 or 40 minutes, I often think about what
I am feeling in the practice. My body is hot and tired and I can feel the effort
that I am putting forth. I
sometimes have to use my mouth to breath instead of the traditional breathing through my nose. In a physical moving Yoga class or home
practice, we are working our muscles, working our breath, and challenging our
bodies. This practice builds up our physical endurance. Even
an ambient, slow flow class requires a level of effort and endurance to hold
poses for an extended time. This increase endurance has benefits for other physical activities.
When I first started practicing Yoga, my flexibility was sub-optimal. My toe touching ended at my ankles, my
shoulders were hunched and my back was very tight. There is no doubt that my flexibility has
progressed enormously over my years of practice. Poses that I never thought possible are now a
simple stretch, but there is more to go.
Touching my toes is a common
activity. This increased flexibility
reduces my chance for injury from inadvertent movements and such common things
as sneezing. This flexibility improvement would not have
happened if I said to myself “I’m not flexible enough to do Yoga” and not
started down the path of Yoga. So if you say to yourself that you are not flexible enough to practice Yoga, you are doing yourself a disservice. You practice Yoga to make yourself more flexible.
Namaste…
