By Tami Reilly
Welcome to Oseterics Yoga! Oseterics Yoga App combines workouts tailored for your 50s, 60s, and beyond, enabling you to discover yourself in your active and graceful aging journey. Any successful journey begins with a roadmap. These tips and suggestions are designed to give you the lay of the land to successfully integrate a yoga routine into your daily life.
There are innumerable research studies that give evidence to the benefits of regular physical exercise. These include Flexibility, Mobility, Range of Motion, and so on. Regular physical exercises have also been shown to improve balance and coordination which prove to be key aspects of fall prevention as one ages. With regular yoga practice, you will see physical progress, but you also will learn so much about yourself, your body, and what you are capable of as a human
“Yoga is not about touching your toes, it is what you learn on the way down”
If you have limited mobility, we strongly suggest you use a chair as shown in the video above. Key points to remember
- Remember that is it called a "Practice". That means you do not have to master it in one session. You will come back to your mat over and over and watch your body, mind, and soul unfold. With repetition, commitment, and focus you will learn the language of yoga and how to work with your own body on the mat.
- If possible, watch the yoga class video prior to moving along with it. Seeing ahead of time where you are going in class can help you access anything you may need to adjust, modify or screen to fully understand. If you are anxious or worried about yoga, watching will also help ease your mind and prepare you for your practice.
- You may have a limited range of motion or ability to get into the yoga movement the instructor is showing. Please don’t let this discourage you. Do a part of the move (if your limitation is in your upper body, just do the leg portion of the yoga pose, and vice versa), shorten the range of motion, or try it in a chair doing as much of the move as you can recreate there. Stay with the breathing and be intentional with what you are doing and how you are treating yourself – that is yoga!
- If you cannot get down onto the floor/mat, then use a chair frequently during class. The seat of the chair and be your “hands on the floor” and you can do any of the yoga movements with this modification. Doing as much of the yoga in a chair may be best for you as well.
- If you do not feel comfortable laying down on your yoga mat for our final relaxation pose (corpse pose, savasana), you can do it seated, you can move to your couch or bed and lay down there. The most important part of this pose is to rest and absorb your yoga practice. You can do this any way that feels right for you.
- If balance poses make you nervous, use the chair, move to a wall or find a sturdy counter to use to support yourself. Find a way to practice your balance in a safe way for you.
Our Expert Instructor Andrea talks about how to be Safe -