Love it or hate it, ageing is inevitable (and yoga can help)
Ageing happens to all of us. As I heard someone say on a workout video I did this week, “you’ll never be as young as you are right now.”
But there is something pretty special about growing old.
My dad died when he was 54 and it blows my mind how much he missed out on. His grandkids, spending more time in Albany, which was a place he loved, being with my mum whom he also loved, and being a great dog (and human) dad.
I love the wisdom and confidence that comes with growing older. I also love being willing to say “I don’t know,” being curious and continuing to learn.
So why was I thrilled when my doctor thought I was still in my 30’s? (I’m 50). Why was I shocked when I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in one of my hands by another medical professional and why did it make me feel “so old”? (Both these things happened this week btw).
Because, even though we’ve come so far with feminism, one of the worst things a woman can do is age. We are still expected to stay beautiful and youthful at all costs. But the costs are huge - money on treatments, creams, potions, surgeries, time on getting the treatments and surgeries, and the damage to the self-esteem if we can’t live up to the ideal.
Yoga is a great support for ageing. Of course the physical practice keeps the body supple and strong. Believe me, as someone who worked in a chiropractic clinic for years, the phrase “use it or lose it” is true! Don’t wait until you are already stiff and sore to get strong and flexible. It’s much harder then. Yoga can be a very gentle practice and a good teacher will help to adapt poses for people with injuries, pain or other restrictions.
Beyond the poses, yoga helps us to accept ourselves, even as we age. During a class we might notice there are things we can’t do easily or well, but there are plenty of poses we CAN do. And yoga reminds us to be kind and gentle to ourselves which is what we need more and more of as we age. I love this video by one of my teachers, Jivana Heyman, which explains it so well.
What’s the worse thing about ageing, or the best thing, or both? Tell me in the comments.
Yoga Pose of the Week
Cobra - This is a fabulous strengthening pose for the back and legs. It helps to stretch the front of the body and is a back bend. It’s great for flowing into child’s pose or down dog. Even with both my wrists injured, I can still do cobra by using my back muscles to lift rather than pressing up with my arms.
Yoga Philosophy of the Week
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is one of the seminal yoga philosophy texts which tells us that there is a lot more to yoga than the poses. Asimta (translating to false-identification) is a concept that’s written about in the Sutras and describes what happens when we over identify with how we look rather than who we really are inside. I don’t know about you, but I still feel like I’m a young person in my mind, and that is who I truly am! Yoga can teach us that.
Mindful Moment of the Week
I’m sure you can tell this photo is old! It’s from 2015. In the space of a few weeks I had broken my wrist, had a minor car accident and gotten a speeding ticket. When I asked my boss at the time, “Why me???” he said I wasn’t being very mindful. I rushed off and got myself a mindfulness coach and my obsession with mindfulness began. Well… in May I hurt my wrist, got a speeding ticket and had a bingle in my car. I overcommitted with too much on my plate and I wasn’t able to stay mindful. Lesson learned (again!)
