Читать книгу Look 15 Years Younger: The 15-Minute-a-Day Yoga Plan - Barbara Currie - Страница 10

When you meet someone for the very first time, don’t you notice their flexibility and posture? Don’t you get that feeling of youth and vitality if they stand or sit up straight and move with a relaxed agility? On the other hand, if the person has a stoop and walks stiffly and slowly, don’t they immediately look old? The joints and spine normally stiffen with age. Yoga again demonstrates that for life-long flexibility it is necessary to work the joints carefully and in all possible directions of movement. By doing this we stimulate the flow of synovial fluid over the shiny cartilage covering the surfaces of the joints. This acts as ‘joint oil’ to ensure that the joint moves smoothly, and also gives nourishment to the cartilage. Correct exercise also strengthens the muscles around the joint, giving it support. Yoga will also add to the elasticity of your ligaments and tendons, and can help to remove the calcium deposits that can collect around the joint surface, so helping your joints remain flexible for life.

A major yoga teaching is ‘You are as young as your spine is flexible.’ This is so true-just look around you and you will find that delightful ageless quality in people with a flexible spine.

The spine has six directions of movement: forwards, backwards, side to side, and twisting in both directions. In our normal waking state, however, over 90 per cent of our time is spent bending forwards. Without correction, this can easily lead to the dreaded stoop. For perfect spinal health and flexibility, the spine needs exercising daily in all six ways. Exercises such as the upward stretch, forwards and backwards bend, or Salute to the Sun, sideways stretch or Half-moon posture and Triangle make a perfect routine that I have recommended to my pupils with back problems for the last 10 years, helping them to achieve amazing success.

For joint flexibility I usually recommend these postures:

 Chest Expansion standing

 Dancer’s Posture

 Tree Balance

 Big Toe Balance

 Eagle Balance

 Alternative Leg Pull

 Thigh Stretch

 The Twist

 Backstretch

 The Cow

 The Mountain

 Pose of a Camel

 Pose of a Cat

 Pose of a Dog – followed by Deep Relaxation.

If you are really stiff and aching, then it is best to see your doctor in the first instance. With his or her permission, go gently and carefully without strain into each movement. My experience with very many pupils is that yoga’s gentle movements can carefully ease the stiffness away and have very beneficial results.

Most people start yoga stiff and uncoordinated, but even after just a few weeks their flexibility improves tremendously, they feel, look and act younger and, as stretching the body releases its tensions, blood flow to the joints is improved, resulting in increased flexibility, healthier joints and the agility of youth.

One of the wonderful things about yoga is that it is never too late, pupils start yoga at all ages and I have many in their late seventies and eighties and all are improving with practice, so never give up.

A tree that can fill the span of a man’s arms grows from a downy tip; a terrace nine storeys high rises from hodfuls of earth; a journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath one’s feet.

LAO TZU, 6TH CENTURY BC