How do you get fit? The same way you get to Carnegie Hall … practice, practice, practice. You practice daily and it becomes part of your life.
Physical fitness (also known as wellness, strength, endurance, heartiness, flexibility and balance) has a few key parts. One is cardiovascular or aerobic fitness. That is the ability to move and train our heart and lungs to be strong which gives us endurance. This column is not about this.
The other key parts are strength, flexibility and balance; These are what this column is about and one way to achieve them.
Strength, flexibility and balance
Since college, when I learned that exercising helped me relax and manage anxiety, I have been committed to fitness. Over the years, I learned that staying fit and being strong feels great and can be fun if you choose things that are fun for you and have a self-caring attitude.
Last year I sustained two falls and three injuries. Falling is not advised in general, especially if you’re pushing 70. These made it impossible to practice two of my favorite activities, yoga and swimming and to some extent, walking. My fantastic physical therapist helped me rehabilitate those injuries over many months. Upon return from my recent vacation, I realized I was longing to swim and that my shoulder injury had improved enough that I could do so again, albeit gently. No more swimming for speed!
The plunge, the Y
So, I took the plunge and joined the Y. Wow! What an amazing fitness resource we have locally. There are pools at the Briggs Y and in Shelton and exercise classes of every ilk in and out of the water for all ages, swim lessons and more than I could have imagined! The cost is reasonable and can be especially low for seniors with eligible insurance coverage. Members can participate in everything offered and use all Y facilities locally and nationally. The staff and members are so friendly and welcoming! Many programs are filled with active seniors with more time than working people. So, I decided to test one of the yoga classes.
Enter Rhett F, the mature yoga instructor, who introduced himself to newcomer Emily, my mat neighbor, and me. Fit as a fiddle, he told us that his goal was to help us “evolve” into our aging bodies, limitations and all. He opened the class with the typical instructions to focus on breathing, stretch only as far as is comfortable in each position, resting whenever needed in the child’s pose. Atypical of yoga instructors, he shared his list of injuries and limitations (which completely normalized mine) and that his yoga practice keeps him fit and active. He plays beautiful sounds during class – ocean waves and gongs –and projects a levity which makes it more fun!
What is yoga?
Yoga, defined and edited from two dictionaries, is any or all of the methods or disciplines prescribed in the Hindu philosophical school of yoga, especially a series of postures and breathing exercises practiced to achieve tranquility, control of the body and mind, strength, flexibility and balance.
Thanks go to seekers who visited the ‘East’ 50-plus years ago and introduced yoga to the West, making it a household word, with classes available in nearly every corner of the country. Once when my car broke down in rural Twisp, Washington, I discovered that a yoga class was happening in the morning. The teacher was so delighted to have a new face in the room she did not charge me!
Practicing yoga is the antidote to sarcopenia, the reduction of muscle mass due to aging. To the loss of balance and flexibility with aging, incidentally both already improved for me after 3 classes. To the loss of flexibility even in younger people who sit in chairs all day staring at computer screens for their jobs and recreation.
It’s about your breath
Yoga is ultimately about the breath. Focusing one’s attention on breathing helps connect us to our bodies. It is not about pain. It is anti-pain. It’s not about the positions. It’s about learning to expand your bodies’ abilities on multiple levels (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual) at any age.
The breathing is a meditation in itself, calming and centering. Practicing yoga (it’s called a practice, not a workout) is an antidote to the frantic pace, impatience, tension, irritability and anxiety that infuses American culture. It has been found to help depression and PTSD in Veterans or anyone. It is a powerful healing tool without side effects. You can learn in class, on YouTube, videos or with a yoga therapist.
Yoga is available for anyone. There are many styles. Start easy with gentle yoga. There is chair yoga for those who do not have the ability to stand. There is advanced yoga for the young flexible athletic types. Hanging yoga is a novel option in which you counteract gravity (I think of it as ‘traction’ yoga – amazing for the neck and spine). In Olympia, Lori Capra’s Gravity Yoga is such a studio. I was her regular student prior to those dogged injuries and had never been so strong, flexible and balanced. Other practices offer many of the same benefits, Tai Chi and Chi Gong for instance. Those I cannot personally expound on as I’ve not tried them…yet.
Years ago, I thought yoga was boring. I did not appreciative what yoga could offer (in ways I did not realize were limitations) at that time. Perhaps I was too busy to care. Don’t be like I was! Find a practice you would enjoy to become flexible, strong and balanced.
More about aerobic and strength training in future columns. There is so much to fitness. So many options. As the Nike motto goes: Just Do It! And Dr. Debra’s motto goes: Just start somewhere!
Debra Glasser, M.D., is a retired internal medicine physician who lives in Olympia. Her laughter is infectious. Got a question for her? Write to her at drdebra@theJOLTnews.com
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