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Yoga – you are never to old to start

yoga eldery1. Can Seniors (Above 65 Years) Do Yoga Asanas?

Yes, of course older people can do asanas. The basic premise in yoga is union – union of the various aspects of our existence like body, breath, mind etc. In fact the word yoga comes from a Sanskrit root ‘Yuj’, which means ‘to unite’. Hence, it is possible for people of all ages and from all walks of life to utilize the techniques of yoga for creating a harmonious and joyful existence.
Elderly can do yoga asanas – provided they keep some guidelines in mind.

2. What Kind Of Asanas Should One Do As Age Progresses?

Substitute warm-ups with brisk walking and joint movements.
Standing Yoga Poses Triangle Pose (konasana series) and Standing Spinal Twist (Kati chakrasanas) Sitting Yoga Poses Butterfly Pose, Cradling (if possible), body rotation, Cat stretch and Child pose (Shishu Asana). Yoga Poses lying on the back or stomach Focus on repetitions rather than holding any posture such as the Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana), the Locust Pose (Shalabhasana) or the Knee to Chin Press (Pawanmuktasana). Yoga nidra is by far the most essential part of any yoga practice, and as age progresses, it becomes even more essential to help assimilate the effect of the asana practice into our system.

3. Are There Any Easy Exercises For Senior People?
Restorative Yoga may be practiced independently or as part of a larger yoga plan. People of every age can practice and receive the benefits of these exercises that can be comfortably practiced within 20-30 minutes. It includes simple and gentle exercises for the neck, hands, feet, knees, ankles and hips.

4. Are You Getting Your Yoga Practice Right?
Check your inner gauge, your smile-o-meter. Just do as much as you can, with a smile, for that is the indicator, which tells you whether you are doing it right or not.

5. How Does Yoga Practice For Seniors Differ From Those For The Young?

The same asanas performed by a younger individual could be more challenging in terms of effort put into the posture, the duration of holding the posture and amount of flexibility required. Some cardio vascular movements and abdominals would be more appropriate for a person with higher level of endurance and body fitness.

6. Do Yoga Asanas Increase The Efficiency Of Immune System For The Elderly?

The Patanjali Yoga Sutras provide a clue – it says – “heyam dukham anaagatam”, so that we can avoid the misery that has not yet come. As our age increases, the efficiency of our bodies and immune system seems to deteriorate, bringing on the possibility of various diseases. Regular practice of yoga techniques, such as asanas, pranayama and meditation can help to avoid these conditions, remove the misery, and lead to a happier and more fulfilling life.

10 Reasons to Practice Restorative Yoga  

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8 Reasons Why I Do Yoga

I am a human, much like you, and that means we are consciousness somehow floating inside a meat sack supported by bones. The mind-body duality maintains the same mystery as it did when the ancient philosophers were thinking about thinking, and then thinking about the relationship of those thoughts to the physical form that contains them. Even though we all have minds and bodies, the complexities keep us in a state of wonderment – and this is why I yoga.

Yoga is what provokes me to examine the awe of existence in both the practical world and the esoteric. There are the physical poses that connect you to your body, but that is just 1 of 8 limbs of yoga. As you explore the full spectrum, yoga becomes a life practice and not just an exercise routine.

Here are my 8 reasons why I yoga:

1. Gets Me Out Of My Own Selfish Head
I don’t know about you, but the vast majority of my thoughts are about me. If I am hungry, what I should wear tonight, what I did yesterday, what I am going to do tomorrow. Me, me, me. I think about me all the time and it is the root of misery. The more I think about me, the less happy I am. Yoga reminds me to direct that internal obsession to the external needs of others. The more I prioritize helping those around me and caring about the beings on this planet, the more peace I feel inside myself.

2. Keeps Me Honest
Let’s face it. The last thing you want to do when hungover and smelling like stale American Spirits is a Downward Dog. A commitment to my practice keeps me away from making unhealthy and self-destructive decisions.

3. Makes Me Feel Strong
Using my body and improving throughout the years reminds me of how capable I actually am. I don’t need someone to help me with my bags, I can move furniture, throw my 35-pound 3 year old in the air, hike mountains, swim across lakes, run far… I don’t feel limited by my physical self and that is an empowering state of being.

4. Reminds Me To Breathe
I can’t tell you how many times I have almost lost my cool and psychically eviscerated someone who made me mad, but instead took a deep breath and remained calm. The ability to react to aggression with peace has drastically improved my relations with others and decreased my stress. The more I connect to my breath, the clearer I think, and that not only makes me a better person, but also a more patient parent.

5. Keeps Desires In Check
We all have desires that feel dire – when you are like “I need that piece of cake,” or “I must have those yellow suede boots” or “if they don’t kiss me right now my face will implode.” Of course in the moment it might seem necessary, but taking a step back to question why you want what you want will remind you that you want a lot less than you think you want.

6. Helps Me Stay Focused
In our modern world we are assaulted with distractions. And now that we have smartphones we have portable units that suck us into a vortex of being anywhere but the present. Come to think of it, when was the last time I emptied my bowels while not looking at Facebook? Every day I have to make a conscious decision to avoid the chaos of modern living and genuinely direct my attention to what is happening in front of my face – whether it’s work, chores, or spending time with others. I want to be a person who is actually there living it.

7. Helps Me Deal
Life can really suck. It can be wonderful and beautiful, but it can also totally blow. That is never going to change. You are going to have shitty days, and that is just a part of the human experience. Although we can’t control the complications of life, we can control how we deal with and react to these situations. I have been meditating daily now for over 5 years and I have to say it hasn’t made my life any easier, but it has made how I cope infinitely better.

8. Connects Me To The Divine
I lost my best friend the same year I started practicing yoga. I was 20 years old and totally devastated by the death of someone who meant so much to me. My mourning was overwhelming and I felt destroyed. The more lost I felt, the more I turned to the teachings of yoga for the answers.

It was during those years that I started to feel the eternal nature of love. How even though my friend was no longer tangibly with me, our connection was boundless. This, I think, was the greatest gift of all.

Toni Nagy – writes for Huffington Post, Salon, Alternet, Elephant Journal, Yoga Dork, Hairpin, Thought Catalogue, Muses and Visionaries.

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7 more important facts about YOGA


Depositphotos 26789341 m-1500x112515. Helps you focus
An important component of yoga is focusing on the present. Studies have found that regular yoga practice improves coordination, reaction time, memory, and even IQ scores. People who practice Transcendental Meditation demonstrate the ability to solve problems and acquire and recall information better—probably because they’re less distracted by their thoughts, which can play over and over like an endless tape loop.

16. Relaxes your system
Yoga encourages you to relax, slow your breath, and focus on the present, shifting the balance from the sympathetic nervous system (or the fight-or-flight response) to the parasympathetic nervous system. The latter is calming and restorative; it lowers breathing and heart rates, decreases blood pressure, and increases blood flow to the intestines and reproductive organs—comprising what Herbert Benson, M.D., calls the relaxation response.

17. Improves your balance
Regularly practicing yoga increases proprioception (the ability to feel what your body is doing and where it is in space) and improves balance. People with bad posture or dysfunctional movement patterns usually have poor proprioception, which has been linked to knee problems and back pain. Better balance could mean fewer falls. For the elderly, this translates into more independence and delayed admission to a nursing home or never entering one at all. For the rest of us, postures like Tree Pose can make us feel less wobbly on and off the mat.

18. Maintains your nervous system
Some advanced yogis can control their bodies in extraordinary ways, many of which are mediated by the nervous system. Scientists have monitored yogis who could induce unusual heart rhythms, generate specific brain-wave patterns, and, using a meditation technique, raise the temperature of their hands by 15 degrees Fahrenheit. If they can use yoga to do thPS-Semperviva-Smile-500x333at, perhaps you could learn to improve blood flow to your pelvis if you’re trying to get pregnant or induce relaxation when you’re having trouble falling asleep.

19. Releases tension in your limbs
Do you ever notice yourself holding the telephone or a steering wheel with a death grip or scrunching your face when staring at a computer screen? These unconscious habits can lead to chronic tension, muscle fatigue, and soreness in the wrists, arms, shoulders, neck, and face, which can increase stress and worsen your mood. As you practice yoga, you begin to notice where you hold tension: It might be in your tongue, your eyes, or the muscles of your face and neck. If you simply tune in, you may be able to release some tension in the tongue and eyes. With bigger muscles like the quadriceps, trapezius, and buttocks, it may take years of practice to learn how to relax them.

20. Helps you sleep deeper
Stimulation is good, but too much of it taxes the nervous system. Yoga can provide relief from the hustle and bustle of modern life. Restorative asana, yoga nidra (a form of guided relaxation), Savasana, pranayama, and meditation encourage pratyahara, a turning inward of the senses, which provides downtime for the nervous system. Another by-product of a regular yoga practice, studies suggest, is better sleep—which means you’ll be less tired and stressed and less likely to have accidents.

21. Boosts your immune system functionality
Asana and pranayama probably improve immune function, but, so far, meditation has the strongest scientific support in this area. It appears to have a beneficial effect on the functioning of the immune system, boosting it when needed (for example, raising antibody levels in response to a vaccine) and lowering it when needed (for instance, mitigating an inappropriately aggressive immune function in an autoimmune disease like psoriasis).

Frequently Answered Questions About Yoga

1. How Many Times Per Week Should I Practice?
Yoga is amazing—even if you only practice for one hour a week, you will experience the benefits of the practice. If you can do more than that, you will certainly experience more benefits. I suggest starting with two or three times a week, for an hour or an hour and a half each time. If you can only do 20 minutes per session, that’s fine too. Don’t let time constraints or unrealistic goals be an obstacle—do what you can and don’t worry about it. You will likely find that after a while your desire to practice expands naturally and you will find yourself doing more and more.

2. How Is Yoga Different From Stretching or Other Kinds of Fitness?Yoga-Bridge-Pose
Unlike stretching or fitness, yoga is more than just physical postures. Patanjali’s eight-fold path illustrates how the physical practice is just one aspect of yoga. Even within the physical practice, yoga is unique because we connect the movement of the body and the fluctuations of the mind to the rhythm of our breath. Connecting the mind, body, and breath helps us to direct our attention inward. Through this process of inward attention, we learn to recognize our habitual thought patterns without labeling them, judging them, or trying to change them. We become more aware of our experiences from moment to moment. The awareness that we cultivate is what makes yoga a practice, rather than a task or a goal to be completed. Your body will most likely become much more flexible by doing yoga, and so will your mind.

3. Why Are You Supposed to Refrain From Eating 2–3 Hours Before Class?
In yoga practice we twist from side to side, turn upside down, and bend forward and backward. If you have not fully digested your last meal, it will make itself known to you in ways that are not comfortable. If you are a person with a fast-acting digestive system and are afraid you might get hungry or feel weak during yoga class, experiment with a light snack such as yogurt, a few nuts, or juice about 30 minutes to an hour before class.

4. My muscles shake during certain poses. Is it safe to keep holding them?
Yes – to an extent. Shaking or quivering muscles during difficult yoga poses are a physiological and neurological response to working hard, and signal muscular fatigue—which is usually a good thing! Don’t shy away from a pose when your muscles start to contract and relax, but do be mindful if your alignment degrades, which can increase the risk of injury. To gauge the difference, listen to your teacher’s cues and focus on your breath. If you can’t inhale and exhale smoothly, or if you start to hold or restrict your breath, your body is saying it has had enough, and your alignment could be compromised; it’s time to move out of the pose.
Another reason muscles may shake during difficult poses is dehydration, which throws off the balance of electrolytes like sodium and potassium that carry electrical impulses and allow your muscles to contract. The result: Your muscles can’t fire correctly, and they quiver. If you’re doing a strenuous practice for longer than 6o minutes, prevent quaking muscles by adding electrolytes: Sip about 20 ounces of an electrolyte-containing beverage 2 to 3 hours before practice.

5. Do I Need to Lose Weight Before Starting Yoga?Schermafbeelding-2015-05-19-om-20.36.50
Absolutely not! True, carrying extra weight will make certain poses more challenging, and there will be increased pressure on the joints in some poses. But not doing yoga until you lose weight is like not doing yoga until you get flexible. Among other things, we do yoga because of the tremendous physical and mental benefits it brings us in exactly those areas where we struggle. If we were already as strong and flexible and thin as we tell ourselves we should be, then we wouldn’t have to do an asana practice at all. We could just sit around meditating all day until we found bliss.

The point is that yoga helps us find balance in all areas of our lives; we’re not supposed to arrive in yoga class as a fait accompli. We’re supposed to show up ready to take a journey of transformation, whatever that may be. Everyone comes to the mat with a different imbalance, but everyone is working on something, and it is the act of getting on the mat that points us in the right direction.

A dear friend of mine began practicing yoga at the age of 37. She had always avoided it because she thought she was too stiff and that she didn’t have a “yoga body.” After several months of classes, she made a remark that I have never forgotten. She said that on the days she does yoga, she consistently makes better food choices, and these choices come naturally because she is calmer, more centered, and more fully in the present moment.

To me, this observation is the essence of the impact that yoga can have in all areas of our lives. I encourage you to disregard your friends’ advice and find a class that lets you begin to experience yoga’s extraordinary potential. You may need to experiment a bit to find the class that is just right for you, but I am sure it will be worth it.

http://www.yogajournal.com/article/beginners/yoga-questions-answered/
http://www.yogajournal.com/article/health/ask-expert-muscle-shaking-good/
http://www.yogajournal.com/article/beginners/yoga-before-or-after-weight-loss-2/

7 more important facts about YOGA

8. Drains your lymphs and boosts immunity
When you contract and stretch muscles, move organs around, and come in and out of yoga postures, you increase the drainage of lymph (a viscous fluid rich in immune cells). This helps the lymphatic system fight infection, destroy cancerous cells, and dispose of the toxic waste products of cellular functioning.
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9. Ups your heart rate
When you regularly get your heart rate into the aerobic range, you lower your risk of heart attack and can relieve depression. While not all yoga is aerobic, if you do it vigorously or take flow or Ashtanga classes, it can boost your heart rate into the aerobic range. But even yoga exercises that don’t get your heart rate up that high can improve cardiovascular conditioning. Studies have found that yoga practice lowers the resting heart rate, increases endurance, and can improve your maximum uptake of oxygen during exercise—all reflections of improved aerobic conditioning. One study found that subjects who were taught only pranayama could do more exercise with less oxygen.

10. Drops your blood pressure

If you’ve got high blood pressure, you might benefit from yoga. Two studies of people with hypertension, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, compared the effects ofSavasana (Corpse Pose) with simply lying on a couch. After three months, Savasana was associated with a 26-point drop in systolic blood pressure (the top number) and a 15-point drop in diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number—and the higher the initial blood pressure, the bigger the drop.

11smile. Regulates your adrenal glands

Yoga lowers cortisol levels. If tha

t doesn’t sound like much, consider this. Normally, the adrenal glands secrete cortisol in response to an acute crisis, which temporarily boosts immune function. If your cortisol levels stay high even after the crisis, they can compromise the immune system. Temporary boosts of cortisol help with long-term memory, but chronically high levels undermine memory and may lead to permanent changes in the brain. Additionally, excessive cortisol has been linked with major depression, osteoporosis (it extracts calcium and other minerals from bones and interferes with the laying down of new bone), high blood pressure, and insulin resistance. In rats, high cortisol levels lead to what researchers call “food-seeking behavior” (the kind that drives you to eat when you’re upset, angry, or stressed). The body takes those extra calories and distributes them as fat in the abdomen, contributing to weight gain and the risk of diabetes and heart attack.

12. Makes you happierFeeling sad? Sit in Lotus. Better yet, rise up into a backbend or soar royally into King Dancer Pose. While it’s not as simple as that, one study found that a consistent yoga practice improved depression and led to a significant increase in serotonin levels and a decrease in the levels of monoamine oxidase (an enzyme that breaks down neurotransmitters) and cortisol. At the University of Wisconsin, Richard Davidson, Ph.D., found that the left prefrontal cortex showed heightened activity in meditators, a finding that has been correlated with greater levels of happiness and better immune function. More dramatic left-sided activation was found in dedicated, long-term practitioners.

13. Founds a healthy lifestyle
Move more, eat less—that’s the adage of many a dieter. Yoga can help on both fronts. A regular practice gets you moving and burns calories, and the spiritual and emotional dimensions of your practice may encourage you to address any eating and weight problems on a deeper level. Yoga may also inspire you to become a more conscious eater.

14. Lowers blood sugarz13710012Qfot-kolaz-kobieta-gazeta-pl
Yoga lowers blood sugar and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and boosts HDL (“good”) cholesterol. In people with diabetes, yoga has been found to lower blood sugar in several ways: by lowering cortisol and adrenaline levels, encouraging weight loss, and improving sensitivity to the effects of insulin. Get your blood sugar levels down, and you decrease your risk of diabetic complications such as heart attack, kidney failure, and blindness.

Interesting facts about massage

Did you know massage is probably the oldest and simplest form of healthcare?
It is depicted in Egyptian tomb paintings.
It is mentioned in ancient Chinese, Japanese, and Indian texts.massage-therapy

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates describes the practice of anatripis or “rubbing up.”

Massage is scientifically shown to be effective treatment for the following conditions:

– Cancer-related fatigue
– Chronic low back pain
– Frequent headaches
– Post-operative pain

Therapeutic massage is increasingly being promoted by healthcare providers to their patients.
Almost one in five adult Americans (19%) report discussing massage therapy with their doctors or healthcare providers. Of those 19%, more than half (58%) said their doctor strongly recommended or encouraged massage.

More than half of massage therapists (63%) receive referrals from healthcare professionals.
Massage is beneficial for infants, children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly.

– Babies fall asleep faster when massaged than when rocked, and they stay asleep rather than waking the moment Mom tiptoes away.
– When massaged regularly, children suffering from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and autism experienced decreased pain, decreased anxiety, and decreased inattentiveness.
– Massage therapy can help to partially restore mobility to the elderly afflicted with Parkinson’s disease and arthritis, and can also reduce levels of anxiety, depression, and the effects of loneliness.

Reap the benefits of massage as it helps all your body’s natural systems function efficiently. Massage is effective in relieving a broad spectrum of symptoms People with a wide variety of conditions, ranging from insomnia to tendinitis to asthma to high blood pressure, receive relief from therapeutic massage. Massage can help us feel less stressed, boost our immune system and increase our mental alertness. Studies have shown massage to reduce heart rate, lower blood pressure, increase blood circulation and the flow of lymph, relax muscles, improve range of motion and increase the body’s natural painkillers.
massages1The most immediate and most noticeable response to massage is relaxation. Not only does relaxation feel wonderful but it also serves an important physiological purpose: when your body relaxes, the functions that heal and restore your body are allowed to take place. Your muscle tension releases, blood flow and hemoglobin levels increase, cellular nourishment and detoxification accelerate, lymphatic flow improves. Your stress and anxiety levels decrease, your immune system is stimulated, body awareness improves, mental alertness increases and depression diminishes. A sense of well-being emerges.

Make Massage a Habit
As with exercise, massage has the greatest benefit when you receive it regularly. The more “practice” you give your body’s systems at functioning in a stress-free and efficient manner, the more “skilled” your body becomes at functioning optimally under challenging circumstances. Whether weekly, semi-weekly, or monthly, a program of regular massage will help your body maintain its overall health.

Massage can help with:

Stress Massage is one of the best known antidotes for stress. Reducing stress gives you more energy, improves your outlook on life, and in the process reduces your likelihood of injury and illness. Massage can also relieve symptoms of conditions that are aggravated by anxiety, such as asthma or insomnia. 

Painful or Tight Muscles
Massage can relieve many types of muscle tightness, from a short-term muscle cramp to a habitually clenched jaw or tight shoulders. Some massage techniques release tension directly by stretching, kneading, and compressing your muscles. Others techniques work indirectly by affecting your nervous system to allow your muscles to relax.

Delayed Muscle soreness
After vigorous exercise, a buildup of waste products in your muscles can leave your feeling tired and sore. Massage increases circulation, which removes waste products and brings in healing nutrients.

Pain or Tingling in Arms or Legs
Muscles can become so contracted that they press on nerves to the arms, hands and legs, causing pain or tingling. If this happens, a massage to release the contracted muscles can bring relief.

Injuries
Massage can help heal injuries that develop over time, such as tendonitis, as well as ligament sprains or muscle strains caused by an accident. Massage reduces inflammation by increasing circulation to the affected area, which removes waste products and brings nutrients to injured cells. Certain massage techniques can limit scar formation in new injuries and can reduce or make more pliable the scar tissue remaining around old injuries.

Prevention of New Injuries
By relieving chronic tension, massage can help prevent injuries that might result from putting stress on unbalanced muscle groups or from favoring or forcing a painful, restricted area.

Joint Pain or Restriction
Besides releasing tight muscles that can restrict joint movement, massage works directly on your joints by improving circulation around them and stimulating the production of natural lubrication within them, relieving pain from conditions such as osteoarthritis.

Posture
As massage releases restrictions in muscles, joints, and surrounding fascia, your body is freed to return to a more natural and healthy posture. Massage can also relieve the contracted muscles and pain caused by abnormal spinal curvatures such as scoliosis.

Improve sleep
Not only can massage encourage a restful sleep—it also helps those who can’t otherwise comfortably rest.
Also, if you’re a new parent, you’ll be happy to know it can help infants sleep more, cry less and be less stressed, according to research from the University of Warwick.

Relieve headaches
Next time a headache hits, try booking a last-minute massage. Massage decreases frequency and severity of tension headaches.
Research from Granada University in Spain found that a single session of massage therapy has an immediate effect on perceived pain in patients with chronic tension headaches.

http://www.natureofmassage.com/benefits-of-massage/interesting-massage-facts/#.VZBpKBt_Okp

http://www.besthealthmag.ca/best-you/health/6-surprising-health-benefits-of-massage-therapy?slide=1#WX1G3qVLMyiPV34O.9
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First 7 important facts about YOGA

1. Improves your flexibility

83253405Improved flexibility is one of the first and most obvious benefits of yoga. During your first class, you probably won’t be able to touch your toes, never mind do a backbend. But if you stick with it, you’ll notice a gradual loosening, and eventually, seemingly impossible poses will become possible. You’ll also probably notice that aches and pains start to disappear. That’s no coincidence. Tight hips can strain the knee joint due to improper alignment of the thigh and shinbones. Tight hamstrings can lead to a flattening of the lumbar spine, which can cause back pain. And inflexibility in muscles and connective tissue, such as fascia and ligaments, can cause poor posture.

2. Builds muscle strength

Strong muscles do more than look good. They also protect us from conditions like arthritis and back pain, and help prevent falls in elderly people. And when you build strength through yoga, you balance it with flexibility. If you just went to the gym and lifted weights, you might build strength at the expense of flexibility.

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3. Perfects your posture

Your head is like a bowling ball—big, round, and heavy. When it’s balanced directly over an erect spine, it takes much less work for your neck and back muscles to support it. Move it several inches forward, however, and you start to strain those muscles. Hold up that forward-leaning bowling ball for eight or 12 hours a day and it’s no wonder you’re tired. And fatigue might not be your only problem. Poor posture can cause back, neck, and other muscle and joint problems. As you slump, your body may compensate           by flattening the normal inward curves in your neck and lower back. This can cause pain and degenerative arthritis of the spine.

4. Prevents cartilage and joint breakdown 
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Each time you practice yoga, you take your joints through their full range of motion. This can help prevent degenerative arthritis or mitigate disability by “squeezing and soaking” areas of cartilage that normally aren’t used. Joint cartilage is like a sponge;     it receives fresh nutrients only when its fluid is squeezed out and a new supply can be soaked up. Without proper sustenance, neglected areas of cartilage can eventually                                                                                            wear out, exposing the underlying bone like worn-out brake pads.

5. Protects your spine

Spinal disks—the shock absorbers between the vertebrae that can herniate and compress nerves—crave movement. That’s the only way they get their nutrients. If you’ve got a well-balanced asana practice with plenty of backbends, forward bends, and twists, you’ll help keep your disks supple.

6. Betters your bone health

It’s well documented that weight-bearing exercise strengthens bones and helps ward off osteoporosis. Many postures in yoga require that you lift your own weight. And some, like Downward- and Upward-Facing Dog, help strengthen the arm bones, which are particularly vulnerable to osteoporotic fractures. In an unpublished study conducted at California State University,   Los Angeles, yoga practice increased bone density in the vertebrae. Yoga’s ability to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol  may help keep calcium in the bones.
Seif knee anatomy01 1

7. Increases your blood flow

Yoga gets your blood flowing. More specifically, the relaxation exercises you learn in yoga can help your circulation, especially in your hands and feet. Yoga also gets more oxygen to your cells, which function better as a result. Twisting poses are thought to wring out venous blood from internal organs and allow oxygenated blood to flow in once the twist is released. Inverted poses, such as Headstand, Handstand, and Shoulderstand, encourage venous blood from the legs and pelvis to flow back to the heart, where it can be pumped to the lungs to be freshly oxygenated. This can help if you have swelling in your legs from heart or kidney problems. Yoga also boosts levels of hemoglobin and red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the tissues. And it thins the blood by making platelets less sticky and by cutting the level of clot-promoting proteins in the blood. This can lead to a decrease in heart attacks and strokes since blood clots are often the cause of these killers.