Yoga for Healthy Aging: Our Philosophy and Our Tools

by Nina

Philosopher in Meditation by Rembrandt

I always tell everyone, including Brad, that my husband is my worst employee. I mean, how long has it been since Brad has even written a single post for this blog? I don’t even want to know. But the reason I don’t just fire Brad—besides the fact that writing for our blog isn’t really a job and no one gets paid for their work anyway—is that when he does write a post, it is always really outstanding.

I’m bringing this up today because I just went and reread Brad’s very first post for the blog Full Disclosure because I’ve been thinking about how to express our basic intentions for teaching yoga for healthy aging. Just last week, Baxter and I discussed what we meant by “yoga for healthy aging”, and we agreed that “yoga for healthy aging” was both a set of yogic tools and a basic attitude or philosophy. You know, we said, that thing Brad wrote about the first week of our blog about acceptance and active engagement. 

And lo and behold! When I went back to see what he wrote, I found he expressed our basic philosophy so well, there was no reason even to rewrite it in any way.

So as a scientist who studies the biology of aging and the many diseases that are associated with aging, I have come to my own personal conclusions on the importance of practicing a mind/body discipline like yoga. And as I approach my 59th birthday, the immediate realities of physical and mental loss become more apparent. And I am not one of those people who think I can avoid this. I do believe, however, that we have the capacity to regain some of theses age-related losses, and if not, at least slow down their progression. Regaining or maintaining a higher level of balance, physical dexterity, and cognitive function and resolution is therefore something that is attainable and has the capacity to make huge impacts on the quality of our lives. The aging component that works against all this and drives these declines, however, is scientifically and mechanistically poorly understood. This is what makes my scientific life and work so interesting. But as far as I can tell, the basic processes underlying human aging are largely inescapable, at least as we currently understand them. That doesn’t mean we can’t intervene or we have to give up, nor that some of the losses we associate with aging can’t be mitigated. We probably need to practice both acceptance and active engagement as we confront our own aging—part of the underlying philosophy of yoga that I am still struggling with. In any case, it can’t hurt to strive to feel better and think more clearly. There are few things that I would consider more important.

At the time, I felt what Brad had said was very important, so I went ahead and expanded on the yoga philosophy he alluded to in his phrase “part of the underlying philosophy of yoga.” In my post Acceptance, Active Engagement, and the Bhagavad Gita, I explained that the main message of the Bhagavad Gita—one of the most important of the yoga scriptures—was about the benefits of acceptance along with the need for action. This is what is meant by when Krishna tells Arjuna to work “not for a reward” or, as in another translation, without being “attached to the fruits of your actions.”

Set thy heart upon thy work, but never on its reward.

Work not for a reward; but never cease to do thy work.

Do thy work in the peace of Yoga and, free from selfish desires, be not moved in success or failure.

Yoga is evenness of mind—a peace that is ever the same. — trans. by Juan Mascaro

Krishna explains to Arjuna that work is a necessary part of human existence, so the only way to attain equanimity is to do your work without any thoughts of results, remaining open to success or failure. And that this approach—this letting of all results, whether good or bad, and focusing on the action alone—is the essence of yoga. 

But how does this yogic attitude relate to healthy aging? Although we recommend that you practice yoga regularly with the goal of attaining a longer health span and maintaining your independence (see What is Healthy Aging, Anyway?, Yoga for Healthy Aging is Not Science Fiction, and A Declaration of Independence), we also believe it is important to keep in mind results are never guaranteed. As Brad said, the basic processes underlying human aging are largely inescapable, at least as we currently understand them. So we feel that at the same time that you work toward staying healthy by using the tools in your yoga toolbox you should try to let go of all thoughts of success or failure and simply focus on your practice. Then no matter what happens, you’ll be prepared to handle it. (See Acceptance, Active Engagement, and the Bhagavad Gita for background information about the Bhagavad Gita and its basic message.)

In my post Opening Your Yoga Toolbox I provided an overview of the basic tools in our yoga toolbox, saying we had divided them into three groups.

1. Physical health tools for body and brain
2. Stress management tools
3. Equanimity tools

All of these tools—including asana, pranayama, meditation, and yoga philosophy—are exactly what you will use to do to do your daily work, which is your yoga practice. And this set of yogic tools plus a basic attitude of acceptance combined with active engagement is what yoga for healthy aging is all about.

In this wisdom, a man goes beyond what is well done and what is not well done.

Go thou therefore to wisdom:

Yoga is wisdom in work. —trans. by Juan Mascaro

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Opening Your Yoga Toolbox

by Nina

by Van Gogh

Did you know you have a your own personal box of yoga tools in your yoga room, your yoga corner, or that empty strip between the TV and the couch? And that when you’re experiencing some physical or emotional difficulty, or if you just want to work on your overall wellbeing, you can open up that toolbox, select a few tools and get to work?

Yes, it’s kind of like Christmas, so let’s open up the box and see what’s inside! Ooh, it’s very well organized. We’ve got three basic types of tools:

1. Physical health tools for body and brain
2. Stress management tools
3. Equanimity tools

Yes, your toolbox is very full! And before we can talk about how to use all those tools—we’ll be getting to that in future posts—it’s good idea to learn a little more about each of them. So let’s take a closer look….

Physical Health Tools

Although people tend to think of yoga poses as “just stretching,” the full asana practice is much more comprehensive. Weight-bearing poses strengthen muscles and bones, including those in upper and lower body, keeping us fit and helping to prevent osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Balancing poses and flow yoga train us to be steady and agile on our feet, preventing falls and allowing us to move through the world with ease and self-confidence. Inverted poses lower blood pressure and improve circulation, benefitting physical as well as brain health. The stretching poses are invaluable as well, because being able to bend and reach and twist are essential for staying active and independent.

Since our toolbox is very organized, we’re going to divide the physical health tools into five categories:

Strength Poses and Practices. Maintaining muscle strength helps combat sarcopenia and maintains joint health. Maintaining bone strength helps combat osteopenia and osteoporosis. In general, maintaining strength allows you to be physically active and independent.  Classic examples include Warrior 2 and Downward-Facing Dog poses.

Flexibility Poses and Practices. Maintaining flexibility of both muscles and fascia preserves range of motion in the joints, fostering joint health and improving arthritis symptoms, and allows you to participate in a wide range of physical activities. Classic examples include Reclined Leg Stretch pose and Cow-Face pose.

Balance Poses and Practices. Maintaining the ability to balance is crucial for preventing falls, and enabling you to be physically active and independent. Classic examples include all wide-legged standing poses as well as balancing poses like Tree pose and Half Moon pose.

Agility Poses and Practices. Maintaining agility increases your reaction time in the real world, preventing injuries and allowing you to keep up with a wide range of physical activities. Classic examples include moving in and out of poses with your breath, as well as linked sequences of poses.

Circulation Poses and Practices. Improving circulation returns venous and lymphatic fluids to the heart, lowering blood pressure and improving heart health. Classic examples include inversions, such as Legs Up the Wall pose, and moving in and out of poses with the breath.

Baxter will be writing about these five different categories in the weeks to come so you can learn more about the essential poses in each category and how you can use them.

Stress Management Tools

Reducing stress can help prevent major age-related diseases, including heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. It helps prevent depression, anxiety, insomnia, obesity and digestive problems. Stress reduction also bolsters your immune system and reduces inflammation, which help promote overall health. Yoga’s stress management tools all provide you, in different ways, with the ability to switch your nervous system from Stress response (Fight or Flight mode) to Relaxation mode (Rest and Digest mode), thereby reducing your overall stress levels and allowing you to experience the benefits of conscious relaxation. In this category, we have six basic tools:

Meditation. This practice triggers the relaxation response through your focus on an object of meditation. Options include both seated and reclined meditation, with a mental focus of the breath or other physical sensations, mantra or sound, and visual imagery.

Breath Practices. These practices trigger the relaxation response either through providing a mental focus, or by slowing the breath or extending the exhalation. Breath practices can be performed either seated or reclined.

Restorative Yoga. These poses provide deep physical relaxation by supporting and relaxing your body, and can trigger the relaxation response if you practice them with a mental focus. Classic examples are Reclined Cobbler’s pose and Supported Child’s pose.

Supported Inversions. These poses use gravity to trigger the relaxation response through the mechanisms that control your blood pressure. Classic examples are Legs Up the Wall pose and Supported Bridge pose.

Savasana. This pose, in both plain and supported forms, provides deep physical relaxation for your body and can trigger the relaxation response if you practice it with a mental focus.

Guided Relaxation. Allows you to achieve both physical relaxation and reduce stress levels by guiding you through a deep physical relaxation experiencing and providing mental imagery that harnesses you to the present. 

Equanimity Tools

Physical poses and stress management practices help us to remain grounded, staving off anxiety and depression. And the wisdom of yoga teaches us to cultivate equanimity in the face of life’s challenges. Contentment—and even happiness—naturally arises when we make peace with what we cannot control and appreciate what we already have. 

Poses for Emotional Wellbeing. Yoga poses can affect the emotional body as profoundly as the physical body, and you can use them to move toward balance. Classic examples are backbends and moving with the breath for depression, active poses and forward bends for anxiety, inverted poses for general feelings of stress.

Breath Practices. These practices can be used to calm you or energize you, bringing you back into balance. They also provide a mental focus that you can use to quiet your mind. 

Meditation. Besides quieting your mind, these practices allow you to study your mind and slowly gain more control over it.

Mindfulness Practices. These practices harness you to the present moment, allowing you to let go of regrets about the past and worries about the future. Classic examples are using the asana practice as a moving meditation.

Yoga Philosophy. Studying yoga philosophy provides an alternative way of thinking about your life, allowing you to aim for equanimity rather constantly striving for “success.” Classic examples are The Bhagavad Gita and The Yoga Sutras. 

by Van Gogh

Want to Hammer a Nail?

Well, that covers the basics! And if you want to, you can put your toolbox away now for another time. But in my mind as I’ve been writing this, I have the image of showing a small child a box of household tools and explaining the name and purpose of each one. He or she would hardly be satisfied if you didn’t let them try at least hammering one nail! So if you’d like to try out one of these tools, well, just go ahead and do one pose or practice that we listed and observe what it’s doing for you.

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