How to Supplement with Creatine? By Veeraj Vic Goyaram

How to Supplement with Creatine?

Researched and composed by Veeraj V Goyaram

There appears to be some confusion about how to supplement with Creatine. Some protocols recommend a loading phase followed by a maintenance phase while others question the necessity of a loading phase. The aim of this article is to shed light on this topic. Please keep in mind that in this article we are referring to Creatine Monohydrate and not novel forms of Creatine and Creatine formulations. Future articles will deal with these topics in greater detail. 

Therefore, the present article will address  the following: 

a) the aim of creatine supplementation 

b) an evaluation of the traditional loading-maintenance phase 

c) an evaluation of the low dose-no loading protocol 

d) an evaluation of whether you need to cycle Creatine supplementation

Creatine supplementation & muscle creatine levels

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When taking a supplement it is very important to understand the reason why you are taking it and what it does in the body. Creatine supplementation serves to increase the concentration of Creatine in muscle. Keep in mind that muscle already contains Creatine in the form of Phosphocreatine, the latter serving as a means to quickly replenish ATP (energy). This quick source of energy helps to fuel the production of muscle force during repeated, short bouts of powerful muscle activity as in a bodybuilding workout. As the aim of Creatine supplementation is to increase the muscular Creatine concentration, the best supplementation strategy is the one which increases muscle Creatine level most effectively. 

The amount by which supplementation will increase your muscle Creatine level depends on how much Creatine is already present before supplementation. If you have low muscle Creatine levels, resulting from low intakes (e.g if you are vegan or consume little meat or fish) then you can expect a massive increase in Creatine levels with supplementation, usually between 20 to 40%. Conversely, if your stores are already high then the magnitude of the increase in Creatine levels will be about 10-20% (1). This increase is important because "the effect you feel" on Creatine supplementation is largely related to how much your muscle Creatine has increased by. 

Protocol A: The Loading-Maintenance Protocol
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the typical Creatine supplementation protocol that most of you are familiar with. It consists of a loading phase of 0.3 g CM/kg/d split into 4 daily intakes of 5 g each, followed by a maintenance phase of 0.03 g CM/kg/d for the duration of the supplementation period.

Using the above formula, a 100kg man would need the following:

Loading: 0.3g x 100kg = 30g/ day. Divided into 4 intakes of 7.5g each

Maintenance: 0.03g x 100kg = 3g/ day.

The pros and cons of the Loading-Maintenance protocol

Loading seems to be a useful strategy because of the rapid rise in muscle Creatine levels that it brings about. This rapid rise means that the performance benefits of Creatine are felt rather quickly, according to research done on athletes by leading Creatine researcher Dr. Paul Greenhaff (2).  One downside of this protocol is that it can prove quite costly, especially if you are investing in a high quality Creatine product, which you should. A loading phase can set you back by 100-150g in just 5 days. I speak for the poor man always. A loading phase means that you will need to make trips to the kitchen to mix and drink your Creatine several times a day, an inconvenience perhaps if you work. Ingesting large amounts of Creatine during the loading phase may give you gastrointestinal distress especially if the Creatine hasn't well dissolved. 

The good news is that additional research has shown that the loading protocol may be shortened to only 2–3 days, especially if you are taking Creatine along with protein and/or carbohydrate.  As a side note, ingesting Creatine with protein and/or carbohydrate may improve the absorption of Creatine (3). A future article will deal with the effect of co-ingesting other nutrients on Creatine absorption.

 The loading phase provides the most rapid benefits

Protocol B: The "No Loading" Protocol
-----------------------------------------------------------
A nice alternative to the loading-maintenance protocol is to start by taking 3g per day for 28 days, with no loading phase (4). Research has shown that this method can increase muscle Creatine levels as effectively as the loading-maintenance protocol. The only downside is that this method results in a rather slower increase in muscle Creatine level compared to the loading-maintenance protocol. It may take longer for any performance benefits to be seen. But that depends on the person as I have puts lots of people on a "no load" protocol who reported rapid performance improvements. You may wish to do some trial and error yourself. Personally, I respond much better to the traditional loading-maintenance protocol. 

Do you need to cycle Creatine?
----------------------------------------------
Cycling of Creatine supplementation has been recommended because apparently the ability of the body to manufacture its own Creatine drops when you supplement with Creatine (5). Although this is possible, the levels of Creatine in muscle returns to starting (baseline) levels when you stop supplementing. It does not decrease below baseline levels. I don't believe that cycling Creatine has any benefit besides to your pocket because Creatine isn't cheap. Taking Creatine on a continuous basis may confer health benefits. 

Dissolving your Creatine

Using warm water can help dissolve Creatine. 

Micronized creatine dissolves better too.

Practical applications:
----------------------------------

• The loading-maintenance protocol works well and I would recommend it if you want results fast and money isn't a problem.

• The "no-loading" protocol works as well although you may wait a bit longer to see the results. But it is a good protocol. 

• There is no need to cycle off Creatine. Cycle off only when your pocket does not allow. 

• Make sure you dissolve your Creatine in water before drinking it. Do not throw the Creatine in your protein shake because it won't dissolve well. Protein and carbs help absorb the Creatine better. 

References
-------------------

1. Kreider RB. Creatine in Sports. In: Antonio J, Kalman D, Stout J, et al, editor. Essentials of Sport Nutrition & Supplements. Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ; 2007.

2. Greenhaff PL. Muscle creatine loading in humans: Procedures and functional and metabolic effects. 6th International Conference on Guanidino Compounds in Biology and Medicine Cincinnati, OH. 2001.

3. Steenge GR, Simpson EJ, Greenhaff PL. Protein- and carbohydrate-induced augmentation of whole body creatine retention in humans. J Appl Physiol. 2000;89:1165–71.

4. Hultman E, Soderlund K, Timmons JA, Cederblad G, Greenhaff PL. Muscle creatine loading in men. J Appl Physiol. 1996;81:232–237

5. Williams MH, Kreider RB, Branch JD 1999 Creatine: The Power Supplement. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishers 

More articles on Creatine on Bodybuilding Mauritius
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Creatine Stability: Fact or Fiction?
Creatine: does it matter when you take it?
Couma Creatine travail dans nou lecorps (Article in Kreol language)

I learned a lot of interesting facts about Creatine at this conference last december

 in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK. Having studied Creatine since 1997, that visit was an icing 

on the cake. I also presented my research there on muscle glucose transporters there. 

_____________________________________________________________________________

©,2013, Veeraj Goyaram, Bodybuilding Mauritius. Any reprinting in any type of media is prohibited.

Disclaimer: The Content on this site is intended to be used for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended to be and should not be interpreted as medical advice or a diagnosis of any health or fitness problem, condition or disease; or a recommendation for a specific test, doctor, care provider, procedure, treatment plan, product, or course of action. BODYBUILDING MAURITIUS is not a medical or healthcare provider and your use of this site does not create a doctor / patient relationship. We disclaim all responsibility for the professional qualifications and licensing of, and services provided by, any physician or other health providers posting on or otherwise referred to on this Site and/or any Third Party Site. Never disregard the medical advice of your physician or health professional, or delay in seeking such advice, because of something you read on this Site. We offer this Site AS IS and without any warranties.  Correspondence: vicgoyaram@gmail.com

________________________________________________________________________________

Read More

Starting a Meditation Practice

by Timothy

Berries by Melina Meza

In my last blog post (Is Meditation an Essential Part of Practicing Yoga?), I wrote about why meditation may be the most powerful tool in the yoga toolbox for improving health and well-being. Yet meditation is not part of most yoga classes, which tend to focus almost exclusively on asana. Indeed, many yoga practitioners who have become interested in meditation have looked to Buddhism or elsewhere to learn how to meditate because they weren’t finding it in the yoga world.

But, as I mentioned previously, meditation was traditionally an integral part of yoga practice, and within the yoga tradition there are dozens of different techniques. Contrary to popular belief, in yogic meditation you are usually not trying to make your mind empty, but instead the process begins by learning how to concentrate your focus. To facilitate this, it helps to focus your attention on one thing, perhaps a word or phrase (a mantra), an object like a candle or a picture of a teacher or deity, or simply on your breath itself. With sustained attention, you may slip into a meditative state.

So, strictly speaking, we do not sit down to meditate, but rather we sit to foster the state that may lead to meditation. Since the mind tends to wander—even among experienced meditators—there may not be much (or even any) actual meditation in any particular session of sitting. Still, this movement towards meditation all by itself brings physiological and health benefits. And, of course, with sustained practice, more and more actual meditation can happen. At first, it may just be for a moment now and again, and that’s just fine.

The first question then is how do you sit? Despite the pictures you’re likely to see of people meditating, you do not need to sit cross-legged on the floor, though if you can that may be one of the best ways. Kneeling in Virasana (Hero pose), perhaps with a block under your sitting bones, is an excellent alternative. What’s important is that you maintain your normal spinal curves, particularly the inward curve of your lower back (the lumbar curve). This is difficult for most people to do if they try to sit cross-legged on the floor, which is why one or more cushions should be placed under the sitting bones, allowing the healthy forward tipping of the pelvis that facilitates maintaining an easy lumbar curve. When you’ve got the height right, your thighs will angle down slightly toward the floor. If you've propped yourself up high to do this, you may need to put additional support underneath your thighs to remain comfortable. Getting all of this right is an art, and if you’re not sure how to proceed I suggest you seek the help of an experienced yoga teacher.

For many people, it will be much easier and much more effective to sit in a chair for meditation. You’re only going to be able to concentrate and/or meditate if you can remain in a comfortable upright position, and if you’re not comfortable sitting on the floor, it’s best to try a chair. For those sitting in a chair, I recommend scooting to the front of the seat, because if you sit back, most chairs encourage a flattening or rounding of the lumbar spine. If your feet don’t reach the ground comfortably, place blocks, thick books, or folded blankets under them. If your legs, like mine, are long, you may need to place a folded blanket on the chair to raise the seat. But no matter the position you choose, if possible, your head should be directly over your shoulders and pelvis. If you get it right, there should be very little work required to stay upright.

Although it may not be ideal, for those who can't sit comfortably, it is possible to meditate lying down. Some people in the yoga world would take exception to this, but I have found it to be useful in the yoga therapy work I do. One of the principles of teaching yoga is that we try to meet students where there are, and this is where some people are: they cannot sit comfortably. Yes, there is a greater tendency to get sleepy or zone out while supine, but we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

The simple yet powerful practice I often suggest for beginners (and experienced students as well) is a meditation technique known as So Ham (sometimes written So Hum because that’s how it's pronounced). Settle into a seated position that balances ease and an upright spine, and notice the flow of air in your nostrils. Begin to focus on the sound of your breath. The ancient yogis felt they could hear in the inhalation the sound “Soooooooooh” and in the exhalation “hummmmmmmmm.” They didn't make the sound so much as they tuned into the sound that the breath naturally makes, believing it to be a mantra that’s built in. In Sanskrit so ham means “I am that,” which to the yogis signaled their connection to the greater whole. Try to stay focused on that sound, noticing your breath but not trying to control it. If you discover your attention has wavered, simply observe that without judgment, and gently bring your focus back to So Ham.

I'd recommend trying to stay for 3-5 minutes initially, working up gradually to 20 minutes or longer daily. As with all yoga practices, a little bit every day will bring greater benefits than longer sessions done intermittently.

Subscribe to Yoga for Healthy Aging by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook ° Join this site with Google Friend Connect

Read More

Friday Q&A: Creaky Knees

Q: I just started working with a student who has a lot of issues with her knees, and also has a total hip replacement. Whenever she flexes her knees even the smallest amount while weight bearing they make this loud creaking noise. What is the cause of this and how should I work with her from a yoga standpoint?

A: The sound that joints make when they move can often be scary. When do we need to be concerned about these sounds? Whether or not we should ignore them is the crux of this question and our medium of exploration is asana.

It would seem that if you asked this question to a physician or other health practitioners, you would probably get an answer that sounded like this (now remember I now have my physical therapist’s hat on). Often sounds in knees are called crepitus. Crepitus may show up suddenly with no associated pain and it may be persistent every time the motion is performed. These joint noises are considered “benign” because there is no associated pain. Some theories of what causes these sounds (and the medical term is cavitation) are that when the knee joint moves there are changes in joint pressure in the synovial fluid. The changes in joint pressure cause tiny bubbles of gas to form slowly in joints. When these gas bubbles burst quickly, they make a popping sound similar to when you pop bubble wrap. The myth that states that these joint sounds will lead to arthritis is not medically proven.

Okay, so now let’s explore the sounds a bit more. Remember, the ends of the bones in the knees are covered with cartilage. This cartilage protects the joints as we bend and straighten them. If this cartilage becomes worn or frayed, the normal and smooth sensation that accompanies knee motions can become rough, leading to catches or popping sensations. If the cartilage becomes severely damaged, severe painful catches and swelling can occur.

Another cause of joint noise is the snapping of tendons or scar tissue as they are stretched slightly as they go over a prominence around the knee joint and then snap back into place making that popping sound. Again, medical opinion is that there is no harm with this knee popping as long as it isn’t causing pain, and it will not put you at risk or make you more prone to injury.

Finally, sounds in the knee may be due to small fragments of cartilage or other tissue that move freely around the joint, and these small bodies can cause complaints of popping and catching although they are most often associated with pain with movement or loss of movement due to catching.

But now let’s address this teacher’s question. She states that the student “has a lot of issues with her knees, and also has a total hip replacement.” Well, “a lot of issues with her knees” is pretty vague, but after a hip replacement it is probably that this student’s mobility has been limited for quite some time. When hips are in pain, it significantly changes how we walk and stand. Our physical abilities decline and we become much more sedentary. So we have the surgery to fix the main limiting problem but our body has to learn how to move again without the fear of causing the pain that we had for such a long time prior to surgery.

I would recommend that you first look at your student in Tadasana (Mountain pose) to get an idea how she distributes her weight on her feet and her knees and whether her kneecaps (patellas) are facing in the same directions. Looking for asymmetries in her knees and feet will help you learn what might need to be addressed in her asana practice. I also would watch her walk, and see how she moves in space and how easy and smooth her walking is. I would also assess her balance.

Of course, knowing her hip limitations and restrictions is paramount before she begins an asana practice, and if she herself doesn’t know, she may have to either give you permission to call her surgeon. or you can ask her to call herself (but be specific in the questions she has to ask).  As to her particular practice limitations, I might start her practice in a chair first so she can learn how to move her body with support. By having her practice in a chair, you can figure out if moving her knees in sitting has the same effect on the knee noise as loading her knees (standing in weight-bearing positions). Next, have her progress to standing poses but only with small, partial knee bending not full bending, seeing if there is a point that no noise occurs in the movements. She can work this way until she is ready to move onto the full poses.

—Shari

Read More

You must not seek, you must search...

A Bee by Melina Meza

"You must not seek, you must search. You must not see, you must look at. You must not hear, you must listen to. You must not touch, you must palpate. You must not smell, you must sniff." —B.K.S. Iyengar from Sparks of Divinity

Read More

Balancing Your Emotions with Your Breath

by Nina

Close-Up of the Falls by Melina Meza

As I wrote in Your Breath: The Key to Your Nervous System, while you cannot tell your nervous system directly to slow your heart beat, digest your food more quickly or to start relaxing right this minute, you can control your breath. And because your heart rate tends to speed up on your inhalation and your heart rate tends to slow on your exhalation, this enables you to consciously access your nervous system. By intentionally taking in more air (either by speeding up your breath or by lengthening your inhalation) you can stimulate your nervous system. And by taking in less air (by slowing your breath or lengthening your exhalation), you can calm yourself down.

Last week, I wrote about emotional counter-poses that you can use to balance your emotions. You can use various yogic breath practices in the same way. You can use breath practices when nothing serious is wrong but you’re just feeling slightly hyper (see anxiety or stress) or slightly down (see clinical depression). And you can also use them as a supplement to other treatments if you are suffering from anxiety, agitated depression, clinical depression or chronic stress.

(Note that yogic breath practices have evolved over thousands of years as yogis experimented on themselves and passed on discoveries their students. And while some schools of yoga teach yogic breath practices (pranayama) to beginners, the type of yoga that I’m trained in, Iyengar style, considers breath practices to be so powerful that pranayama is introduced very gradually. So if you start experimenting with breath practices to balance your emotional condition, do take it easy.)

Anxiety and agitated depression. Because anxiety and agitated depression—which is anxiety based—are so often related to an overactive sympathetic nervous system, for these two conditions it’s best to focus on your exhalation. You can simply work on exhaling completely or lengthen your exhalation a beat or two (by pausing after your exhalation is complete). Or, you can try a more formal practice that focuses on lengthening the exhalation, such as Viloma with interrupted exhalation, where you actually pause twice during your exhalation and once at the end. This is the practice that Iyengar himself recommends in Light on Life in his “Asanas for Emotional Stability” practice.

If manipulating your exhalation causes you to feel any agitation whatsoever, stop the practice. In addition, practices that lengthen your inhalation or even that bring your awareness to the inhalation (which can cause you to unintentionally lengthen or deepen your inhalation) may aggravate your condition, so you may want to avoid them.

If you’ve noticed that you are a chest breather—a type of breathing that seems to be associated with anxiety—and it doesn’t make you feel more anxious to work with your inhalation as well as your exhalation, you could practice abdominal breathing. In abdominal breathing, you focus on slowly inhaling into and exhaling from your belly rather than your chest, as you intentionally keep your abdominal area relaxed. You could lie on your back, and place a block or other light weight, such as a 1 pound bag of rice, on your belly to bring awareness to your abdomen, and keep your abdomen relaxed as you slowly inhale and exhale. Or, if lying on your back makes you anxious, you could lie in Crocodile pose (on your belly with your arms out to the sides, elbows bent, and forehead resting on stacked hands) so you can feel your abdomen moving toward and away from the floor as you slowly inhale and exhale.

You can also use any of these techniques if you're just feeling mildly hyper and want to calm down.

Clinical depression. For clinical depression, which tends to make people feel heavy and lifeless, focusing on your inhalation or breathing more quickly can stimulate your nervous system and bring you out of your lethargy. This is one reason why an active vinyasa practice, such as the Ashtanga series or Sun Salutations, can be helpful to those with clinical depression because when you move with your breath, you tend to breathe more quickly and take in more oxygen. So for you, it may be helpful to focus on your inhalation. You can simply work with inhaling more completely or lengthen your inhalation by holding it for a beat or two. Or, you can try a more formal practice that focuses on lengthening the inhalation, such as Viloma with interrupted inhalation, where you actually pause twice during your inhalation and once after. In Yoga As Medicine, Timothy McCall recommends Ujjayi breathing, which tends to lengthen both the inhalation and exhalation, as well as the version of Viloma with interrupted inhalation

Some people who are depressed tend to have a slumped posture, with a collapsed chest, so focusing on opening your chest and inhaling into that area can be beneficial. In Yoga As Medicine, Timothy quotes Patricia Walden, who herself has suffered from clinical depression, saying:

“When you start focusing on your breath, and taking the breath into your chest and breathing deeply, you begin to feel the presence of your breath. What comes with that is a feeling of life returning, a feeling of warm that percolates throughout your chest at the beginning, but then throughout your entire body.”

You can also use any of these techniques if you're just feeling mildly depressed or blue.

Because stress is often a trigger for clinical depression, it’s possible that working with your exhalation as described for anxiety rather than your inhalation, could be helpful for you. So don’t hesitate to give it a try if you feel so inclined. As I said in my post Anxiety, Yoga and the Front Body, when it comes to emotional balance, anything that makes you feel better is working.

Stress. Because chronic stress is the result of an overactive sympathetic nervous system, it makes sense to focus on pacifying your nervous system by working with your exhalation as I described for anxiety. However, from my observations of people doing pranayama, some people find any kind of pranayama relaxing (I, myself, do not, by the way). If you do find all breath work relaxing, go ahead and do whichever breath practice quiets your mind and relaxes you. Simply slowing your breath in general, with long, slow inhalations as well as exhalations, could be helpful in reducing stress. Practices where you speed up your breath will no doubt stimulate your nervous system. So if you are doing an active vinyasa practice to burn off your excess energy, end your yoga practice with a calming breath practice or an emotional counter-pose (see Balancing Your Emotional Body With Counter-Poses) that triggers the relaxation response.


Subscribe to YOGA FOR HEALTHY AGING by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook 

Read More

Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Yoga

by Baxter

As I am preparing for my upcoming web talks on Yoga for Healthy Digestion for YogaU Online scheduled for July 23rd and 25th, I am rediscovering a lot about  both our digestive health and illness. Of particular interest is a very common gastro-intestinal (GI) condition called Irritable Bowel Syndrome, sometimes abbreviated IBS. The last time statistics were taken for this condition in the US, it was estimated that 15.3 million people suffered with IBS. It accounted for three million doctors office visits in 2004, 212,000 hospitalizations the same year, and 5.9 million prescriptions. Before we look at yoga’s potential impact on IBS, let’s take a look at how IBS shows up and what we know about its causes. According to the Mayo Clinic website:

“Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder that affects your large intestine (colon). Irritable bowel syndrome commonly causes cramping, abdominal pain, bloating gas, diarrhea and constipation. Despite these uncomfortable signs and symptoms, IBS doesn't cause permanent damage to your colon.” 

For most students and patients of mine with IBS, it is a chronic condition that they have had since childhood or teenage years that fluctuates from day to day, week to week or month to month. I want to bring special attention that last comment in the quote: IBS does not cause permanent damage to your colon. This in contrast to the less common but more serious GI conditions like Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases that do damage the gut and can have life-threatening consequences. Maybe because IBS does not have such serious consequences, some health care professionals may minimize the impact of IBS. But those who suffer from it know it can be a source of daily discomfort and challenge.

Another aside: since the recent recognition of Celiac disease, gluten allergy and sensitivity and the ability to test for them, many patients previously with an IBS diagnosis have been found to actually be gluten allergic, or have Celiac Disease. This has resulted in a huge improvement in symptoms for these folks as they eliminate gluten-containing foods from their diets. So, if you have been told you have IBS and have not been tested for gluten, do so soon. Also, know that there are newer and more sensitive tests for Gluten allergy, and to learn more, listen to this KPFA broadcast from last week. The discussion is on Lyme disease, but gluten allergy/Celiac testing is also addressed at the start of the program from minute 8 through 22.

It is unclear what the cause of IBS is, but it may have something to do with the smooth muscle lining of the gut walls that helps to move digesting food downstream. In some people the wave of contractions may be too fast or too slow.  It may also be that the neurotransmitter serotonin may play a role in IBS, as a lot of it is found in the gut. The balance of gut bacteria may also be off in IBS. Triggers for IBS are varied and variable from person to person, and include gas or pressure on your intestines, or certain foods, medications or emotions. Hormone fluctuations, especially female ones (IBS is more common in women than men) and stress are also common triggers. The risk factors for IBS include age of onset before 35, being a woman, and having a first degree relative with IBS.

The yoga approach to IBS is similar to some of the posts where we have discussed healthy digestion and eating (see Healthy Eating and Your Digestive System, Meditation and Healthy Eating, and other posts under the label "healthy eating". 

• If you think you may have food triggers, the increased awareness of your body and its reactions to foods you eat that develops with regular yoga practice can help you identify and eliminate your personal food triggers.
• In my practice, I noticed that flares of symptoms are very often related to increased periods of stress in my students’ lives. The effective stress reducing benefits of yoga, either via a well balanced yoga asana practice, or a more focused restorative practice, yoga nidra or simple mindful meditation practices could all help bring your gut into better balance and reduce your symptoms. (See The Relaxation Response and Yoga.)
• For a sluggish gut, with bloating and constipation, try Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclined Cobbler’s pose or Queen’s pose), and for an overactive gut with cramping and tendency for diarrhea, try Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall pose). 
• If you have not taken the “tour of your GI tract” we posted a while back, you could use it as a guided meditation while setting yourself up in a supported Savasana (see the Audio Tracks tab at the top of the page to find this audio track). 

And if you want to learn more about Yoga for Healthy Digestion, look for the free interview coming up in the next week or so on YogaU Online, and my more detailed two-night lecture on July 23 and 25th, 8:30-9:30 EST (see here).

Read More

Coming to Yoga Later in Life: A Personal Story

by Andy

Beach Road Adventure by Melina Meza

In 2006, life handed me a double whammy. I was diagnosed with both emphysema and Crohn’s disease. I had probably been living with these two conditions for years, but because I had grieved so long and hard after the loss of my husband to cancer in 1998, I had not paid attention to the slow but relentless worsening of my symptoms.

Also that year, two different friends told me, during two separate lunch conversations, “You need yoga!” Me? Yoga? I hadn’t even gone for a walk in nearly eight years. But the universe works in mysterious ways, and as luck would have it, in late 2007, I moved into a condominium that had a fitness center, Anytime Fitness, next door to my building. My 61-year-old body joined the gym, and I began working with a trainer twice a week. Over about six weeks, I was able to gradually increase my hold time in a forearm plank from five seconds to 20 seconds. (This was no picnic, believe me. After 20 seconds, I was completely out of breath and had to rest.)

Soon after I started strength training, Anytime Fitness started offering yoga classes. It was as though the advice of my friends had dropped from heaven into my lap! From the moment I found the mat, I felt like a duck in water. What amazed me was that the negative stories I had been telling myself about my physical abilities seemed irrelevant when it came to yoga. I’ve never been particularly athletic; I’ve never been good at sports. Back then, I spent most of my day at my desk or in meetings, and in the evening, I turned into a couch potato. But yoga changed all that.

The teacher, a gifted young yogi named Maren Marks, had the patience of a saint and the instincts of a master teacher. I studied with her for almost three years, even when I was taking classes from other teachers. On the mat, the optimist in me overcame the inner critic. I still don’t fully know why, but here is what I believe. Even though Hatha yoga is an embodied practice, it is facilitated by the breath and mind in concert. I had happened on an open-hearted discipline that required me to pay attention to my breathing, and that attention turned out to be critical to living well with emphysema. At the same time, yoga was teaching me to fully focus my mind on the activity at hand—I had no choice if I didn’t want to topple over!—and that helped me emerge from a seven-year funk following the death of my husband.

As I just suggested, when I started yoga in early 2008, I could not balance on one foot, so classic poses like Vrkasana (Tree Pose) and Warrior III were unavailable to me, and even front-facing, two-legged poses like Warrior I and crescent lunge—a high lunge with arms overhead or in namaste—had me swaying from side to side while my toes kept grasping for the mat. Adding a twist to a crescent lunge was unthinkable for me.

In every class I took, I immediately fell out of every balance pose I tried. And me with significant osteoporosis! So, one of the first things I learned as an older student was that I had to take care of myself, and that meant increasing my body awareness. After years of self-avoidance, I finally found a reason to reconnect with my body—to get to know it in age, and to use that knowledge to help keep me safe and confident. If I have learned anything at all from starting yoga at an older age, it is that.

Just as I learned that I could improve from five to 20 seconds in forearm plank, I began to realize that yoga was something I could get better at through practice. This was a profound realization for me, and offered a deep motivation to stay with my practice, to be persistent and patient, and to let greater comfort and proficiency come naturally over time. I discovered that in yoga, it always does. Over time, not only can you literally see and feel the positive changes in your body, you also find yourself feeling better in general—enjoying enhanced well-being. 

What I learned in class offered the healthy foundation I needed, but my deepest learning came in private, at home, where I could practice at my own pace. I was always years older than the next oldest person in my classes, and with my breathing and balance issues, I was often not able to keep up with my teacher. But she made me feel so welcome and supported that I didn’t care. I simply thought, “Oh, goodie! Here’s something I can practice at home.” For me, that was a completely new approach to learning. Truly, yoga had allowed me to let go of my ego (my younger self?) in order to open myself to deeper self-knowledge.

If you come to yoga in your 50s, 60s, or 70s, you’ll carry the richness of your life history with you to the mat. There, to my surprise, I learned that my history didn’t limit me at all, nor did my age, nor did my myriad diseases and conditions. But to keep myself safe as an older beginner, I did need to pay closer attention to the postural alignment of my body and the rhythms of my breath, both in movement and stillness, than my younger, softer-boned classmates.

If you are teaching older beginners, know that as we age, our body’s balance systems don’t work quite as well, and people new to yoga need help to safely reclaim those skills. For example, I have learned that for older beginners, one-legged Utkatasana (Chair pose) is an easier one-footed balance than Vrkasana (Tree pose). Know that your older students will have more complicated and diverse physical histories than your younger ones—as we age, our bodies become more unique and less like each other’s. But know, too, that older students are wise and have learned to make thoughtful decisions about themselves. Practice sensitive watchfulness and offer individual guidance, but respect the fact that older students know their bodies better than you.

It’s now been six years since I found yoga, and guess what? I can now enjoy Vrkasana any darn time I please! And Warrior III! And for dessert, I think I’ll have a crescent lunge with a gentle twist. Yoga is for all of us. May your yoga experiences be as fulfilling and sustaining as mine, no matter your age when you start.

Andrea (Andy) Gilats, Ph.D., R.Y.T., is an educator, writer, and certified yoga instructor. She specializes in working with people seeking a body-sensitive, age-appropriate approach to practice. She calls her approach Third Age Yoga  (www.thirdageyoga.net) as a welcome mat to all of us in the Third Age, a sustained era of life beyond midlife but before true old age, in which active engagement and personal fulfillment take center stage. As a writer, Andy has published a variety of articles on wellness and positive aging, and she is the author of Life Slices, a lushly illustrated card deck that invites us to contemplate eight timeless life themes and 52 pathways toward creating a life of purpose and meaning.

Read More