No matter what, we are all going to age. Its how we age both mentally and physically that will affect our quality of life.

According to yoga philosophy it is the flexibility of the spine that determines the age. You only have to look at yoga gurus both past and present, to see that a regular yoga practice has a huge effect on the ageing process.

The body is supple and mobile and the brain remains active, well into old age. Many yoga teachers look more youthful than their birth age and remain “young at heart living active lives well into there 90s.

The current trend for a quick fix under the surgeons scalpel is just that “a quick fix” to make one look youthful on the outside whilst the rest of the body is degenerating in the usual way.

Yoga and a yogic lifestyle allows the body to slow down the ageing process.

How?

Stress is a major factor in Ageing. By learning to use your breath (pranayama) to help control stressful situations, you are able to breathe more deeply and remain calm.

BKS Iyengar puts this beautifully:-

“Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured”

A yoga practice is about finding a different way to deal with stress through Postures (Asana), breathing techniques (pranayama), relaxation and meditation.

A good diet will often follow a regular yoga routine. Once a student develops more control through the yoga practice healthier choices seem to come naturally.

Yoga can be taken up at any age, and takes many forms.

Even after many years of a sedentary lifestyle you can begin and enjoy yoga.

The deep breathing ( pranayama) fills every cell in the body with fresh oxygenated blood. Inversions where the head is lower than the heart has a relaxing effect on the heart and lungs, again bringing fresh blood to the upper body, and massaging the thyroid and parathyroid glands, soothing the nervous system.

Twists and forward bends are very detoxifying for the body.

Internal organs such as the liver, spleen and pancreas are toned and massaged. A sluggish digestive system (constipation) will hang onto waste matter. Many yoga poses encourage elimination therefore freeing up the bowel and keeping it healthy and free from disease.

The skin and the eyes look more radiant, the body moves more freely, the mind, is active, but not on alert, all this without stepping inside a doctors practice.

By Cherie Lathey

International yoga teacher.       Tel:07939589083

www.yogamama.co.uk www.yogamamalondon.blogspot.com

So. Anyway. I’m doing some yoga. My friend is teaching the class. She and I met when our first born son’s were at nursery and we’ve been friends ever since. We set up a flower business year’s ago although I don’t really remember actually selling anything. We certainly didn’t make any money. We used to go to the Covent Garden Flower Market at 5am in the morning with my daughter – who was almost newborn and wander around in a daze drinking tea and being amazed at all the life and colour and vibrancy you could find at that ungodly hour of the morning.

Because I then moved to Aberdeen (not by myself you understand – with my husband and two children) we’ve both subsequently retrained and she is now a fully fledged, ridiculously strong, bendy, yoga teacher. She goes on retreats and has been to Goa several times and has clearly managed to learn a new language – all those “chakras” and “ashtangas” and “vinyasas” she’s throwing into the conversation left right and centre. I have no idea what she is talking about.

I went with a friend yesterday morning to her new class and took my daughter too (I managed to persuade her to get out of bed before midday whoohoo!!). She is now nearly 14 and has never done yoga before. Unfortunately I can’t seem to upload the pictures I took which is a shame because she was like a baby giraffe during most of the poses – legs far too long and unstable and nowhere near the ground.

Here is my friend doing one of the poses properly:-

I was attempting to do something similar (only it didn’t look anything like the above) and what a strange moment it was to look through my legs at my now fully grown daughter behind me.

It was like my birthing moment all over again, only much scarier because she’s now taller than me with bigger boobs and lovely though it was to have a fleeting moment of being in huge pain nearly 14 years ago, I thanked whoever there was to thank that I wasn’t a female giraffe who would have had to give birth to something that size and start doing yoga immediately.

We all enjoyed the class hugely. Even my daughter enjoyed it – especially the bit at the end when we were given blankets and could just relax for 5 minutes. Lovely.