Baby Boomers: Yoga Today Helps Keep the Stress Away

Monday, July 27 2009

July 28, 2009

Yoga, in a way, was part of the whole hippie/Zen/tune-out vibe ... inner peace and such.

It is still that, but more and more people, especially aging Baby Boomers, are finding it a necessary staple of their exercise regimen.

In just a couple of years, according to statistics, the number of Baby Boomer-aged adults participating in yoga classes increased by three million.

Attend a yoga class and you'll find that it's not exclusively populated by younger women. Older women – and many older men – are also attending yoga classes.

Real men do yoga.

According to the National Institutes of Health, yoga:

*   Improves mood and sense of well-being
*   Counteracts stress
*   Reduces heart rate and blood pressure
*   Increases lung capacity
*   Improves muscle relaxation and body composition
*   Helps with conditions such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia
*   Improves overall physical fitness, strength, and flexibility
*   Positively affect levels of certain brain or blood chemicals

A website – Yoga for Baby Boomers – devotes its content to the practice of yoga for what it calls "the young at heart."

The site is the work of Susan Winter Ward, yoga instructor, author/creator of the video series of yoga exercise videos that target Baby Boomers, as well as seniors and beginners of all ages.

"We Boomers are not passive about health," said Ward. "We're proactive and creative."

She believes that by making yoga part of a daily routine, participants can become fit and maintain a relaxed attitude "so you can enjoy every minute to the fullest."

One good source of information for me in this regard is my daughter, Elizabeth.

She is a doctor of physical therapy at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut and is certified as a yoga instructor as well, so she knows first-hand the benefits of physical health and yoga.

To her, yoga is "a mind/body-type practice."

For the body it can strengthen muscle and improve flexibility and balance; for the mind it can relieve stress. For aging Baby Boomers those are important elements for maintaining a level of healthiness and putting off a variety of some age-related ailments like heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

"Yoga can strengthen people in ways that cardio can't," said Elizabeth.

She said beginners should concentrate on low and slow – low impact and slow movement – because there are many types of yoga and a variety of classes for enthusiasts.

About the Author

Paul Briand spent 33 years in newspaper journalism. Based in New Hampshire, he now writes about issues of interest to Baby Boomers.

Read more of Paul Briand's work for AccessRx.com here.
Read even more of Paul Briand’s published articles here.