Free Yourself from Fear around Movement
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We think of our bones as solid structures. They hold us up! But in reality, bone tissue is some of the most dynamic in the body. It’s changing all the time. This podcast is about addressing that fear. This is your greatest enemy… not your diagnosis. Movement is ABSOLUTELY essential to maintaining your wellness. This is true for every body but especially true when your body has a diagnosis.
How Yoga Contributes to Stronger Bones
Yoga is weight bearing. It focuses a lot of attention on the core, breathing and supporting the spine. Bones are living tissues that constantly undergo a process of breakdown and rebuilding. They provide structural support, protect vital organs, and store essential minerals such as calcium and phosphorus. Bone density refers to the strength and compactness of bones, which naturally decreases with age if not properly maintained. Improves balance and coordination to prevent falls. As mentioned earlier, the key factor here is the concentration and mindfulness required for poses.
Yoga is the opposite of multi tasking! The brain will think what it’s been trained to think. In the practice, you train the brain to really sense where your body is in space and time (proprioception). It becomes habitual. You don’t have to really think about where to step on that icy step or how to catch yourself if you do trip. Your brain has been practising this during your poses.
Enhances posture and alignment – another thing you practice in poses, especially when they are executed mindfully, is how to stack the bones in the most efficient way. Take Mountain Pose. It’s not just standing around. It’s consciously sensing how the hips align over the legs and where the weight is in the feet and how the shoulders settle above the pelvis, etc. This also builds proprioception.
Strengthens muscles that support bones – skillful execution of asana means engaging muscles in specific and novel ways. Does your teacher ever say things like “wrap the muscle around the bone” or “feel the gluteus muscles contract”? These kind of cues build awareness of how to activate muscles for pure movement. It’s not just flinging dumb bells around (which is great exercise too – if done mindfully). When muscles contract, they pull on the bone tissue which stimulates growth. Paying attention as that contraction affects the bone makes it all the more powerful. The same exercise done the same way all the time loses its effectiveness over time.
Promotes flexibility without strain – fluid movement is confident movement. Yoga stretches should be kind of boring. Stretches that create strong sensation, big dramatic effect, may be over doing the work on the connective tissue. This can lead to joint instability. The key to safe yoga, especially as we age, is to discern exactly where the sweet spot is in any given movement. Goldilocks type movement. It’s just right.
Safety Guidelines for Yoga and Bone Health
Watch the video for full description of guidelines.
Best Yoga Poses for Bone Strength
Most standing poses (ie Warrior II) strengthen legs and hips. Balance poses, like Tree Pose challenge your concentration and improve proprioception. Spinal extension postures like Bridge Pose, Camel, Cobra, Locust and Bow can be helpful to strengthen spinal and hip muscles. Again, avoid clasping hands and use a strap in Bow to connect hands and feet so there’s lots of ease. Forward bending is a group of postures that is commonly in the avoid category. Caution is necessary but the functional movement is part of our lives. The main caveat is to forward fold without load on the spine. For example, cat/cow done slowly with breath is ok. Twists are safe if one maintains a vertical spine. I like standing twists where the arms move freely. Seated twists are best done with a chair in most cases.
Learn Poses to avoid in the video.
Incorporating Yoga into Daily Life is described in the video.
Movement is ESSENTIAL to living a full, strong life. Allowing the fear around your diagnosis is the fastest path to limiting your longevity. Have confidence in your natural intuition and wisdom. You are the world’s expert in your body. Build a kind, attentive relationship with your body’s sensations. This is the best path forward.
Yoga is safe but you need to broaden your practice to include using props, moving more mindfully and rooting out any outdated expectations of your poses.
Try this complete yoga practice to get you started.