Anti-Aging Benefits of Yoga
It’s no secret—especially here—that dedication to yoga leads to mental and physical health. Beauty on the inside leads to beauty on the outside, and not just during your 20s.
“My students call yoga a natural face-list,” says Larry Paye, PhD, a yoga director at Loyola Marymount University. “It cleanses, relaxes, and restores.”
Why Yoga Makes You Younger
Although exercise in general promotes good health, over-exercise is a prime cause of debilitated skeletal structures later in life. Because yoga is gentle yet appropriately strenuous, it promotes strength in addition to flexibility, balance, and perhaps most importantly improved circulation—at any age. Blood circulation tightens muscles and tissues, thereby reducing the slackness of skin.
People Who’ve Reaped the Benefits
Many are catching on to these anti-aging benefits of yoga, especially with the recent spotlight shed on former model and actress and currently 92-year old Tao Porchon-Lynch, who’s taught yoga for over 40 years across the globe. Doctors told her that her total hip replacement at age 84 would rob her of most of her previous flexibility.
“I’m very stubborn about it,” she confesses with a mischievous smile. “When people say it can’t be done, I have to do it.” See one of several videos of her on YouTube from a few years back.
Yoga is not the only manifestation of her unquenchable thirst for life. “I love to waltz. I love to jitter-bug. I like to do samba. . . . All the crazy ones.”
Berlin’s Swami Yogananda is another testament to yoga’s anti-aging benefits. At 100 years old, Yogananda wears no glasses or contact lenses, is missing no teeth, and has been practicing Sukshma Vyayam since 1948.
Reap the Benefits Now
We can only hope to live so long with such fine spirit and health, but yoga sure can’t hurt our chances, right? Even sequences as simple as sun or moon salutations paired with appropriate breathing techniques will tilt the odds in your favor. Do them at least three times a week if not every day.
Add variety to the basic sun salutation by incorporating some of the following poses for the best anti-aging benefits, as advised by Prevention Magazine:
- Warrior II
- Warrior II and Side Angle
- Tree
- Sphinx
- Child’s Pose
- Seated Twist
- Inverted L or Shoulderstand
- Savasana
Author Bio: Alexis Bonari is currently a resident blogger at Go college, where recently she’s been researching College Grants and blogging about new scholarships. In her spare time, she enjoys creative writing and hogging her boyfriend’s PlayStation 3.
