YOGA FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE
5 Jul 2019 HYN Himalayan Yoga Academy
Abstract: Yoga For Elderly People
Life is one of the wonderful creations of nature. Life is a recycling process that does not end. It passes through different stages of the Zygote, Embryo, fetus, Infant, child, childhood, puberty, Adolescent, Youth, Adult, and finally old age. The present way of life determines how we are going to live ahead. Each phase of life is a wonderful and beautiful moment of life. We should try to make the best of each moment. We will have new experiences throughout the steps of life ahead. Imagination discovers experience and knowledge. Our ancient sacred texts like Vedas, Upanishads, Darshana, Smriti, Bhagavata Geeta, Ramayana, Ashtvavkra Gita, Mahabharata, etc. are the ideal texts for human lifestyles. Especially Yama and Niyama of yoga are the fundamental principles of life and also all the organs of Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga is very important and applied. The basic principles and practices of yoga is for all ages of people, not only the middle ages people. Until the last minutes of life, he/she is able to use yogic norms and rules, and will leave the body with a final smile. Yoga is such a science on which there is “no retire, never tired until expire”. This is general info on Yoga For Elderly People
Introduction:
Yoga is a science for all age’s people. It is not the copy and paste science, just should ask the body and perform all the means of yogic practices as need. The way of yoga is promoted and messaged wrongly to public as physical training, even as exercises being out of yogasana ethics. The wrong techniques of yoga can harm all, especially elders. This age is more critical and creates sometimes more complexities. So it very needs to message the people how the elderly people can do yoga, how and why. I express my views with the maximum information required by a senior person, not about the yoga asana, but also about all the means of yoga through daily lifestyles like how to eat, how to drink, how to work, how to sit, how to stand, how to sleep, how to wake up, how to think, how to speak, how to behave, how to love, in general how to survive.
Elderly and lifestyle:
Lifestyle consists of each and every activity in a day. Past, Present, and Future affect karma in one’s life. Our every karma is responsible for what we need to pursue the next steps of life. This is the age where one can think in order to accomplish oneself healthy, fit, and active life from all aspects of life. This is the age where one gets more time for oneself, and one’s family, for leisure, for rest, recreation, and relaxation. Now a day due to the enhancement of technology in our life, everyone has improved the quality of dependency. It makes one unhealthy, inactive, unfit, and lethargic too.
“Nityam
hitahara vuhara sevi, samikshari vyasane shvasaktah!
Data samah satyaparah, khamavanapropasevicha bhavatyarogah!!” – Charak Samhita
It means that one who takes healthy food regularly remains in the company of good people. People who rationalize the end consequences before doing any activity. One who is neither fascinated by materialistic things nor misuses them. One who gives charity maintains equilibrium in happiness and unhappiness, uses truthfulness, and possesses forgiveness qualities and who is a knower of religion, never becomes ill and always would be healthy. Yogic practice with well understanding and experience can stop the aging process of degeneration and breakdown of cells.
The measures should be applied by elderly people:
-Balance the action, rest, and relaxation
-Be free, fresh, and fame
-Keep health, happiness, and harmony
-Apply triple rules of Discipline, Determination, and Devotion
– Apply the rules of Yama and Niyama of Ashtanga Yoga
-Have adequate sleep, a proper exercise regime
-Be careful about your diet, it’s timing, quality, and quantity
-Avoid excessive exercises, unwanted travelling.
– Get medical observation in time.
-Increase social involvement, and devote to spiritual and religious merits.
-After retirement, real life begins, for pending, wishes, and desires
-Avoid depending on senses as they get aged, sluggish, and weaker
-Better to focus the need rather than desires and enjoy the most, be happy, peaceful, and satisfied
-Share and teach all the experiences and knowledge to others
– After food, two hours, no sleep, and a few minutes of walking and then should sit in Vajrasana
-Drink enough water, take fresh air and intake of protecting foods like fruits, vegetables.
– Do 15 to 20 minutes of pranayama and meditation two times a day.
Growing Age and Memory:
Elderly people usually say I forgot this and that, simply because they didn’t pay attention or concentration, did not show interest and willing to remember. There are so many ways and techniques in order to enhance memory and concentration. Main concentration techniques, light concentration, candle concentration, pen concentration, thumb concentration, flower concentration, Candle concentration, clear and fair as well as cure method. Memory involves learning, remembering, and forgetting which can be short-term, long term and photogenic.
Yoga is the best way to regulate life’s existence. Yoga is the science of freeing of mind or equilibrium in life. It harmonizes the body and promotes the capacity and efficiency of the body and mind. All traditional types of yoga is for elderly people, mostly better to use Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Mantra yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti yoga, Gyana yoga, Raja Yoga. People frequently ask the questions that what kinds of yoga do you teach or how many processes are in yoga? But I sometimes become confused in that situation. Usually, we should teach traditional Hatha Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga.
Yogic Practice for Memory and concentration
- Omkara / Pranava mantra chants
- Shambhavi Mudra,
- Khechari Mudra
- Nasigra Mudra
- Sinhasana
- Bharamari pranayama,
- Nadi shodhana Pranayama
- Trataka (Concentration Gaze)
- Sasankasana
- Sirshasana
- Eyes Exercise
- Jalaneti
Conclusion:
Yoga can be the best remedy for any illness if we practice in a regular base. Due to elderly ages, our body faces so many things and boundaries, so we should accept this. But yoga is the rule of nature as a pattern of Universal truths. If we follow this smoothly and properly, we can restore our health and age. There are so many limitations that occur with the age like joint movement, muscle pain, stiffness, loss of enduring capacity in the mental and physical body, and so on. We lose our health to make the money but then lose our money to restore our health. We forgot the present being anxious about the past and future and also missed and misused this beautiful life gifted by nature. We are living by dyeing on each moment. In fact, in “Om Mrityorma Amritagamaya”, we never die; only the body dies soul remains alive or immortal. The supreme power may lead us from mortal to immortal.
-Yogacharya Subodh Simkhada @ swamiyogsubodh@gmail.com