health

by Nina Rose Light by Melina Meza When I was going through perimenopause, the worst symptom I had was fatigue attacks. Although fatigue or exhaustion is a classic symptom of perimenopause, I'm pretty sure I made up the term "fatigue attack" because I needed a special term for how it felt to me. I'm a pretty energetic person who gets a lot of things done in a given day, and my yoga practice during that time was quite athletic. But during that period, once in a while, I'd suddenly feel so drained of all energy that all I wanted to do was collapse into a puddle on the floor. There was something essentially different about these hormonally based episodes of fatigue than normal tiredness, and I remembered that same feeling of utter exhaustion from my pregnancies (although those were combined with nausea). So I knew it wasn't something I could fight with energizing poses, such as backbends or sun salutations. Fortunately, I got some guidance from two different senio...

by Baxter View From Above by Melina Meza I love it when capitalist magazines find something good to say about yoga, even if it is how it is making someone lots of money. But in this case,  Forbes  says yoga might save the US trillions of dollars in lost productivity for our economy. How so, you ask? Why, for a start, by reducing the dropout rate from high schools in this country, rates that shockingly range from 30% in most places to over 50% in our urban �war zones.� (I call them war zones because of the continual violent backdrop that these children are subjected to day in and day out; where just walking to and from school, let alone being in school, is a constant cause for anxiety and worry about getting hurt or killed.) What was a delight to see is one of the featured yoga experts quoted frequently in the article, BK Bose, in whose Niroga Institute in Berkeley, CA, I have had the great pleasure of teaching for the past several years. Bose, who started his career...

by Shari Mushroom in Winter by Melina Meza Nina and I were talking a while back and we realized that we hadn't yet written any posts on menopause. Well, considering that this physiological episode is a major event in every woman's life, we thought it was about time to take this on, and decided that I should start the ball rolling so to speak. Although each woman�s experience of menopause is very personal and individual, there are certain similarities that we all experience, including the end of the ability to give birth! Now this is not to imply that all woman make the decision to become pregnant and raise a child, but the physiological ability to become pregnant is age-related. To begin our exploration of menopause, I read the book Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause. A Guide to Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Health at Midlife and Beyond by Suza Francina. This book was published in 2003 but the information it contains is still pertinent. It provides good background informatio...

by Nina When I first starting taking yoga, I was confused about why my teachers were always rushing put to a folded blanket under my head when I was lying on my back. Something about the position of my head when I was lying on the floor was driving them crazy, but what was it? And why was it such a problem? Later I learned that they were adding this support because, when my head was flat on the floor, due to tightness in my shoulders, my neck was arching up and back and my chin was tipping away from my chest. Putting the folded blanket under my head allowed me lie with my chin pointing toward my chest like this: This was considered to be the proper--and healthy�position for the head in supine poses. So I went along with it. But secretly I continued to wonder why. In case you have already noticed, I'm like that�always wanting to know the whys as well as the hows, always wanting to dig a bit deeper. Which is probably why I ended up as a yoga blogger, but I digress. Anyway, it was onl...

by Nina I found this nice little illustration of baroreceptors that I'm excited to share with you. Okay, I admit it, I'm a little obsessed with baroreceptors. But that's because ever since I found out how our baroreceptors help regulate our blood pressure and I understood how we can use this aspect of our anatomy to switch our nervous systems from fight or flight to relaxation mode, I've not only included supported inverted poses in my practice on a regular basis but I've been on a mission to spread the word. Using supported inverted poses for stress management is one of easiest ways�at least for me�to calm yourself down because all you have to do is set yourself in the pose and stay there for a while. The shape of the pose itself causes the baroreceptors to work their magic. As I wrote in my post Just in Time for the Holidays: Inverted Poses , the reason that inverted poses trigger the relaxation response is due to the pressure sensors called baroreceptors that are...

by Baxter A July 18th New York Times blog post entitled Alternatives for Back Pain Relief surprised me when it proclaimed that a modern and widely used treatment method for low back pain is no longer considered effective, especially for chronic or long-standing low back pain. That treatment is the use of injections into the areas of pain. The injections usually contain the inflammation-decreasing drug cortisone, but can also have ingredients like morphine, ibuprofen and vitamin B12 in the mix. Over the years I have had many patients come to me with low back pain, and from their reports, the effectiveness of the injections never seemed particularly strong. For some patients with new acute low back pain, who experienced more serious signs and symptoms, like radiating pain to the leg or actual weakness, the injections more often seemed to provide some temporary pain relief. However, several new studies have revealed that, when looking back at those patients treated with injections, the i...

by Nina Wet Handle Bars by Melina Meza �A comprehensive review published in May in The Clinical Journal of Pain finds that there is �strong evidence for short-term effectiveness� of yoga against back pain, although whether the benefits last beyond a year is less certain.� � Gretchen Reynolds, NY Times Sunday Magazine In this Sunday�s New York Times Magazine, there was a short article called � Spinal Trap ,� about alternatives for treating back pain. The subtitle was �How do you solve back pain? Don�t ask your doctor.� We�ve already heard from Baxter on this topic, when he confessed that he had little to offer his patients when he himself was a family doctor (see For the Young and Old: Back Care ). And you�ll be hearing from him soo n about the comprehensive review mentioned in the quote above. For now, I�d just like to rant a bit about the second half of the sentence: �strong evidence for short-term effectiveness� of yoga against back pain, although whether the benefits last beyond...

Hip Joint from Behind Q: I am a relatively new yoga instructor that teaches Gentle Hatha to (mostly) seniors.  Recently, a gentleman came in with bilat hip replacements from 10 and 12 years previous. He rides his bike and is in pretty good shape for a gent in his 60's. His hips were replaced by a posterior approach. How cautious do I need to be with this man? Do we modify mostly in the early days after the operation? Of course, I've modified the asanas to his ability and told him to not push it to the extreme. So is it fresh post op that we worry mostly about or for decades following? Thanks! A: This is a great question and I am glad you asked it. In most cases, the hip replacement should outlast an individual�s lifespan. The literature states that total hip replacements typically last from 15-to-20 years after the initial surgery, but in some instances they can last over 30 years. But this is neither a guarantee nor assurance, for the simple reason that life is unpredictable....

by Nina A Rainbow at the Dam by Melina Meza "Dementia Rate Is Found to Drop Sharply, as Forecast� Now that�s the kind of headline I like to see! Yes, an article in the New York Times this week Dementia Rate Is Found to Drop Sharply, as Forecast announced the results of two different studies that showed that the incidence of dementia�in one case in England and Wales and in the other case in Denmark�was declining. And the reasons for this are very exciting to us here at Yoga for Healthy Aging. �Yet experts on aging said the studies also confirmed something they had suspected but had had difficulty proving: that dementia rates would fall and mental acuity improve as the population grew healthier and better educated. The incidence of dementia is lower among those better educated, as well as among those who control their blood pressure and cholesterol, possibly because some dementia is caused by ministrokes and other vascular damage. So as populations controlled cardiovascular risk fac...

by Ram   Locked Door by Melina Meza What is the connection between Hinduism and yoga? And hatha yoga in particular? And Iyengar yoga in particular? This was the question put forth by one of our blog readers and Nina aptly provided a reasonable perspective in her post Friday Q&A: Modern Yoga and Hinduism . But Nina also asked me to provide additional information to satisfy a broader audience. This reader�s question and Nina�s suggestion that I add my two cents to this topic is akin to opening the Pandora�s box of Hindu philosophy. Nevertheless, to have a better understanding of these concepts, it would help for all of us to be firmly established in our �higher Self��a place of higher awareness. It is from this pedestal of higher awareness that consciousness expands, illusion of this physical body and materialism disappears and we realize our true nature. So here I go in simple terms. 1. Who or what is a Hindu? The exact definition of this term has eluded many a scholar. The word...

by Baxter Fresh Bread and Fresh Butter made and photographed by Rosie Gibson It is always a bit bittersweet for me come mid-July when I return from my annual yoga retreat at the Feathered Pipe Ranch  in Helena, Montana. It is a magical place for my students, and me, and most of our every-day needs are met by the staff at the Ranch, freeing us up to dive deep into the yoga and community.  At this year�s retreat, I focused on many of the concepts we talk about here at Yoga For Healthy Aging, including therapeutic sessions on topics ranging from arthritis to digestion. One of the lovely things about going on these sorts of retreats is that all of your meals are prepared for you, and all you have to do is show up for meal times. The Ranch is no different, and they pride themselves of the variety of healthy, mostly organic foods that they prepare for us each year, from Indian to Thai to Mexican, to the �Toledo Lunch� (a throwback to my childhood favorite, grilled cheese sandwiches...

by Nina Just a quick post today to let you know that Timothy McCall has updated his list of medical conditions that are benefited by yoga (as demonstrated by scientific studies). There are 75 conditions! 1.    Alcoholism and Other Drug Abuse 2.    Anxiety 3.    Asthma 4.    Atrial Fibrillation 5.    Attention Deficit/HyperactivityDisorder (ADD/ADHD) 6.    Autism 7.    Back Pain 8.    Balance Problems 9.    Breast Cancer 10.    Cancer (General) 11.    Carpal Tunnel Syndrome 12.    Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 13.    Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) e.g. Emphysema 14.    Congestive Heart Failure 15.    Depression 16.    Diabetes 17.    Drug Withdrawal 18.    Eating Disorders 19.    Epilepsy 20. ...