3 essential ways sen iors and their caregivers can benefit from yoga and meditation
By Harry Cline
The late motivational speaker Zig Ziglar used to refer to something called the “billion-dollar body.” He meant that we don’t treat our physical selves with the same care we’d put into a million-dollar racehorse, or even a five-dollar cat. To be sure, we sometimes don’t take care of ourselves, and that can affect us as we age. We normally don’t exercise enough and eat foods that are bad for us. We tend to forget about our bodies and the damage we can do.
However, it is never too late to slowly reconnect with their bodies through mindfulness and relaxation and gentle movement. And the best way to do that is with yoga and meditation.
Benefits of Yoga and Meditation
Combined, yoga and meditation help with aches and pains, improves digestion, brings oxygen to the body’s tissues, increases mental clarity and focus, improves sleep, and much more. Even some of the easiest yoga poses bring some benefits to the body. But what’s special about meditation, according to Kristen Crane writing at Huffington Post, is that it can help form new neural networks that can reduce stress, increase happiness, slow aging, and, especially important for seniors and their caregivers, encourage a healthy lifestyle.
Specifically, though, yoga and meditation can reconnect seniors, as well as recovering addicts, to their “billion-dollar bodies” in three ways.
Body Movement
Our bodies can become stiffer and harder to move as we age. While vigorous exercise might be best for younger people, for some senior citizens, it’s best to start moving the body slowly to loosen that stiffness, and yoga is a great way to do that. Yoga helps redevelop balance, strengthen bones, and protect your joints. The stretching does wonders for working out the kinks in your muscles, plus it makes you flexible for keeping up with your grandchildren -- or great-grandchildren. For those in recovery, it does the same things, but it also gets you reconnected with your body. It gets positive energy flowing through every muscle and bone while at the same time grounds you in the moment and helps you focus.
Positive Attitude
Having a positive attitude can help anybody get through each day, and it’s especially important for senior citizens who, even at their advanced age, still face stressful situations involving health, finances, and more. Meditation can help seniors and their caregivers develop and keep a positive attitude by forming those neural pathways that basically, according to Jessica Stillman at Inc.com, rewire the mind and get it to function better. It can also help seniors feel more in control of their lives.
Overall Health
Taken together, yoga and meditation go beyond mindfulness and reconnection with the body. They also contribute a great deal to improving your overall health. They lower your blood pressure, improve your heart rate, assist with digestion, help you lose weight, and can also help manage type 2 diabetes. Plus, the costs are minimal: just some comfortable clothes and, if you’re taking a class, a mat. In addition, there is plenty of material online, including videos, that can help you get started.
For recovering addicts, using meditation and yoga has one extra benefit: improving your relationship with yourself. When you work to reconnect with your “billion-dollar body” and improve your mind at the same time, you are heading toward a spiritual and physical balance that you might have lacked for a long time. Rediscovering that relationship is something to carry along with you on your personal road to recovery.
With body movement, positive thinking, and their effects on overall health, it’s clear that yoga and meditation are extremely beneficial for senior citizens and recovering addicts by getting them reconnected with their bodies, and with themselves.
Author
Harry Cline is creator of NewCaregiver.org and author of the upcoming book, The A-Z Home Care Handbook: Health Management How-Tos for Senior Caregivers. As a retired nursing home administrator, father of three, and caregiver to his ninety-year-old uncle, Harry knows how challenging and rewarding caregiving can be. He also understands that caregiving is often overwhelming for those just starting out. He created his website and is writing his new book to offer new caregivers everywhere help and support.
The late motivational speaker Zig Ziglar used to refer to something called the “billion-dollar body.” He meant that we don’t treat our physical selves with the same care we’d put into a million-dollar racehorse, or even a five-dollar cat. To be sure, we sometimes don’t take care of ourselves, and that can affect us as we age. We normally don’t exercise enough and eat foods that are bad for us. We tend to forget about our bodies and the damage we can do.
However, it is never too late to slowly reconnect with their bodies through mindfulness and relaxation and gentle movement. And the best way to do that is with yoga and meditation.
Benefits of Yoga and Meditation
Combined, yoga and meditation help with aches and pains, improves digestion, brings oxygen to the body’s tissues, increases mental clarity and focus, improves sleep, and much more. Even some of the easiest yoga poses bring some benefits to the body. But what’s special about meditation, according to Kristen Crane writing at Huffington Post, is that it can help form new neural networks that can reduce stress, increase happiness, slow aging, and, especially important for seniors and their caregivers, encourage a healthy lifestyle.
Specifically, though, yoga and meditation can reconnect seniors, as well as recovering addicts, to their “billion-dollar bodies” in three ways.
Body Movement
Our bodies can become stiffer and harder to move as we age. While vigorous exercise might be best for younger people, for some senior citizens, it’s best to start moving the body slowly to loosen that stiffness, and yoga is a great way to do that. Yoga helps redevelop balance, strengthen bones, and protect your joints. The stretching does wonders for working out the kinks in your muscles, plus it makes you flexible for keeping up with your grandchildren -- or great-grandchildren. For those in recovery, it does the same things, but it also gets you reconnected with your body. It gets positive energy flowing through every muscle and bone while at the same time grounds you in the moment and helps you focus.
Positive Attitude
Having a positive attitude can help anybody get through each day, and it’s especially important for senior citizens who, even at their advanced age, still face stressful situations involving health, finances, and more. Meditation can help seniors and their caregivers develop and keep a positive attitude by forming those neural pathways that basically, according to Jessica Stillman at Inc.com, rewire the mind and get it to function better. It can also help seniors feel more in control of their lives.
Overall Health
Taken together, yoga and meditation go beyond mindfulness and reconnection with the body. They also contribute a great deal to improving your overall health. They lower your blood pressure, improve your heart rate, assist with digestion, help you lose weight, and can also help manage type 2 diabetes. Plus, the costs are minimal: just some comfortable clothes and, if you’re taking a class, a mat. In addition, there is plenty of material online, including videos, that can help you get started.
For recovering addicts, using meditation and yoga has one extra benefit: improving your relationship with yourself. When you work to reconnect with your “billion-dollar body” and improve your mind at the same time, you are heading toward a spiritual and physical balance that you might have lacked for a long time. Rediscovering that relationship is something to carry along with you on your personal road to recovery.
With body movement, positive thinking, and their effects on overall health, it’s clear that yoga and meditation are extremely beneficial for senior citizens and recovering addicts by getting them reconnected with their bodies, and with themselves.
Author
Harry Cline is creator of NewCaregiver.org and author of the upcoming book, The A-Z Home Care Handbook: Health Management How-Tos for Senior Caregivers. As a retired nursing home administrator, father of three, and caregiver to his ninety-year-old uncle, Harry knows how challenging and rewarding caregiving can be. He also understands that caregiving is often overwhelming for those just starting out. He created his website and is writing his new book to offer new caregivers everywhere help and support.
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