Why You Should Get Started at Yoga at Any Age (Especially in Your Forties)

When you’ve reached the midway of your life or your golden years, regular exercise promises serious benefits. However, not all workouts are for everyone.

As we age, high-impact exercises can seriously strain the joints, so it’s really important to find a type of exercise that can improve both our physical and mental health while still adjusted to have as little risk as possible.

This is where yoga comes in as the exercise that anyone can appreciate and start doing as a routine at any age, and you’ll be surprised at the following benefits that yoga has:

Strength Training
Most people don’t think of strength training when they think of yoga, but you’ll be surprised at how much time you’ll be spending doing different bodyweight exercises and holding them for extended periods.

Flexibility
Yoga has a lot of exercises that allow you to stretch your arms, legs, hips, back, and even shoulders without straining them too much. As you continue with these exercises, you’ll find that your flexibility improves each session.

Mental Health Training
The emphasis on breathing and holding poses for certain lengths of time means that yoga was originally developed to prepare for meditation. For those dealing with a significant lack of sleep, stress, anxiety, and even depression, this is good news.

Getting started in yoga doesn’t take up too much time – all you need are a few minutes in your day alone.
This means that you have a lot of control in how you can get started. You can enroll in a class, look up different poses and breathing techniques on your own time at home, or even hire a private instructor.

Yoga comes in different types with their own purposes, intensities, and pose sets, such as the following:

• Hatha – The slow pace and the general introduction to basic poses and breathing techniques make this type of yoga great for beginners who are just starting out.

• Bikram – Also for beginners, this type of yoga is both meant to improve flexibility using a predictable routine and an environment with high humidity.

• Ashtanga – For those looking for a more intense routine, Ashtanga is based in ancient yoga and uses a more difficult set of poses, each connected to a certain breathing technique.

• Iyengar – This type of yoga uses different props to help you achieve certain poses and forms more accurately, and is best for those recovering from injuries.

You’ll also find that there are different breathing techniques and sequences that you can use outside of yoga (and as a precursor to daily meditation routines), from basic breath retention, to the Conqueror breath, and even the Deer Seal.

Perhaps the best thing about yoga isn’t just that it’s a great low-impact exercise with a lot of health benefits, but that you don’t need any equipment to get started – all you need is an exercise mat and comfortable clothes that have enough room for you to stretch in.