Stengthen Your Feet for Better Balance

For improving balance, it’s important to practice a wide variety of balance practices and this sequence offers you three different movements focusing on your feet. The good news is that it’s never too late to improve your sense of balance. Balancing practices are also beneficial to your posture and coordination and that helps to avoid injury.

The key to lasting success is to find ways of integrating these practices into your daily routine, so you could try brushing your teeth whilst lifting all of your toes off the floor or training yourself to balance on one leg with your eyes half-closed (with something to hold on to nearby). They’re are simple to do and could make a big difference.

Before you start make sure that you have a clear space with no tripping hazards. If you are really struggling with your balance and experience regular dizziness you should consider talking to your doctor.

Knee Replacements and Yoga

Many people choose to practice yoga after knee replacement surgery. Exercise caution and restraint when practicing yoga after a knee replacement. Make sure your doctor gives your approval before incorporating yoga practice into your recovery process, and wait to begin a new practice until your knee has sufficiently healed from the initial surgery. If you go to a formal yoga studio or class, tell your teacher about your surgery to ensure she suggests modifications and poses that will not re-injure your knee. Be careful when transitioning from pose to pose. You may feel comfortable and secure in a pose, but then lose your balance when moving into a new pose. Have several available balance props, such as a chair or wall, within your reach at all times during your practice. Avoid pivoting poses and asanas that require holding deep knee bends for long periods of time.

The exercise every over-60 should be doing

If you are from New Zealand or have spent any time there you may be familiar with Maori poi dance. Kate Riegle van West, a PhD student from the USA, has been studying international poi and its cognitive effects on the over 60s at the University of Auckland.

Kate explained that her background in circus and dance had included using poi in performances, over time she began to notice that using poi always left her feeling good. Her curiosity was sparked – what was it about poi that created positive feelings?

To find out Kate decided to pack her bags and head off to New Zealand where poi is widely used, today her study has become a world’s first to systematically evaluate the potential health benefits of poi for older adults.

Tell us, what exactly do you mean by poi?

“Poi is a weight on the end of a cord which you spin in circular patterns around your body. It is generally a form of dance and play. There are two distinct poi styles: Maori poi and International poi.”

Why do you think poi will have an effect on ageing?

“Our ageing population is set to increase by 2.5 times by 2050. This is a reversal of the demographics in 1950 and a phenomenon which will not be reversed in the foreseeable future. I believe poi has the potential to improve physical and cognitive functions in older adults.”

“I would love to see poi in hospitals, retirement villages and nursing homes worldwide. Anyone can practice poi, from able bodied to those in wheelchairs. This research shows that poi maybe a promising tool for maintaining or improving quality of life in old age and will hopefully pave the way for future research.”

The randomised study tested 79 older adults age 60 and over, practicing poi twice a week over a one-month period. At the end of the month, participants were reassessed for balance, grip strength, memory and attention – everyone had made improvements, everyone reported better coordination and said they enjoyed the challenge of learning a new skill.

As Kate explains, “this research shows that poi may be a promising tool for maintaining or improving quality of life in old age, and will hopefully pave the way for future research on poi and health.”

What’s Your Flexibility Score?

There are many ways in which we can begin to notice our mobility and flexibility changing in everyday life. You may be able to bike or run on a treadmill but how about bending forward to tie your shoe laces or reach a pair of glasses lying under the bed or table?

The term flexibility refers to the ability of your soft tissue (your muscles) to stretch. Mobility, on the other hand, refers to the many elements that contribute to movement with full range of motion. Therefore, exercises or movements that stretch muscles increasing flexibility and improving range of movement are particularly important for quality of life. Strength, flexibility and balance are the key elements to prioritise when considering which sort of exercise you will choose.

The Sit-Rise Test (SRT), a deceptively simple measure of flexibility and strength, is widely used in the medical community to test the whole body and to predict future health.

Let’s do the Sit-Rise Test: sit down on the floor, no pillows or cushions. Now stand up, notice how you got up – if you simply stood up without losing balance and without using any limbs for support, give yourself a score of 5 points. If you had to use a hand or a knee to get up, take off one point. Both hands and both knees: subtract two points.

It’s maybe that bad knees and stiff joints affect your ability to do this – good news, this test can also be applied to sit and rise from a chair. From a seated position, arms crossed in front of the body, feet flat on the floor, how many times can you rise and sit in 30 seconds? (The average results for men and women are at the bottom of the page).

Try it a couple of times, what’s your score?

Got a low score? Sitting down on the floor and getting back up again, sitting and rising from a chair – do it 5 to 10 times a day that becomes a workout, you’re improving your fitness. This is where Chair Yoga comes in because it’s the best way to start to improve joint and muscle flexibility, a wide variety of movements for the whole body. Applied yoga exercises have also been shown to increase spinal mobility and flexibility of the hamstrings regardless of age.

An improved SRT score could reflect an individual’s capacity to successfully perform a wide range of activities, moreover a high SRT score indicates a reduced risk of falls going forward.

Take on a 30-day challenge of improving your SRT score by practising every day.

Recovering from illness?  ‘Yoga in Bed’ to help you get moving again.

Many people believe that anyone recovering from a illness or injury should not exercise, rather wait until your energy returns. But years of teaching yoga has taught me that the smallest movements can be the most powerful for the body, helping to trigger the process of healing well. The really challenging part for most people after a period of illness is getting started, finding the motivation and maintaining it. Sometimes we get into such a slump that even the thought of making positive changes seems too much – you are not alone, we can all feel like this at times. Just remember that with some small steps, baby ones in fact, you can get started. Here’s a baby-step, wriggle your fingers and toes for a few minutes everyday. It may not sound like much but there are literally millions of nerve endings in your hands and feet, this will strengthen the mental pathways in the brain.

MAKE A PLAN:

1. When you are ready to consider some sort of exercise the best place to start is having a talk with your doctor. Depending on your illness there maybe specific things to work on or avoid. Know the effects of your medications, for instance are you more likely to become dehydrated?
2. Make a safe plan with your doctor’s help. If you make a couple of goals, write then down – you’ll be more likely to achieve them.
3. Prepare mentally by visualising yourself doing some sort of physical activity that you used to do for a few minutes every day, recreate the sensations of walking the dog or going for a swim for example. Research shows that the daily practice of imagery has a significant effect on recovery times and improve muscle mass – http://www.stack.com/a/imaginary-exercise-study

Starting with a slow low-impact activity like yoga is ideal. ‘Yoga in Bed’ is practiced from reclining,  think of it as your time to look after yourself healing and renewing. In this practice coordination of breath and movement will stimulate the body’s circulation, metabolism and elimination processes, use of the breath causes the nervous system to trigger relaxation, releasing muscle tension. Remember to pay attention to any sort of pain – it is the body’s signal that you’ve gone too far.

Rest and recovery are as important to reintroducing exercise as the physical activity itself, whether you choose to do the first 5 minutes of the yoga practice or the whole thing – giving yourself a period of relaxation afterwards it’s very important, it’s when your body starts to renew and rebuild in response to the exercise. Regular practice, be it short or long, will help to build energy and the enthusiasm to do more.

Control Your Blood Pressure Naturally – New Research.

Health surprises can arrive in many different ways. For the 30 percent of Australians that have high blood pressure it was hearing that new guidelines around which levels of blood pressure constituted a health risk suddenly meant that they were now considered having stage 1 hypertension.

Blood pressure that’s high over a long time is one of the main risk factors for heart disease and the chances of having persistently high blood pressure increase with age. The good news is that the new recommendations emphasise lifestyle changes and not medication – such as diet, stress management and exercise. Chair yoga targets two out of three of these objectives – physical activity and stress management. Over time the practice allows us to become fitter and calmer, not just in class but in everyday life as well.

There’s another method that is drug-free and easy to do, a number of my senior yoga students have tried this with great results – squeezing a stress ball for 2 minutes, 4 times in a row (with a 2-minute rest in-between each squeeze) 3 times a week. Several studies show that an average of 16 per cent drop in blood pressure can be achieved with this method, the practice is thought to strengthen and widen the arteries.

The main thing to keep in mind when doing hand grip exercises is not to use your full strength as this could raise your blood pressure, go for a low to moderate resistance. Aim to use about 30 per cent of your full strength, a good way to gauge this is to grip your stress ball as hard as you can briefly and then reduce your grip to about one third intensity.

With patience and a little bit of time each day it is possible to control blood pressure naturally and set yourself up to live a longer healthier life.

5 Yoga moves for happy feet

Did you know that one-quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet? 26 bones, 120 muscles, 33 joints – so complicated, so much potential for something to become painful. The reason age plays a role in potential problems with the feet is that as we age our feet actually widen and flatten, along with ankle joints becoming stiffer and less flexible.

For general care of your feet, here are five yoga practices for daily practice to help loosen these joints and alleviate general stiffness, they are anti-rheumatic as well. Try to include these movements in your morning routine – you could even do them before you get out of bed.

If your feet are stiff and they don’t ‘co-operate’ right away it may take about six weeks for the many muscles and joints to loosen so please don’t give up.

Start by either taking one leg or both legs out in front of you, if there is any cramp during these movements stop the practice:

1. Toe bending – keeping the ankles steady, place your heel on the ground, press out through your heel drawing the toes back towards you. Keeping the foot upright, inhale, squeeze all the toes together, exhale – press them down towards the floor. Inhale – toes back, exhale toes forward. Repeat 5 times on each foot.
2. Open the toes – draw the toes back towards you, press out through your heel, now spread the toes out as much as you can. Relax the toes for a couple of breaths, spread the toes out. Repeat 3 times on each foot.
3. Toe flexibility –  draw the toes back towards you, press out through the heel. See if you can push the four toes away and draw the big toe back towards you. Hold for one exhalation and one inhalation. Now reverse it, push the big toe away and draw the four toes back towards you, again hold for one in breath and one out breath. Repeat on the other foot. Note: Many people find this movement tricky at first but it will get easier with practice.
4. Ankle rotations – separate the feet. Moving slowing and mindfully, rotate the right foot at the ankle 10 times in a clockwise direction, 10 times anti-clockwise. Try to synchronise the circular movements with your breath. Aim for a full range of stretch and movement. Repeat on the left ankle.
5. Foot massage –  I like to start every Chair Yoga class using spiky rubber balls under the feet for an easy massage. Roll these balls around under the soles of your feet, the design helps to promote blood flow and stimulates the fascia. The fascia is a dense fibrous tissue that is tightly packed on the soles of your feet, it is defined scientifically as a bio-mechanical signalling system for balance.

Boost Your Immunity

Seasonal changes bring challenges to the immune system, the thought of winter ailments often sees us reaching for an extra dose of vitamin C. If you’re living in a place that becomes cold and dark in the winter months you might like to add a few simple yoga practices to your daily routine to boost immunity.

The immune system is made up of many components including the tonsils, thymus gland, digestive tract, lymphatic and circulatory systems. Each of these systems plays an important role in helping your body to fight off invaders like bacteria and viruses. The immune system changes with age, it becomes slower to respond so if you’re thinking that ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ read on:

1. Do the twist

All of your internal organs have their nerve endings in your spine and nerves control the body’s functions, including sensation and movement. Moving the spine with gentle twisting is extremely beneficial for the internal organs.

Gentle daily twist: Before you get up in the morning, draw your knees up towards your chest. Take a breath in and as you exhale let both legs relax over to the right. Inhale the knees back to the centre, exhale them over to the left. Add on: turn your head away from your knees with each twist to move the whole spine.

3 to 5 times to each side.

2. Practice inversions

Inversions, such as legs up the wall, help to circulate lymph fluid through the lymphatic system – this is your body’s ‘rubbish collection’ service. It rids the body of toxins and other unwanted materials and transports immune cells around the body to fight off infection, significantly contributing to the workings of immunity in the body.

Here’s a couple of ways to practice inversions from reclining on your back.

1. Place your calf muscles on to the seat of a chair
2. In bed place 3 or 4 pillows underneath your lower legs and ankles
3. On the floor, sit with your right hip against the wall and as you lie back swings your legs up on to the wall. Stay here for 5 deep breaths.

Remember when you come out of an inversion pay attention to your blood pressure, roll on to your side and stay here for a few deep breaths. If there is pounding between your ears stay here a little longer. Sit up slowly.

3. Use your breath

Look after your lungs through winter with this easy yoga practice to increase the intake of oxygen, helping to build resistance to infection. A study from 1992 (yes, 1992) assessed whether arm positions affects air intake and oxygen consumption. The researchers found that when subjects held their arms at shoulder height whilst breathing, their oxygen consumption was higher compared to when subjects held their arms by their sides. These benefits continued for two minutes after their arms were lowered. It makes you wonder why we don’t all do this!

From standing or seated: Inhale, count to 4, lift your arms up level with your shoulders, as you exhale count the breath out for 8 and lower your arms down. Repeat 3 to 5 times.

Make yoga part of your everyday routine

Tight neck and shoulders? Try these simple yoga practices

Try letting your shoulders drop or settle now into their most comfortable position, take them back and down a little. It isn’t too difficult to do for the moment but to maintain this position unconsciously in our daily lives is another matter.

We raise our shoulders unnaturally when on the computer, when we’re shocked by a loud noise or when we feel stressed. All your muscles are all linked together, firing together, supporting each other. However, if one muscle group is being overused then discomfort (and possibly pain) will soon follow. It only takes a slight but frequent rising of the shoulders to create enough tension to throw the nervous system out of balance, producing anxiety, stiff necks or headaches.

An excellent way to start managing stress is to use these three yoga practices for necks and shoulders along with deep breathing. Practiced daily they will signal the muscles to release and to relax.

Yoga postures should be practiced slowly and gently, with awareness, ideally synchronized with the breath. They should not be practiced absent-mindedly as you may hurt yourself. If you encounter any discomfort or pain stop immediately.

For the shoulders

Sitting on a sturdy straight backed chair, lengthen your spine by lifting the crown of the head up towards the ceiling. Take the shoulders back and down a little. Hold this posture.

As you inhale lift the shoulders up towards the ears, hold the shoulders here and hold the breath. Count to four. Now slowly exhale, counting to eight, while relaxing the shoulders down. Repeat four more times.

For the neck

Note: For anyone with whiplash or neck injuries, take extreme caution in approaching any new exercises.

Lift your chin and look up as you inhale, exhale relax your chin down towards your chest. Repeat twice more.

Bring your head back to a neutral position; begin to move your chin around in small circles so that you are literally just moving your skull around at the top of your spine. Make it relaxing and easy. When you have gone seven to ten times in one direction, pause, and reverse the movement for the same number of rotations.

Over time, when it feels comfortable, you may find that you can increase the size of the circles you are making with your chin.

For the neck and shoulders

Place your fingertips on to your shoulders, inhale, as you exhale drop your chin towards your chin and bring the elbows towards each other, possibly touching them together in front of your chest. Feel the shoulder blades behind separating.

Inhale, take to elbows wide out to the side and lift your chin to look up. Press the shoulder blades together behind as you gently press the elbows back. Repeat this three to five times.

Awareness improves as time goes on

The key is to keep doing these practices regularly; you will eventually become aware of emotions or situations that trigger feelings of tension and be able to consciously relax, letting the tension go before it builds up.

Where do you find you hold the most tension, neck or shoulders? Let us know in the comments below.