Running to no where on a treadmill can get boring.
“I am not happy. The gym isn’t doing it for me anymore!” said Elizabeth “The place is filled with 20 something women all of the time. I am beginning to feel like a grand mother!”
“Running on the treadmill and looking out the window is so boring!”
Alice turns to Elizabeth as they are walking down the street and says “I know what you mean. I went through the same thing a few years ago and then I found something better. I discovered Yoga! You should give it a try.”
Elizabeth looks at Alice and says “But I am too old for yoga. Won’t the same crowd be there like there is at the gym?”
Alice went on to explain to Elizabeth the differences between going to a yoga class and going to the gym.
How is yoga different from the gym?
Mind and Body
First of all yoga engages your mind as well as your body. There is no way you can stare out the window while you are doing a yoga class. All of those poses you get into require your full attention.
Yoga requires you to pay attention while you do a yoga class and as a result Elizabeth will develop a stronger mind body connection. This strengthening connection will have an impact on her life outside of the gym. One of the main changes is that it will have an impact on her eating habits. She will discover that she will be eating less and different foods. She is doing this because her body feels better with the changes and is telling her so.
Aerobic workout
Yoga can be an aerobic workout like running on the treadmill if you want it to be. There are many different styles of yoga available at most yoga studios. Some of them can be quite gentle while others can be very aerobic. Elizabeth will be able to find a style of yoga that will give her the same aerobic benefit as the treadmill was doing for her at the gym.
Wide range of ages
Elizabeth will not feel like a grand mother when she goes to a yoga class. There are real grand mothers there as well as younger people. She will fit right in and not feel like she is the only person that has graduated from university.
Like the gym yoga is not magic. You do need to dedicate some time to it to get any benefits from it.
How often should Elizabeth do yoga?
Like the gym you need to do yoga several times a week before you start to see any benefits and it is going to take several months as well. Just about everyone goes through three phases when they start yoga.
- Check it out
- Yoga is good for me
- Oh My God, Yoga!
Elizabeth like everyone will start with the first phase.
Check it out
This is the first phase. You are not sure if you are going to like yoga. You go to class once a week to see if you like it. Do you like the place? Do you like the teacher? Are you comfortable in the class with all those other people? Do you like all the bending and twisting?
There is lots to check out in this phase. After a little while you decide that yeah you do like it and you move on to the next phase.
Yoga is good for me
In this phase you have decided that there is something to this yoga stuff after all and you are willing to dedicate some more time to it. It is at this point that you move from once a week to 2 or 3 times a week.
Once Elizabeth reaches this stage she will start to see some benefits from her regular yoga practice. The mind body connection will be getting stronger and she will be getting more flexible as well.
This phase can last for a very long time. Some people move on from this phase to the last phase where yoga takes over their life.
OH MY GOD, YOGA!
If Elizabeth ever reaches this phase she will be doing yoga everyday and maybe even twice a day. Yoga will permeate all of her life. She will be very flexible and very calm.
Stress will be a thing of the past and when she gets in a stressful situation she will be able to easily handle her bodies reaction to it.
She will be stronger and lighter as well.
“Can’t you hurt yourself doing yoga?” asks Elizabeth “I have some old injuries from the sports that I used to do, won’t they get in the way?”
What about injuries
Alice explained to Elizabeth that yoga will help to heal old injuries. If you do your yoga mindfully and pay attention to the feedback from your body you discover that your old injuries will gradually heal.
“It is true that some people do hurt themselves doing yoga” Alice told Elizabeth “but they were trying too hard or were doing a pose with poor alignment.”
To do yoga safely you need to pay attention to the feedback that your body is giving you. You need to be more mindful and take your time to develop your flexibility rather than forcing your body into a difficult yoga pose.
Also if you work with the teacher to insure that you have good alignment in a pose then you will avoid a lot of the injuries that typically happen in a yoga class.
Summary
Alice has convinced Elizabeth that she should give this yoga stuff a try. Maybe it will be less boring than the gym and she will be around people closer to her own age.
Elizabeth thinks that she might even heal some of those injuries of hers as well.
Next Step
If you have a friend that is complaining about the gym being boring tell them about how yoga and bring them to a yoga class.
Additional Reading
— For more about avoiding injury read Goldilocks and the 3 bears find the edge
— For more about aerobic yoga read How to have a healthy heart; do more yoga
