There is a saying, “Never be too old, and never be too late to practice yoga”. Yoga is for everyone and every level of practice. However, as we all know that aging is a process of degenerative condition as an individual reaches every day. Who doesn’t? How can an individual slow the aging process down? Once people are in a certain age ranges that fall in “Adult or elderly” or a nice terminology that calls “Geriatric”, exercise is a must for them to maintain a decent movement and balance posture to prevent fall as it is a fatal injury if that would happen in older people.
Vigorous and forceful exercise might be a challenge choice for them as they might have some medical conditions. Therefore, stretching and yoga could be the best choice for those who need to improve and maintain their good and decent health status. Not only stretching and yoga could improve a quality of life in older people in general, especially who has health problems, but breathing exercise also can benefit them in a long run. By doing so, individual does not need any special equipment nor large space or gym facility. Yoga can be performed anytime and any where.
As I am working with elderly people as a Registered Nurse, I think some movement and stretching with breathing exercise would be benefited for their recovery to get out of the hospital sooner. There are many poses that can be appropriate my patients whether they can do in the bed or bedside. Let’s start with warm up activities, including breathing exercise. Finding a position is an option for everyone. Some can sit on the Indian style and variations, but others might be somewhat challenging, so sitting on a supportive pillow or
chair can be helpful. The hospital bed can be adjustable to be an upright position if needed. Fortunately, the hospital where I work is the stroke and cardiac center. So, there is a stretching program daily that we invite and encourage our patients to join the class.
As I am a nurse who have been taking care of elderly people while they are in the hospital, I am now know what breathing technique is best for them. I would suggest that the “Sound of breath – tip of nose-
Soham Pranayama” is less steps to practice and effortless. Individual should stay focused on his/her breathing for 5-10 breathes. After the breathing exercise, I would demonstrate and show them some sitting asanas with modification position when they needed. I would start with poses as follow:
Sitting poses:
Half butterfly pose
Full butterfly pose
Easy cross legs position with gently twist side to side
Half lotus pose
Lotus pose
Hero pose
Cow face pose
Cat and cow pose
Supine poses:
Wind release pose
Cross leg twist
Eagle legs twist
Prone position:
Cobra pose
Locust pose
Airplane wings pose
These are poses that would give my patients benefits when practice with the good form and alignment before depth. They would gradually increase their strength, flexibility, endurance, stamina in time.
To sum up, Yoga, stretching, and breathing exercise would be the long run and sustainable approach for the patients who would take home with in order to maintain their decent health. Eventually, those patients would need less and less modern medicine treatment.