How Does Our Yoga Practice Change As We Age?

Transcript of: How does our yoga practice change as we age?

Hey everybody! Welcome to this month’s question of the month. I’m David Keil as you know. I answer your question if you ask it at yoganatomy.com/myquestion. This month’s question comes from Diane and it’s about how our yoga practice changes as we age.

The Question:

I have been practicing and studying Hatha yoga for 52 years, teaching for 22.5 years. Heading towards my 70th birthday and still very much enjoying teaching. However, I am not as good as I was when I first started at age 17 years [same as you David]. I have dropped a couple of yoga postures, those that are hard on the knee. I stopped headstand after badly breaking my wrist when I fell over my new rescue dog. My favorite posture of full wheel I am finding harder to do as my strength is not as it was when I was younger, even though I do weight-bearing yoga and light weights. Just wondered how other aging yoga teachers fair.

The Answer:

Expect yoga practice to change as we age

It’s a good question. Probably we don’t talk enough about how yoga practice changes as we age. Of course, it’s natural for those of us aging—I’m a little ways away from 70, but it is creeping up on me—just kidding. I just turned 53, just for the record on this video. It’s natural for us all—I include myself in this—to want to practice the way I did when I was in my 20s. I don’t think that’s realistic. But, the practice has grown in other ways. And I’m sure you’ve had the same experience, Diane.

In your case, the question becomes how do we take care of ourselves in terms of continuing to lean into yoga practice, both physically and mentally, spiritually, etc., while also not pushing ourselves to create more problems than we’re actually solving. I think it’s only natural that our yoga practice changes over time as we age. We let go of stuff. So, you’re probably on the right path.

Decide what matters in your practice

Unfortunately, you’ve had a couple of accidents that were no fault of your own. Even I, a few years ago, I was doing something with my car. I was bent over and I pulled on something and my low back kind of made a funny feeling, sensation, and sound, at least in my own mind and body, that knocked me off for a number of months. It made me a little cautious. It made me a little fearful. In some ways, I’m still recovering from that. And the question is, whether or not, and how much, you care. You know. Do you still have something to prove? These are great questions to ask about yoga practice as we age.

Let go of magical thinking

You know, I think we also want to believe that a yoga practice has magical powers and that nothing should ever go wrong. Everything should stay exactly how it was and just the way it’s always been. You know, I’m not saying that too literally, but there’s a little bit of that underlying sense there. It’s something I keep working on. How much can I let go of in my yoga practice as I age? What’s realistic? I still want to teach. I still need to demonstrate now and again. So, you need to maintain a practice. The question is, how much and for how long? You should try the best you can, especially if you’re teaching.

Anyway, I don’t know if that helped. It was just a bit of a ramble. But if you’ve got a question, maybe sort of philosophical, that you’d like to ask me, by all means, go to yoganatomy.com/myquestion.