Before there were gyms, studios, or fitness trends, there was simply the human body. It’s designed to carry its way through life – doing, moving and fulfilling it’s needs. We all use the seven functional movements. They’re the squat, the hinge, the lunge, the push and the pull, the rotation and gait. These are the fundamental elements, the vocabulary your body has always spoken.
Modern life, though, is detrimental to our physical abilities. We don’t walk, we drive. We don’t squat to cook anymore, we always sit higher up on chairs and sofas. We don’t carry our bags, we have them delivered. We even don’t need to reach up and pull the car boot door down anymore – there is a button for that.
So, in older age we end up having troubles sitting down, reaching to the top shelf, carrying stuff, tying our shoes and basically staying independent and taking care of ourselves.
How yoga can help
Yoga is one of the most beautiful ways to keep our bodies capable and to come back to these functional movements if they have started to fade. There is a lot already there in the poses and the transitions between them but to make things even more potent I will be teaching a 7-week course that will focus on one of these movements every week.
We will delve deeper and look at our restrictions. Maybe your ankles have become a bit stiffer and that’s affecting your squat? Or your hips are weak and that’s why you have difficulty balancing while walking. We will pay attention to what is happening in our bodies right now and then explore ways to start moving better. We will stretch, strengthen, mobilise, balance and have fun while getting better at moving for the real life.
If you would like to join us, I have some spaces left in my Wednesday group.
Do get in touch!
Photo by Heather Jacoby on Unsplash
