Gentle Yoga With Great Benefits: For People Who Are In Recovery, Over the Age of 60, or Have Physical Limitations

By Anna Shapiro

“Gentle Yoga With Great Benefits” is a holistic guide to a better health, regardless of a person’s age and level of physical fitness, of one’s mobility and agility. The book offers a complete system of exercises for body, mind and soul, and is based on a time tested unique combination of modified Yoga postures to support the body, adaptable to a variety of physical needs and abilities; psychological understanding and yogic philosophy to support healthy emotional life; affirmations for a stronger and sharper mind and meditation for a calmer spirit assisting in one’s spiritual growth. The author offers guidance on how one may apply yogic principles and exercises to manage and control stress and to alleviate pain, such as headaches, back and arthritic pain.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Feb 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483436838

Book preview

GENTLE

YOGA

WITH GREAT BENEFITS

FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE IN RECOVERY,

OVER THE AGE OF 60,

OR HAVE PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS

ANNA SHAPIRO

Copyright © 2015 Anna Shapiro.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

Yoga Posture Models: Julia Babushkina and Victor DalPozzal;

Photographer: Cheryl DalPozzal;

Editor: Suzanne Kummel.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-3684-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-3683-8 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 10/07/2015

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Energy Balance

Ways to restore energy

Qualities of energy: physical, emotional, and mental

Accumulating positive energy through Yoga practice

Protection from negative influences from within and around

Stress

The reasons for stress

How to control emotions and how to save energy during stress

Three possible behavior reactions to stress

Yoga techniques to control and release stress

Yoga Parable: Angry Words

Pain Relief

What is pain and how does it occur

Types of pain

Self-healing, preventing and decreasing pain

Yoga for relief of headaches

Yoga postures for relieving back pain

Arthritis and emotional stress

Yoga stretching for relieving arthritis pain and for joint flexibility

Yoga for the Eyes: Strengthening and Improvement

Breathing

Calming Breathing

Full Deep Yogic Breathing

Alternate Nostril Breathing

Yoga Postures

Warm-Up Exercises

Yoga Postures in a Lying Position

Yoga Postures While Sitting on a Chair

Yoga Postures Standing Near a Wall

Relaxation

Strength of Mind and Affirmations

Developing positive thoughts

Yoga mental exercises for improving concentration and potential strength

Visualization and self-confidence

Affirmations and positive mental attitudes

The power of forgiveness

Healing Meditation

Yoga Parable: Two Wolves

Suggested Reading

Resourses

About the Author

A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I first would like to acknowledge all the great masters before me, who were my inspiration and guiding light on my path to spirituality, especially Paramahansa Yogananda and Swami Kriyananda. Without their guiding Light the doors of self-realization would never have opened for me. I would like to offer a special thanks to the leaders and members of Ananda Spiritual Community in Nevada City, CA for the many years of support and guidance they have offered me in learning and deepening my roots in spiritual life. I am thankful that I was given a wonderful opportunity to help and heal people in this life.

My heart is full of love and gratitude to my husband Mark for giving me his complete support and great patience. I also owe a special debt of gratitude to my daughter Luba for inspiring me and bringing me spiritual and emotional support. I offer my appreciation to the rest of my family for believing in me while writing this book.

I NTRODUCTION

"The true purpose of yoga is to facilitate

the development of Self-awareness–not

as a self-enclosure, but as a doorway to

an expanded awareness of the surrounding

universe, of truth, of very life."

Swami Kriyananda, Ananda Yoga for Higher Awareness

Yoga is an ancient Indian system that is used for self-improvement on physical, emotional, and mental levels. The yoga system can be easily modified to cope with some physical limitations or health problems. It helps maintain better health, develop body flexibility, increase energy level, and cultivate emotional and mental calmness. In Sanskrit Yoga means Union, referring to harmony between body, mind and soul; union between a person’s individual consciousness and spirit, with the cosmic consciousness and Spirit, or God.

Thousands of years ago, Yoga was developed as a system for self-improvement and self-healing. This book focuses on how people may help themselves cope with such psychological issues as stress, lack of energy, depression and anxiety, as well as with physical problems and pain. These pages also include a discussion on how yoga practice can help bring balance and increased energy for people of different ages as they recover from serious illnesses, or for those who have a disability. The book also focuses on self-healing methods for people who, for various reasons, cannot attend regular or advanced yoga classes.

It is common that around 50–60 years of age, people usually begin to have less body flexibility, more muscle tension and joint stiffness, and they often become emotionally and mentally tired more easily. People of different ages who have disabilities can help and heal themselves by practicing easy yoga postures, breathing exercises and relaxation techniques. The aim of this book is also to explain the importance of learning and practicing of breathing exercises along with deep relaxation and meditation—and to show that such practices can be done by anyone, from young to elderly, by anyone experiencing physical limitations and emotional problems.

We will spend much time talking about the psychological issues that affect how people feel about themselves. I emphasize that people should believe in themselves more than anybody else. I will show you how to develop and improve awareness of personal problems that are affecting your life, how to better cope with them, and to limit their effects on your inner life. It is up to each individual to improve self-control, and to appreciate his or her abilities, as well as limitations. For example, how much can you stretch your body and how long can you hold a yoga posture? Yoga helps to develop self-control on all levels: physical, emotional and mental. Yoga and meditation practices are also able to increase one’s intuition.

In my personal life, yoga has helped me to survive physically and emotionally in the dark period in Soviet Russia and after my immigration to America. I was born right before WWII and from early childhood I experienced famine and malnutrition. I suffered from different serious illnesses, such as severe asthma, polyarthritis, and obesity, and at 20 years old I was on disability. When I was at school I was often ill and had to study at home. When I was 27, I joined a yoga group in which there were around 100 students. From the very first class I felt that this path was for me; I practiced yoga very seriously and with great interest. At the time, I had some physical limitations in doing the postures, so I did what I could. I paid more attention to the breathing and relaxation exercises. Thanks to yoga I changed my diet, stopped eating meat and gradually switched to vegetarianism. Once a week I fasted and drank only water. Slowly I lost a significant amount of weight. A year later many of my health problems were disappearing or at least were under control. I remember meeting my doctor on the street a couple of years after starting yoga; I had not seen him in a while. In the past, when he visited me at home, he used to say, Unfortunately medicine cannot help you. I’ve done all that I could. Then he would leave. Seeing me on the street, happier, thinner and walking with ease, he stopped and said with surprise, Is it really you? Are you still alive? I did not know what to say in response but just thought to myself, How wonderful that he is no longer my doctor. Thanks to yoga I became stronger physically and emotionally.

Some of the chapters in this book are focused on a deeper understanding of such psychological issues as Energy balance, Stress, Strength of mind, and Pain relief. If you find that reading about these issues is not interesting to you, you may skip them and look further to the chapters that present practical yoga postures, relaxation, and breathing.

Love and self-respect are very important feelings. Follow the yoga principle: I love myself for who I am. Realize that you do not need to be someone else. The paradox is that by accepting yourself the way you are, you then free yourself to change and become different. Only you are responsible for creating and maintaining your relationship with yourself. So, be grateful and forgiving to yourself. Yoga will