This entry was posted on Oct 13, 2025 by Charlotte Bell.
Photos of witches, ghosts, black cats, zombies and skeletons abound this month. These iconic pictures are supposed to be scary, and a few of them are—though I’ve to say that having lived with a number of black cats in my life, they’re by no means scary. Halloween pictures are nonetheless meant to evoke a little bit of worry and apprehension.
If you see a picture of a skeleton, the very first thing that involves thoughts might be not osteoporosis. Nonetheless, in keeping with the Nationwide Osteoporosis Basis, 10 million of us are presently dwelling with osteoporosis, and 34 million are presently in danger for the illness.
How Can Yoga Assist?
There are various easy issues you can begin doing now, at any age, to stop the illness: Eat loads of fruit and veggies, get common train, enhance your Vitamin D and Calcium/Magnesium consumption. However when you’re studying this weblog in any respect, you in all probability observe yoga. Does yoga depend as an train that may assist preserve your bones robust?
Dr. Loren Fishman says sure. On this interview (learn the entire thing—it’s very informative), he explains why yoga helps preserve our bones robust:
“Yoga helps develop bone mass, however as a result of yoga poses pull and stretch the bones from each conceivable angle, yoga additionally might stimulate the formation of a bone construction that’s in a position to withstand better quantities of stress, in addition to many several types of challenges.
“…there are quite a few different necessary methods by which yoga advantages folks with osteoporosis, reminiscent of bettering stability, muscular energy, vary of movement and coordination, whereas lessening nervousness. These are different necessary advantages of yoga for folks with osteoporosis as a result of they every assist cut back the danger of falling.”
Yoga for Osteoporosis
Listed below are my concepts about yoga for osteoporosis, particularly, how totally different courses of poses assist preserve your bones wholesome:
Standing Poses and Steadiness Poses: Promote stability, use weight bearing to strengthen bones, stretching leg muscle tissues alongside bones pulls and stretches the bones.
Backbends: Counteract the tendency to hunch ahead as your bones weaken.
Twists and Lateral Stretches: Preserve the thoracic area (higher again) cellular.
Ahead Bends: Cut back stress, stretching muscle tissues alongside bones pulls and stretches the bones. Make sure that whenever you bend ahead that you simply at all times bend out of your hip joints, and never out of your waist. If obligatory, bend your knees as a way to accomplish this.
So don’t let your personal skeleton scare you. Dive into your observe, figuring out that not solely does yoga make you are feeling good now, it can possible make your life happier—and far much less scary—sooner or later.
About Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and started instructing in 1986. Charlotte is the creator of Aware Yoga, Aware Life: A Information for On a regular basis Observe and Yoga for Meditators, each revealed by Rodmell Press. Her third guide is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and folks sextet Crimson Rock Rondo, whose DVD received two Emmy awards.