Live Longer by Being Bendy
There is research to suggest that you can live longer by being able to bend.
Yoga Australia’s very own Rebel Tucker was interviewed on Perth 6PR to discuss recent research suggesting that yoga improves longevity. See excerpt below and the full audio clip at the bottom of the page.
There was a study that got people doing about 20 different moves, it looked at their flexibility (or lack thereof), and assessed whether these people have a lower risk of mortality – do they live longer? It was found that those who had greater flexibility did have a lower risk of mortality.
Lots of older people feel like they missed the yoga bandwagon, but it is not too late. It is more and more common for people to begin yoga in their 50s and 60s, and older. They notice is that when they start to do yoga they can do fairly obvious things that they would want to do. Picking something off the ground, reaching into the back of the shelf, that sort of thing.
I’ve got one fabulous fellow who decided that he might begin to do some yoga because he wanted to maintain his ability to surf. And he came in one day and he gave me a great big hug and thanked me and said, I’m up on my surf board. And not only that, I’ve entered into a local competition thanks to Yoga.
Outside of stretching, we’ve obviously got some really great mental health benefits. But I should note that the benefits are greater when you’re working with a certified teacher. Yoga Australia is the peak body in this country, we have been certifying courses and teachers for over 25 years. It’s good for yoga teachers to know that what they are doing has meets a certain standard, and it’s crucial that the public knows they are going down a good track.
We know that some of the other benefits of yoga are around helping us sleep better, to reduce anxiety, to cool down our reactiveness in life. It helps us regulate so that we’re not impulsively jumping into action and overreacting. It helps us calm down.
This is one of the reasons why you want to work with qualified yoga teachers. You want somebody who’s got a continuing education regime, keeps upskilling and learning the latest science.
Members of Yoga Australia fit the bill and are held to the some of highest standards in the world.
