Keeping your Senior Active With Yoga
An active lifestyle is one that can involve many different types of activities and helping your senior parent find the right activity for her is one of the keys to successfully keeping her motivated to staying active. The definition of yoga is “a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practiced for health and relaxation.” Nowadays, it doesn’t rely so much on the specific spiritual beliefs as it does the overall health benefits.
December 14 is National Yoga Day, so perhaps this is the perfect time for you to check and see if your parent would be interested in starting (or re-starting if she practiced yoga years ago) a yoga routine. As always, check with your aging parent’s physician to make sure your parent can start a yoga routine that will provide the wonderful health benefits of yoga without any injuries.
Yoga is regarded as an exercise that is good for the mind, soul and body. It has some wonderful health benefits, especially for the elderly such as:
- Improving balance (and possibly reducing the likelihood of falls)
Senior Care Broomall, PA: Seniors and Yoga
- Easing back pain
- Increasing mobility
- Relieving depression
- Reducing high blood pressure
If you’re wondering where to start, many senior care activity centers have yoga classes geared for seniors. This would be a class either you or your parent’s senior care provider could bring him to on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Not only would he learn how to do yoga, but he might make a few new friends in the process. Check with the yoga instructor to make sure he or she is well trained on how to lead a class specifically for seniors, and then make sure you have the needed equipment so your parent can enjoy the class without any discomfort. As a caregiver looking to spend time with your parent, you might even join him in class. Even if it’s a bit lower level than you’re used to, creating memories with your senior parent is always a priceless experience.
If classes are not available (as many of them are not during this time of pandemic social distancing and safety protocols), other options are video classes or YouTube classes. In order to help your parent participate in this way, either you or your parent’s senior care provider should be present while your parent follows the class instructions to make sure your parent is being safe and not overdoing it. You will want to also prepare a safe place with plenty of room, as well as the needed matts or chairs to help your parent participate. Don’t forget to make sure your parent has plenty of water nearby to stay hydrated during the work out.
Finally, if your parent lives somewhere where the temperatures are moderate this time of year, you might want to encourage her to head into the great outdoors to perform yoga. Many people find by being outside, they not only reap the physical benefits of yoga, but the mental and spiritual benefits as well while they absorb the beauty around them into their yoga routine.
Celebrate National Yoga Day this year by starting a new active lifestyle for your aging parent, providing years of better health ahead.
If you or an aging loved one are considering a Senior Care in Broomall, PA please contact the caring staff at True Direct Home Health Care today.
Source: https://www.silversneakers.com/blog/yoga-for-seniors-which-class-best-for-you/
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Doc, as he is called by everyone - staff, patients and clients - first experienced home health care and hospice care while as a colleg student at King's College as he cared for his mother every day while she first battled COPD and then lung cancer. It was during this time that he came to understand that caring for a patient was more than just clinical expertise.
"Admittedly, my strongest attribute is my communication skills and the simple fact that I love to help people. Even the smallest thing you can do for someone really can mean so much to them long term. In fact, it could change them forever. That's what providing quality personal home health care should be all about."
In his spare time, he cooks for homeless shelters and children's music and arts events. He also is highly involved in his local youth sports soccer academy as a coach and Board member.
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