“I can’t do yoga; I’m not flexible.”  Because yoga, like so much else in our culture, is portrayed by and for our children and grandchildren, we believe we are not capable of receiving yoga’s myriad benefits. I’m here to bust that myth!

I came to yoga in my 40s, hardly fit or flexible. I was the oldest student. I fell in love instantly, and knew I wanted to share this remarkable practice with people my age. Right after I completed teacher training, I fell ill with what tuned out to be a genetic blood disorder. I used yoga to aid my year-long recovery. From my personal experience I became an expert on the remarkable healing, enlivening, and inspiring gifts of yoga.

I discovered that all yoga practices could be adapted and modified to suit the needs of each individual. If that were not so, yoga would not have survived its 5000 year-old history. Each of us has inherent capacities that blossom with yoga practice. Most of the standing poses can be modified to suit any limitations. They can often be practiced using a chair or wall for support. The seated poses, usually practiced on the floor, are easily modified to a chair. Even back bends can be adapted to a chair. There is even a specific practice to loosen all the joints and help with the easing of joint pain—maybe even preventing it.

In the West yoga means standing on your head or being a pretzel. Rarely do we think of the energetic practices of yoga that are most appropriate for the middle years and beyond. In addition to the physical postures, there are meditation and concentration practices that benefit those of us who are in what the yoga tradition calls the third stage of life, the stage of wisdom. This is the time of our lives when we have the opportunity to pass on the knowledge we have gained over decades of experience. Yoga practice helps make that possible.

There are yoga therapists and yoga teachers who specialize in adapted yoga for people in their middle years and beyond. Find one who can help you live a vibrant life no matter what your condition or age. Yoga practice will become in integral part of your life, one you won’t be able to live without. And that’s not a myth—it’s the truth.