I am back after almost two weeks with COVID-19. I'm doing fine now and am grateful for science, family and friends. Thanks to all of you who sent me best wishes during these past weeks. Your thoughts absolutely helped me get through it!
Just before I developed COVID, I had been planning an email about poses for balance and recorded a video with some balance drills. I read Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matter in the End, a book about living well through the aging process. I thought this graph from the book was particularly relevant, especially as I recover from my weeks of inactivity during COVID. Gawande (a surgeon at Brigham and Women Hospital and a public health researcher) says:
“The single biggest danger in aging is falling. About 350,000 Americans fall and break a hip each year.. and the 3 primary risk factors for falling are poor balance, taking more than 4 prescription medications and muscle weakness.”
If you know that balance challenges are something that you are working with, give a try to some of the balance strengthening exercises in the video. I plan to practice these moves as I get myself back up to speed.
In yoga, we almost always work on strengthening core muscles and practice balance poses. Though we can’t stop the aging process, we can slow it down with yoga!
Let me know what you think and see you in class this week. Wishing you strength and balance.
Photo credit: Lauren Ackil
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