Yoga and Your Body’s Ability To Move
© 2007 Richard Chandler St Cloud, MN USA

“It’s a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else you can do that you’ve forgotten about.”

- Alan Ball (1956- )

As a yoga teacher, I’m continually surprised and delighted to watch my middle aged and older students recapture something that they had assumed was forever lost from their life… their youth. And nothing convinces us in such a direct way that youth has been lost, or has begun to return, than our ability to move our bodies.

When yoga students at first begin to do the poses and sequences, the extent to which their physical capacity has diminished becomes painfully apparent. To continue coming to class while still feeling this mentally painful loss of physical ability takes inner strength and resolution.

But for those who will do so, an almost magical discovery awaits. Over time, perhaps a few weeks to a few months, their bodies gain flexibility, agility and strength. And with that gain, their mental attitudes dramatically improve. This most often leads to renewed confidence, and an increased willingness to try new things, as well as to risk forays into unknown arenas in all areas of those person’s lives.

Ironically, this transformation is predicated on the person’s newfound ability to do something so kid-like as to balance on one leg, get up and down from the floor with more grace, or to tip their bodies upside down and still breathe.

So for me, this quotation by Allen Ball rings true for my own life and for those yoga students with whom I have the great fortune to teach and observe. They inspire me to also venture into experiences that initially seem foreign and difficult.

What physical activity might you begin, which has the possibility of recapturing your youth? You have my assurance that doing so will reap benefits is most all aspects of your life. And my recommendation? Yoga!

- Richard J. Chandler   May 15, 2007

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