Is Yoga on Your To-Don't List?

About 10 years ago, I decided I needed to add some variety to my workout routine. I also craved something a bit slower-paced and meditative. So I took up yoga.

I loved the way it stretched out my body. I loved the way it forced me to slow down and relax. I loved the way I felt when I took that special time out from my busy life.

But then my love affair with yoga ended. I hurt my neck (no, not during yoga, but tripping over a pair of wayward sneakers in my home) and subsequently needed not one, but two neck surgeries.

I attempted to return to the practice, but my neck was not liking it. And in addition to that, I found that other parts of my (aging) body, like my knees, did not sign on either.

Last week I was excited to see an article in the New York Times, “Yoga After 50“. It’s so good to have company and be recognized:

While many yoga classes across the country seem to cater to the youthful enthusiast who wants to sweat his or her way through an hour-and-a-half workout, a growing number of longtime yoga devotees are raising questions about the best way to safely continue a yoga practice into midlife and beyond.

I asked Laurel Attanasio some of my questions. Laurel is a 500-hour certified yoga/Pilates teacher who teaches classes in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.Read More...