Why Yoga Part 1 of 4: You Are as Young as Your Spine
July 7, 2009 by dr. lam
I have been doing yoga now consistently for the past 4 months and would like to thank my hair transplant coordinator and friend, Emina Karamanovski, for introducing me to this wonderful habit, way of life, and physical exercise. As many of you might know, I have done spin class and weights for many many years but have not found these outlets as challenging or invigorating as I would like. I have found how yoga has helped me as a person in my personal quest for self growth and maturity in many ways. Because it has had such a profound influence in my life, I wanted to share with you what I have learned and perhaps encourage you in your own time to think of how to incorporate a bit of yoga into your life.
One of the most profound quotes that I heard during yoga class was, “You are only as young as your spine.” My instructor, Suze Curtis, then imitated the older individuals with bent, kyphotic backs stumbling around in the local Sam’s Club with a walker. That stiffness is progressive. It is not like one day you wake up not being able to move well. It is a slow, inexorable part of aging that leads to an overall stiffness and debilitation. As a surgeon, I must protect my spine as I am stooped over operating for most of the day or injecting patients with Botox or fillers. If you live a relatively sedentary life, you will find that you become progressively stiffer and less flexible.
I remember my colleague telling me in 2006 that, “Hey Sam, you look terrible.” He was right. My posture was quite terrible. What saved me was Michael Solberg, a Rolf Practitioner, who has lengthened and released the fascial adhesions in my body so that I am now much more limber and upright. I believe that even yoga is not enough. I look at bodywork as combining 3 elements (beyond weights and intense cardio, which we will talk about later this week): rolf for fascial release and alignment, massage for relaxation/meditation/ and muscle health, and yoga for strength/toning/flexibility.
Also, even if you are an intense person who likes to workout, you are going to be much more prone to injury lifting weights and doing cardio without yoga. Obviously, pilates is a great alternative, but I am more ignorant of this wonderful activity. If you just lift weights even with stretching, you can pull something until it snaps. Or if you are doing intense cardio, a 5-minute stretching exercise before and after may not be enough if you are still overall very stiff. You do not obviously need just 5 minutes of stretching before and after yoga because you are doing 1.5 hours of it during your session. Tomorrow we will focus on clarity of mind and focus that it has given me.
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4 Responses to “Why Yoga Part 1 of 4: You Are as Young as Your Spine”
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Thanks, Dr. Lam, for sharing this with us. Yeah, I’ve tried yoga. It’s cool. Thanks for all the tips.
cool.
namaste,
sml
Thanks for crediting Rolf Structural Integration with the help it has offered you, your body and practice. It has been a saving grace for me (and countless others) which is why I am honored to have this as my profession. I have a wonderful article about how Rolfing and Yoga are so compatible on the resources page on http://www.solbergcenyer.com. Ida Rolf pulled heavily from the ancient wisdom of yoga when she develped Rolfing
cool. thanks michael. typo: http://www.solbergcenter.com