IN THE KITCHEN

It came to us while the three of us were in the kitchen, preparing a meal together and talking about how these days, as we age, our yoga practices are designed to address our changing needs and concerns: wasn’t it about time the three of us finally collaborated on a project? “Yoga for healthy aging,” Nina said. “And a blog would be a perfect way to start.” Baxter was concerned that we might not have enough material for an ongoing project, but Brad said, “No way. We’ll never run out of topics!”

You see, between the three of us, we have a wealth of special information and techniques we'd love to share with you.

Baxter Bell is an MD, a medical acupuncturist, and a long-time yoga teacher. Besides teaching regular asana classes, he specializes in yoga for back care and anatomy for yogis. He'll be recommending yoga poses and other practices for you that address various physical aspects of healthy aging, including strength, balance, flexibility, circulation and agility.

Brad Gibson is a professor at the Buck Institute for Age Research, where aging and age-related diseases are the sole focus of the institute. As more is discovered about the aging process, our understanding about how to support healthy aging with yoga will increase. Brad will help you keep in touch with the latest scientific discoveries, and we'll explain their connection to specific yoga practices.

Nina Zolotow is a yoga writer as well as a certified yoga teacher and a long-time yoga practitioner, and her special area of expertise is yoga for emotional wellbeing (including yoga for stress, insomnia, depression, and anxiety). She’ll be recommending yoga practices for cultivating equanimity because as we age, reducing stress is more important than ever, both for our physical health and our peace of mind.

This week each of us will take a turn letting you know a little more about ourselves and why we decided to take on this project. After that, we hope to take requests! Below is a list of the general topics we are planning to take on. But please leave a comment if any you have any special questions or concerns you like us to address.

·      strength

·      balance

·      flexibility

·      agility

·      circulation

·      stress

·      cognitive functioning

·      equanimity

·      specific age-related diseases (such as arthritis, high blood pressure, Parkinson’s, diabetes, etc.)

·      what is known (and what is not known) about the aging process

Tune in tomorrow to hear from Baxter. In the meantime, here’s another photo of Mount Tamalpais, where the peak is above the fog line. Sometimes we can get there.