Iyengar practicing Shoulder Stand
I recently heard a story about a man who started practicing yoga at 70. He has been practicing for 10 year and can do the most difficult yoga poses imaginable. He taught himself, using books, DVD’s and has never attended a class. He practices every day in the nude in his garden.
Many people get put off yoga, thinking that they are too inflexible or too old. Age is not an obstacle to beginning yoga and neither is inflexibility. In fact if you can’t touch your toes, yoga is for you!
Salamba Sarvangasana (shoulder stand) has lots of benefits. Being upside down you get to see the world from a new perspective. The blood is rushing to your head creating a rich source of oxygen and blood to the head. It stimulates the thyroid and parathyroid glands and is said to be a cure for insomnia if practiced each night before going to bed. It’s a calming and soothing inversion and is also good for varicose veins.
