Heal Weak Bones With This One Exercise

Heal Weak Bone with this One Exercise

Bone is living tissue that forms the body's structural framework. Actual bone mass is a matrix of organic and inorganic materials including calcium salts and connective tissue, as well as cells and blood vessels. This combination gives bone a tensile strength close to steel, yet the ability to maintain elasticity. Regular practice of yoga is beneficial for your bones because aligning the direction of gravitational force along the major axis of the bones triggers a ‘remodel response’. This means that your bones respond to healthy stress applied to them by depositing layers of calcium into the bone matrix. On the other hand, a lack of healthy stress on bones weakens them.

The bones of the skeleton link together at the joints and act as levers for the muscles that cross the joints. Consciously contracting and relaxing these skeletal muscles over joints moves the body into various yoga postures. Joints come in a spectrum of shapes, depending on the mobility or stability they require. Within a joint capsule is connective tissue sheathing that surrounds and seals synovial joints. Synovial tissue lines the inside of the joint capsule. This tissue produces synovial fluid, a viscous lubricant for the joint surface that decreases friction during movement. Synovial fluid circulates through the joint, transporting nutrients to the articular cartilage and removing debris from joint space. The various contortions resulting from yoga postures aid flex and expand the joint capsule, stimulating circulation of synovial fluid. In simple talk..... yoga is like an oil change for your joints!

The Sanscrit word for a yoga pose is asana, translated this word means "a comfortable or effortless position". Yoga postures approach effortlessness when we align the long axis of the bones with the direction of gravity. This decreases the muscular force needed to maintain our postures. Yoga develops awareness of how to use muscular force to bring the bones into position where they carry the load. Once these positions are attained, muscular force is greatly decreased. The asana practice of yoga brings symmetry back to the skeletal system by rerouting cognitive connections to muscles. Simply stated yoga creates the opportunity for you to get to know your body. It is intimate time with yourself to develop new awareness of your physical landscape. Most joint and muscle pain is due to asymmetrical holding patterns and muscular development. The genius practice of yoga gives you the time to strengthen weakened muscles and stretch over- used muscles, gently inducing correct alignment of bone. Yoga will help you move your body through time and space with more ease.

With love,

Grandmother's Kitchen