Functional yoga exercises combat the pains of middle age

While yoga often conjures up images of lithe 20-year-olds jumping into pretzel shapes or doing headstands all day, it can be much simpler and more accessible, but still quite effective.

In his new book “Yoga Fix: functional movements for the body without pain” (DK Red, Jan. 21) Erin Motz offers actionable steps to overcome the aches and pains of midlife and help readers find routine tasks—and favorite hobbies—more easily.

“You don’t have to be flexible enough to dislocate a limb,” writes Motz, who has over 150,000 subscribers on YouTube on her channel “Bad Yogi”. “You should have a healthy range of motion that allows you to squat, bend, stoop, reach overhead, rotate, push and pull.”

Here she shares some exercises.

Help your sciatica

Child’s pose

Lower your torso between your knees, gently extend your arms forward, keeping your buttock down. Let your upper body go heavy. Hold for 1 minute

Z-sitting

Begin with both knees resting on the floor, creating 90-degree angles on one side of your body. Hold for 30-45 seconds. Then, with a controlled movement, resting your heels on the floor, press both knees to the floor on the other side; hold again. Repeat 4 times.

Untangle shoulder knots

Rotation of the table top of the T-shaped spine

Begin by standing on your hands and knees with your back straight and your head in line with your neck. Bring your sternum, not your elbow, back up as far as you feel comfortable going. Repeat 10 times on each side.

Lying turns

Lie down, bring your knees to your thighs, then release them to the side. Keep your head and chest up and open your opposite arm. Hold for 30 seconds and switch sides.

Sarana raises her hand

From a lying position, extend your arms above your head in a “Y” shape, keeping your lower body on the ground. Exhale and lift the body, extending the thumbs up, and the legs and feet remain on the ground. Breathe in and return to the start. Repeat 10 times.

Strengthen your core to increase stability and efficiency of movements

Diaphragmatic breathing

Lie on your back, bend your knees, put your feet on the floor. Let your belly rise as you inhale and visualize yourself filling your lungs and breathing in all directions. You want to feel the breath fill you from your lower abdomen to your ribs and even around your back. As you exhale, your belly drops and your ribs return to a neutral position. Repeat several times

Dead bugs

Begin in a table-top position on your back with your knees aligned over your pelvis and your arms at your sides. Inhale and extend your right arm and left leg away from you. Exhale and return them to the starting position. Repeat on the other side. Do 10 times on each side.

The sphinx collapses to the boards

Begin in sphinx pose with your elbows tucked under your shoulders, chest and crown gently lifted, and eyes looking straight ahead. As you exhale, pull your stomach and hips off the floor so you’re on your knees, like in a modified plank. Then slowly raise your knees until you are in a forearm plank. Come back, lowering first the knees, then the hips, then the stomach, and return to the sphinx. Repeat 8 times.

Lath

Hold the plank for 30 to 60 seconds, keeping your spine neutral and your hips in line with your shoulders.

Excerpted and adapted from The Yoga Fix: Functional Movement for a Pain-Free Body by Erin Motz. Image copyright © 2024 David Cummings. Reproduced with permission from DK Books.