Are you one of the 55 million Americans currently suffering from osteopenia or osteoporosis?
Here’s what you can do naturally to have healthy bones as you age.
In this interview for the Natural Healing Show for UK Health Radio, medical intuitive healer Catherine Carrigan interviews Dr. Loren Fishman about yoga for bone health.
Dr. Fishman is the medical director of Manhattan Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in New York City, author of 10 books as well as more than 90 academic articles and a world-recognized pioneer in the use of yoga to treat a wide variety of medical conditions. You can learn more about his wonderful work at this link.
Next week, he will celebrate his 81st birthday.
Aside from his resume, Dr. Fishman boasts a healthy body and enviable yoga practice thanks to over 50 years of daily poses and meditation.
It’s not just that if you fall while suffering from osteoporosis you may break your spine, hip, wrists or ribs, if you do fall and break your hips Dr. Fishman says you may never recover.
Doing what you can do now to protect your bones is truly life-saving information that we all need to know about and share with everyone we love.
I was blessed recently to get certified in yoga for osteoporosis by studying with Dr. Fishman.
Although I was already highly motivated to follow his direction in my teaching and personal practice, this message really hit home when my 84-year-old osteoporotic mother fell a few weeks afterwards and broke her left wrist in three places.
I saw firsthand how painful osteoporosis can be and hope to share this valuable information with all my yoga students, clients and readers.
Many people who receive alarming results on their Dexa bone mineral density scan turn to medications to try to reverse the damage.
However, when you turn to medications alone you may suffer unintended consequences.
Not only would you suffer current side effects from the drugs such as nausea, stomach pain, gastric ulcers, dizziness, headaches and joint pain but from potentially serious fractures in your bones in years to come.
When you recognize you are suffering from bone loss, there are natural ways to reverse osteopenia and osteoporosis that have the side effects you might prefer.
Side effects of a regular yoga practice include:
Stronger bones
Inner peace
Self acceptance
Improved balance
Aligned posture
Muscular coordination
Sustained energy throughout the day
A beautiful body
Quieter mind
Greater ability to sail through the challenges of your life without depression or anxiety
Easy ability to maintain your ideal size without starving or over exercising
Questions addressed in this interview include:
How do you use yoga in your medical practice?
Have you found yoga to be particularly effective for helping certain medical conditions?
How prevalent is osteopenia and osteoporosis?
What are the 12 poses your scientific research shows are helpful for reversing osteoporosis and osteopenia?
How long does a person have to hold a yoga pose to stimulate bone growth?
What is the problem with taking drugs for osteoporosis?
What happens when a person stops taking drugs for osteoporosis?
Is it necessary to take calcium, magnesium, Vitamin D and vitamin K2 to build bone even if a person is practicing yoga or taking medications to reverse osteoporosis?
Is it possible to take too much calcium and what are your recommendations for calcium intake for people under the age of 75 and over the age of 75?
What is it not possible for people to eat their way to bone health?
Why is yoga uniquely beneficial for building bone?
Why can’t just any old yoga work to build bone – what do we really have to do differently to stimulate bone growth?
Among people with osteoporosis, what are the most commonly broken bones?
Why is it almost impossible to get enough vitamin D from natural sunlight?
What is the connection between bone health and weight loss?
Why is yoga uniquely beneficial for helping people lose weight and maintaining our ideal size?
What does stretching our stomach inhibit our appetite?
What is PGC-1alpha and how does yoga and other forms of gentle exercise stimulate it to enhance weight loss?
You can watch videos I’ve recorded of the 12 poses Dr. Fishman recommends in his original bone building sequence. Just click on the name of each pose to watch.
- Tree pose (Vriksasana)
- Triangle (Utthita Trikonasana)
- Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana II)
- Side angle pose (Parsvakonasana)
- Twisting triangle (Parivrtta Trikonasana)
- Locust (Salabhasana)
- Bridge (Setu Bandhasana)
- Hamstring stretch (Supta Padangusthasana I)
- Adductor stretch (Supta Padangusthasana II)
- Seated twist (Marichyasana III)
- Half lord of the fishes pose (Ardha Matsyendrasana I)
- Relaxation (Savasana)
After learning about Dr. Fishman’s method in my early 50s, I changed the way I taught yoga. Now at age 62 I still teach 8 yoga classes a week and practice the bone building poses with all my students.
If you would like to learn more about how you can build your bones with yoga, set up an appointment with me or join my yoga classes, email catherine@unlimitedenergynow.com or call 678-612-8816.
My Zoom yoga classes meet:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 7:30 to 9 p.m. EST
Thursdays 11 am to 12:30 p.m. EST
Saturdays 10:30 to 12 noon EST
What is healing? Healing happens when you do what you can now to protect your bones as you age.
