These 5 asanas can reverse osteoporosis, strengthen bones and prevent falls

To cap it all, these practices will have no side effects unlike medicines. On the contrary, they will bring in better health, overall body balance, thus preventing falls, better digestion and heart and lung conditions, contributing to overall better health. The mudra practice is significant as it helps activate and regulate some vital hormonal organs like pituitary, thyroid and pineal glands, which release and control the oestrogen and testosterone hormones in the body. These are crucial for maintaining bone mineral density levels in both women and men.

Menopause and hysterectomy are causes for hormonal changes in a woman’s body, which can also result in brittle bones unless one starts the yoga practice before the onset of menopause. This way you may also avoid reasons for having a hysterectomy. PCOS is a hormonal disruption problem in young girls, which if not attended to, will result in osteoporosis from a young age.

Here is a systematic comprehensive practice for prevention and cure of osteoporosis for both men and women.

1. Warm-up: Start your practice with body limbering up asana series. It takes barely 7-8 minutes. But it directly targets all the joints of the body from the tip of toes to the top of the head and can be practised by seniors who are weak in body.

2. Asanas

Tadasana: Stand with your feet close together, interlock fingers and place your hands on top of your head, palms facing outward. This is the base position. Relax your whole body, then as you inhale, come up on your toes and simultaneously stretch your arms over your head with fingers still interlocked and palms facing outward. Stretch your whole body to the maximum, keeping your gaze fixed at some point at eye level, so that your balance is maintained as you go up and down on your toes.

Exhale and come back to the starting position. This is one round. Begin with three rounds and then build it up to five rounds.

Triyak Tadasana (Spine-bending pose): Stand with your feet about a shoulder distance apart. Interlock fingers and stretch your hand over your head with palms facing outward, elbows straight. Relax your body, inhale deep and as you exhale, bend your body waist upward to the right, seeing that you don’t bend forward. Feel the full stretch of the left side of your body and compression in the right side. Bend maximum without discomfort or losing your balance. When you want to inhale, come back to the centre, inhale and repeat it on the left side. When you come back to the centre it makes one round. Do five rounds. This manipulates your spine, massages the digestive organs and adjusts the liquid between the head thus taking care of better balance.

Katichakrasana ( Body twisting asana): Base pose is the same as above, but bring your arms up to the shoulder level with palms facing downward, elbows straight. Relax your body, take a deep breath in and as you exhale, twist your body with the right arm encircling the waist and the left arm resting on the right shoulder. This establishes a complete twist of your spine and stomach area. Hold as long as you can and as you inhale, come back to the centre. Exhale and do the twist on the left side. This makes one round. Do five rounds.

These three asanas given above manipulate your spine in three crucial directions, aligning the spine and the cerebro-spinal-fluid (CSF) and realigning the liquid between the ears. Twisting of the neck area massages the thyroid glands.

This set of asanas must be followed up with Trikona asana (forward bending with twisting): This is an excellent asana for not only osteoporosis but also for those already seeing signs of imbalance or onset of vertigo, loss of hearing and so on.

Trikona asana: Stand as in the starting position of Katichakrana described above with arms stretched along the shoulder. Relax your body and take a deep breath. As you exhale, bend forward while taking the right arm over your head and left hand towards your right toe. In the final position, you will look up at the right hand palm, while the left hand will touch the right toes or the palm will rest on the other side of the right foot. When you want to inhale slowly, resume your starting position. Repeat the same on the left side. This completes one round. Repeat five rounds.

People with severe osteoporosis may begin by not looking up at the raised arm as they may lose balance. After some practice, they can do with a twisting of the neck area as described above. This is one asana which directly addresses all problems in the ear system. It also gives a maximum twist your spine, stomach and the hip area. Holistic effects address prevention and cure for problems related to balance and thereby osteoporosis.

Ardha Matsyendra Asana: This is a spine twisting asana which, besides activating the pancreas, also regulates the entire digestive system and helps burn the excess fat around the belly that would otherwise put unnecessary strain on the spine, knees and the bone structure supporting the body. You can start with Ardha Matsyendra asana, which is a simpler twisting asana and progress to Matsyendra asana which requires greater flexibility.

Sit with your legs stretched out. Relax the whole body, keeping your spine straight. Fold your right leg and place the right foot on the other side of the left knee. Inhale deep and as you exhale, place both palms just along or little behind your left hip, thus twisting your spine, neck and stomach area. Maintain this position in exhalation as long as you can. When you inhale, come back to the starting position. You may after some practice, in the final position, do rapid inhalation and exhalation, thus rendering a good massage to the stomach area. Repeat the same with the left leg folded and twisting to the right side of the body. Both sides make one round. Do five rounds.

(Kamini Bobde is a Kundalini practitioner who follows the Swami Satyananda Saraswati tradition of yoga. She is the author of Kundalini Yoga for All: Unlock the Power of Your Body and Brain. Published by Penguin)