There’s been a big buzz around yoga and bone health lately. And for a good reason. A recent pilot study conducted by the medical director of Manhattan Physical Medicine Dr. Loren Fishman proves yoga’s ability not only to increase flexibility and strength, but also to reverse osteoporosis. The study shows that participants who practiced regularly over a two-year period had improved bone density in the spine and femur. And the truth is, you don’t need to be suffering from bone loss to reap yoga’s multiple benefits for bone health.

I’ve personally experienced these benefits with a dear student of mine who practiced a resistance yoga routine I had set up for her every day for six months. The results were astounding – not only reversal of her osteoporosis in the neck of the femur, but also increase in bone density throughout. I had specially tailored her class, emphasizing resistance-based poses that taught her how to hug the bones with her muscles. The focus was on correct alignment and paying attention to the isometric and isotonic contractions that happen in every pose. That meant that she had to work with gravity and against gravity – resisting the push and pull actions while making the muscles an extension of the fascia –the fibrous webbing

Bone Health yoga teaches us to retrain the muscles, so they don’t only pull, but also sustain and hold our bony structure. The trick is to build the pose from the ground up. Setting the foundation is key, so the joints are all properly stacked, and hugged by the muscles. The muscles build up internally and start to burn excess fat. The internal musculature is not the one we pump up in the gym with weights, and taking supplements. It is that musculature that is lean and strong from within. We can see it clearly in ballet dancers who have been practicing correctly for years.

Standing poses done correctly boost the weight-bearing function of the legs and tone up the muscles internally using force, counterforce that pushes and pulls, but also spins and wraps. How does that translate on the mat? Well, take any standing pose, for example. In a classical Warrior II, we first set the base to line up front heel with back arch. Then, we roll the thigh open and level the hips out. This action of rolling and evening engages the core, and builds up the internal musculature.

Essentially, muscles only pull, they never push. But in that very action we have the protagonist – the main muscle that performs the function balanced by the agonist – the counter force that provides stability. Once both poles are set, the synergist kicks in. This is that section of the muscle that contracts and stabilize the joint around which the mobility is occurring. It is that synergist that we need to promote a greater ranger of motion and thicker bones.

Yoga urges the muscles to consciously perform all three functions of pulling with, against and into gravity – an incredible concept that all body consciousness modalities like Pilates, Rolfing and resistance stretching now draw upon. Finding the triple action of muscle function in motion is the secret to promoting thicker bones and reversing osteoporosis. The key is to do it regularly and not to miss a day. Yoga every god damn day!

Bone Health Yoga: Dense Up (open level)

This yoga routine combines standing weight bearing with reclining supported poses to hone the inner musculature – stabilizing the joints and rebuilding bone tissue.