Last year in August, I remembered sharing a personal story about my autoimmune rashes, which I now have a name for: “The Quiet Extrovert.” It wasn’t too difficult to come up with a name for it as its nature is the opposite of what I am known for as “The Loud Introvert.” It takes a lot of courage and willpower to share my voice as an introvert. On the other hand, my rashes have no problem sharing loudly through their flares from one part of the body to another. In my healing journey, I truly believe that part of my resistance to healing is from the lack of acceptance for exactly what it is. Therefore, when I chose to name my rash so that it has official recognition, I also chose to own it. There was also a component of trauma, both physically due to skin laceration from that yard work injury in October 2020 and mentally due to various life events that unfolded ever since. An important aspect of my life that I have been able to hold on to, besides the support from my loving family, is yoga.

Yoga is known for its significant benefits in mental health and stress reduction, as well as in controlling obesity, cholesterol, blood pressure, and body fat percentage. Recent data published in 2024 also shows that yoga improves gait, strength, flexibility, stability and balance—all of which can prevent falls! This therapeutic and effective mode of exercise enhances agility by actively engaging both the body and the mind, leading to increased muscle strength and improved functional parameters across all age groups. In my personal experience with yoga since 2011, it has not only kept me grounded mentally whenever I am on that mat but also physically through the strength I maintain on a daily basis.

Yoga interventions have demonstrated improvements in gait and balance, suggesting a reduced risk of falls, fewer fall occurrences, and a decrease in the fear of falling. Therefore, as this post’s title serves to play-on-words, in order to preventing falling, we must FALL in love with YOGA, again and again! Speaking of fall prevention, last month on July 18th, I was honored to be invited back again on Joy106.3FM Radio Station with Dr. L. Ronald Durham and his wife “Mo” to share about lifestyle medicine interventions and practical insights to mitigate falls. It was a fun time to chat about this serious topic as we make it as light and easy to understand as possible! According to recent research published in May this year, combining a yoga program with a Mediterranean dietary plan has been shown to improve the health and functional capacities of older adults in the community. Therefore, in order to age with grace and achieve an improved quality of life, we may want to keep eating healthy AND keep falling in love with yoga! 😉

For the full recorded interview, please visit Let’s Chat America YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/47vvU_5H2so