Starting Yoga Stiff, In Your Late 30s, 40s Or Beyond: Chris Lalor’s Story

Starting yoga at 40: the short version

Chris Lalor could hardly drop her head forward in her first yoga class, and that night she slept better than she had in a long time. Starting yoga stiff, in your late 30s, 40s or beyond, is a lot less scary than it sounds. Chris was in her late 30s, strong from lugging pot plants and stiff from years of desks and nurseries. She had never done yoga, and she couldn’t sleep. This note is her story, what surprised her, what one small trial found in stressed women her age, and how a stiff beginner can start in Darwin or live online. It is one of our yoga for beginners notes.

Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. It is sometimes called modern classical yoga, and it’s the style we teach at Flametree.

Starting yoga at 40 in short form

• Who: Chris Lalor, in her late 30s, a stiff, stressed nursery owner in Melbourne.
• First class: she could only tilt her head forward, and slept well that night.
• The surprise: the hard part was the mind, not the stiff body.
• Staying steady: yoga teaches you to stay calm when a pose feels hard.
• Research: a 2005 trial of Iyengar yoga in distressed women of a similar age.
• Props: chairs, walls, blocks and belts mean you need no flexibility.
• Next step: your first class is free if you’re new to Flametree.

Who was Chris before her first yoga class?

She was a strong, stiff and stressed business owner. As a kid she swam and ran. At university she tried judo, and gave it up when the bruises outweighed the fun.

Then came the desk. Chris lectured in economics, so she sat and thought for a living. Later she and her partner sold flowers by the roadside, and that grew into three plant nurseries in Melbourne.

The nurseries meant lots of walking and lifting. Chris carried big pot plants around the nursery and out to customers’ cars. She stayed strong, but she got stiffer, and her muscles went lopsided. In her words, she had no idea how stiff she was.

Then Chris stopped sleeping well. In her late 30s, stiff and stressed, she wandered into a yoga room to see if it could help.

What happened in Chris’s first class?

She could barely do the first bend, and she slept better that night. The class was with a senior Iyengar teacher in Melbourne. Chris was so stiff that standing with her legs apart and folding forward, she could only drop her head a little.

She was also rebellious. With each standing pose she thought, “How can this possibly help?” Late in the class came the forward bends, and she could do little more than tilt her head forward.

That night she slept better than she had in a long time. She went back the next day, and on most days after that. The forward bend wasn’t the only reason, she says. The whole order of the class mattered, from the active standing poses to the quiet ones at the end.

Choosing that order is a teacher’s skill. Chris now says her teacher knew what the class needed, even when she didn’t.

What surprised Chris most about starting yoga stiff?

It wasn’t the stiffness. It was how some poses felt in her head. She expected tight hamstrings and an uncoordinated body. What caught her off guard was the inner voice. When the teacher showed a pose, it said, “Who, me? You must be kidding. I hope there’s an alternative.”

Over time, with steady practice, she came to look at a new pose as “interesting” instead. She learned to break it down, stay calm and work out what it was asking.

Chris calls this skill equanimity (staying calm and steady when the feelings are strong). It’s what a yoga pose teaches, and it carries over. Among other things, she says it stops you saying things you’ll regret.

It also brought something she hadn’t planned on: open-mindedness. In her own words she’d thought she knew better. Yoga taught her to trust that a good teacher can see what you need.

Her tip: “Judgement is like a pair of shoes. Leave it outside the yoga room.”

Chris says most beginners think headstand or other upside-down poses are beyond them. With small steps and a teacher, she says almost all learn some of them, and students delightedly tell her, “Today I did my first headstand.”

What does research say about starting yoga when you’re stressed?

A small 2005 trial found Iyengar yoga eased stress in women with an average age of 38. According to PubMed, Andreas Michalsen and colleagues in Germany studied 24 women who felt emotionally distressed. Their average age was 37.9. Sixteen did two 90-minute Iyengar yoga classes a week for three months. Eight waited their turn, which is called a waiting-list control.

The yoga group had clearly less perceived stress and anxiety than the waiting group. Well-being, energy and low mood also improved, and women with headache or back pain reported marked relief. In a second group, saliva tests showed lower cortisol (a stress hormone) after one evening class.

It was small, and the women weren’t put into groups by chance, so it points the way and proves nothing. But it matches what many of our beginners tell us. You can read the study at PubMed (Michalsen A and colleagues, Medical Science Monitor, 2005).

For more on why slow, steady practice calms the body, see our post on how to calm your nervous system. For better sleep, read yoga for sleep.

What kept Chris coming back?

The challenge, and the way her mind felt afterwards. She had tried and dumped other kinds of exercise. Yoga stayed, because every pose was a puzzle for the body and settled the mind.

She and her partner later left Melbourne and travelled west, then north, doing yoga in a tent for 12 months up the west coast. They reached Darwin, and Chris started training as a yoga teacher. Hard times came later. Chris says the balance and calm she’d already built through yoga helped her through it.

She’s clear that yoga isn’t a cure-all. Good food and a low-toxin lifestyle matter to her too. Her own daily practice is simple: a few poses and some breath meditation, most days.

What would a stiff beginner at 40 do first?

Tell the teacher you’re stiff, then use the props. A good beginner class doesn’t ask for flexibility. It uses chairs, walls, blocks, bolsters and belts, so each pose comes to you instead of the other way round.

• Say so. Tell your teacher what’s stiff or sore before the class starts.
• Take the easy version. Restorative poses over a bolster are the easiest of all, and they still teach the body to open. Our restorative yoga note explains how.
• Give the whole class a go. Chris spent the first half thinking “how can this help?” The change came by the end.
• Leave judgement outside. Be curious about each pose instead.
• Learn to stand first. Our note on how to stand in mountain pose covers the first pose most beginners learn.

If you wonder whether you’re too stiff, see our post on yoga for stiff guys. It answers that for women and men alike.

Starting yoga at 40 in Darwin or live online

Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga at Woolner in Darwin and LIVE online. Beginner classes are taught by certified teachers, led by Chris Lalor, who is a Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and certified yoga therapist.

Your first class is free if you’re new to Flametree. New students, and anyone who has been away three months or more, can also get a half price 10 class pass with 2 extra classes free, to use online, in the studio, or both. In the studio, just come along. Online, click the class time you want and we email you the link to join. See the beginner timetable.

Already practising yoga? The same half price 10 class pass for new students, and for anyone away three months or more, is also available as the non-beginner half price pass.

Starting yoga at 40: questions people ask

What is it like to start yoga at 40 when you are stiff and out of shape?

It’s humbling and then interesting. Chris, who started in her late 30s, could only tilt her head forward in her first class, and she felt resistance as well as stiffness. With props and a teacher, a stiff beginner does easy versions of each pose, and the stiffness stops being the main story.

How old was Chris Lalor when she started yoga?

Chris was in her late 30s. She walked into her first Iyengar class in Melbourne, stiff from running three plant nurseries and unable to sleep.

What happens in a first yoga class?

You learn a few simple poses with a teacher, usually standing poses first and quiet poses last. At Flametree, beginner poses are easy and introductory, and props make them easier still. Tell the teacher about any pain or stiffness before you begin.

Can I be strong and still too stiff for yoga?

You can be both, and you are never too stiff to start. Chris was strong from lifting pot plants and still very stiff. Yoga builds flexibility and strength together, and beginner poses are set up so that stiffness doesn’t stop you.

Why do some yoga poses make me feel nervous or resistant?

Chris felt the same. She says some poses push you into mentally uncomfortable places as well as physical ones. Over time you learn equanimity (calm steadiness), and a new pose starts to feel interesting instead of scary.

How soon might I notice a difference after starting yoga?

Some people notice it quickly. Chris slept better the night after her first class. In the 2005 trial of distressed women, the measured changes in stress and anxiety came after three months of two classes a week, so be patient and keep coming.

Has research tested Iyengar yoga on stressed women around 40?

Yes, in one small study. A 2005 German study of 24 distressed women, average age 37.9, found less perceived stress and anxiety after three months of Iyengar yoga than in a waiting-list group. The women weren’t put into groups by chance, so it is a pointer, not proof.

Where can I start yoga at 40 if I’m stiff in Darwin?

Flametree Yoga Studio teaches beginner Iyengar yoga at Woolner in Darwin and LIVE online. If you’re new to Flametree, your first class is free. In the studio, just come along; online, click the class time you want and we email you the link to join.

Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and live online. This note is general information, not medical advice. If you have pain, a health condition or a worry about starting, talk to your yoga teacher, your yoga therapist and your doctor if you wish.

Sources: Michalsen A, Grossman P, Acil A and colleagues. Rapid stress reduction and anxiolysis among distressed women as a consequence of a three-month intensive yoga program. Medical Science Monitor, 2005, 11(12):CR555-561 (PubMed). Chris Lalor’s own account of her first yoga class, from her Facebook posts.