Maria Stefania Vavylopoulou

POV: your yoga practice starts making you stronger than ever. ⁣
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This loaded beast to plank flow is one of my favorite multi-tasking drills for women 50+. ⁣

It builds:⁣
✔ core strength⁣
✔ shoulder stability⁣
✔ mobility⁣
✔ confidence⁣
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The forearm version is amazing for sensitive wrists and deep core activation. ⁣
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Try 5-8 slow reps with steady breath and control. ⁣
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This is the kind of yoga that supports you both on and off the mat.⁣
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Because the goal is not “anti-aging”, it’s aging well. ⁣
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𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲:⁣
“𝟭𝟬 𝗬𝗼𝗴𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴, 𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟱𝟬”?⁣
Comment 𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧 below and I’ll send it to you or grab it from the link in my bio ⁣
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❤️ Save this to practice later ⁣
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💌 Send this to a friend who wants to feel stronger after 50⁣
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👀 Want more yoga that supports aging well? Follow along ⁣
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Try this for a week and tell me how you feel! ⁣
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And before anyone says “I could never do that..."😅

This definitely not an everyday movement practice.

It’s a very humbling core + balance challenge, which is why I wanted to try it.

Because every once in a while, I think there’s value in test-driving yourself a little.

Trying something difficult. Finding muscles you forgot existed. 😂

Inspired by

🫶 Follow for yoga, balance, mobility, and strength for women over 50.

⁣I’ve lived in NYC 🗽 long enough to know what actually matters.⁣

It was always my dream to live here, and somehow it’s been 40 years already. ⁣
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𝗔 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗺𝗲:⁣

❗️A real New York workout is stairs, subway transfers, and carrying Trader Joe’s bags home.⁣

❗️A lot of New York wellness is tiny rituals: walking, yoga, morning chatting with your favorite barista.

❗️There’s something deeply regulating about a toasted sesame bagel with lox.⁣

❗️There are moments walking home in Manhattan when the city convinces you you’re briefly in S*x and the City.⁣

❗️The women aging best in NYC laugh loudly at brunch, wear what they want, and have stopped asking if they're "too old" for things.⁣

❗️The real yoga class in New York is staying calm when the train says ‘delayed due to train traffic ahead.’ ⁣

❗️In a New York minute, a stranger can become your favorite story.⁣

❗️The women aging best here aren’t trying to become younger. They’re becoming more themselves.⁣

❗️And nobody in NYC expects you to look 25 forever. They expect you to keep going.⁣
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I call this animal yoga 😊
And honestly, I think the animals might be onto something.

They stay agile without stretching apps, biohacking routines, or expensive wellness gadgets.

They twist, crawl, rotate, reach, breathe, and move throughout the day in a natural and instinctive way.

Meanwhile, we sit through Zoom calls, grip our steering wheels, and expect one intense workout to undo an entire day of stiffness.

The real goal after 50 in my opinion?
👉Strong knees.
👉Happy hips.
👉Healthy posture.
👉A calm nervous system.

I’m convinced your body is craving movement, not another anti-aging cream.

These animal-inspired mobility patterns wake up the whole body.

🐙 Octopus arms for shoulder mobility and posture
🦋 Butterfly flutters for hip opening
🧸 Bear walks for wrists, hamstrings, and core strength
🐄 Cow-cat rotations for spinal mobility and breath

One of the things I love most about yoga is that it reminds us we were designed to move in many different ways, and to move more often

Thank you .bolliger for the inspiration 🙏

If you'd like more simple yoga and wellness tips for women over 50, I share them inside my FREE guide:
𝟭𝟬 𝗬𝗼𝗴𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴, 𝗧𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 & 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟱𝟬
Send me the word 𝗚𝗟𝗢𝗪 and I’ll send you the link 💛

My husband is incredibly coordinated.
Very capable hands…he’s a sculptor, after all 🙂

He’s also the one who remembers the name of that actor from a random British series we watched last year.

And yet… this?
Completely threw him off 😅

Which proves something important:

👉 You can’t predict what your brain will find challenging.

And that’s exactly why this matters.

This isn’t just a hand exercise,
this is your brain adapting in real time.

When you challenge coordination,
you activate new neural pathways
(this is what people mean by “neuroplasticity”).

👉 Your brain rewires itself when you use it in new ways.

That’s how you stay sharp, focused, and confident in your body.

This is especially important as we get older. We want to stay strong, steady, and mentally sharp.

Try it for 1–3 minutes.

Then come back and tell me… what happened?

You don’t need more Tylenol for that low back pinch.

It most likely means you need to start working on your hips, rotation, and glutes.

These 3 movements are where I always start:
💛 𝗙𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝟰 – targets piriformis releases deep glute tension
💛 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗶𝗼 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘀 – restore spinal mobility
💛 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘀 – build glute strength to protect your back

This combination helps:
✔ reduce low back pain
✔ improve flexibility and spinal mobility
✔ support posture and balance

📌 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲 this so you can actually do it later
📣 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 it with a friend who always complains about her back

DM me 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 if you want to join a Zoom class or work with me 1:1

This is why my older students finally 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 push-ups.

Chaturangas (the yoga version of a push-up) can feel intimidating especially when your wrists and shoulders start complaining.

The truth is you don’t need to do them the ‘traditional’ way to get stronger.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝟮 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:
✔ reduce pressure on your joints
✔ help your core do more of the work
✔ make strength feel possible again

And that changes everything.

👯 Share this with someone who's been avoiding push-ups

💛 Save this for your next practice so you remember which option works for your body

Before you press play on Netflix this weekend… try this first 🍿

Sit a little lower than you usually would.
A pillow on the floor, a low stool, or just scoot forward on your seat.

Now notice: How easy was it to get down? And more importantly, how did you get back up?

Squatting is one of the most natural human movements and in many parts of the world it’s how people rest, cook, and live their lives.

It keeps our hips open, knees supported and ankles flexible as we age.

🧘‍♀️Fun fact: The ability to get down to the floor and back up are major predictors of longevity and fall prevention in women over 50!

🪷 This week I’ll be sharing tips and routines to help squatting feel natural again so stay tuned.

Join me 🤍
My zoom group yoga classes and private sessions are designed for women 50+ who want to stay strong, agile, and confident indefinitely.

Most women I work with in their 50s, 60s, and beyond don’t just have “tight shoulders.”

They’ve lost strength and support in the upper back so the neck ends up compensating and doing more work than it was designed to handle.

These are 3 simple ways to start releasing that accumulated tech-neck tension.

These are three simple ways to start releasing that accumulated tech-neck tension.

Do them slowly and notice what feels different after.

1 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗹-𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗡𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗪𝗮𝘃𝗲
(Best for: tension release + gentle mobility)
Towel behind neck, ends in front
Lift and lengthen neck while opening hands slightly
Then tuck chin down as hands come closer
Move slowly back and forth
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀:
Improves mobility and helps restore range of motion, which tends to decrease with age.

2 𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲
Tilt your head away (ear toward shoulder)
Keep shoulders relaxed
Hold: 15–30 sec each side
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀:
Targets lateral neck muscles and adds controlled resistance, improving flexibility .

3 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻-𝗧𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁
Towel behind upper neck/head
Gently pull forward while drawing chin slightly inward
Think “make a double chin” (gently!)
Hold: 10–20 sec
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀:
Strengthens deep neck stabilizers and counters forward head posture (a major cause of tension) so it resets your posture.

❗️Save this for later
❗️Share it with a friend 👯

👉Where do 𝘆𝗼𝘂 feel the most tension, neck or shoulders?