Christy Turlington Burns has opened up about how rekindling her daily yoga practice during the Covid-19 lockdown has restored the flexibility she lost over the years.
The American supermodel, who turned 52 in January, has been an avid Yogi for most of her life, having fallen in love with the meditative exercise at the age of 18. While many people do yoga for weight loss, Christy uses it to increase her strength and sharpen her mental clarity. She quickly incorporated it into her hectic lifestyle, gradually building her proficiency with regular practice.
"It gave me a lot of confidence over time," she told W magazine in 2017. "It was pretty empowering, and so I think I was lucky to discover that early."
However, Christy hasn't always been able to find time in her busy schedule to unroll one of her many yoga mats and stretch out the tension. The philanthropist and filmmaker admitted her practice can suffer when she's working and traveling, especially if she takes on too many projects.
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"Probably more than 30 years or so I've had a practice, but in normal, busy times when I travel a lot and I work too much, I kind of squeeze that time in for myself," she said during a recent InStyle podcast.
The slower pace of 2020 has allowed Christy, who also has two children, to prioritize the ritual as a cornerstone of her everyday routine.
"I feel that very early on in the pandemic, it was like a perfect time for so many reasons to really reignite a daily practice," she said.
"I would say I'm more bendy [now] in some ways just because I'm so consistent with my practice now."
This consistency has already reaped some impressive results. Christy has noticed drastic improvements in her body since committing to daily practice, especially in her flexibility and posture.
"There are certain things I could naturally do when I was 18 starting to practice yoga," she revealed. "Over time and over working on a computer, hunched over and giving birth probably, it was harder for me to do certain things like back-bendy things. I just didn't like them. Now, I love them."
Christy, who has completed four marathons, also uses yoga for running. Cross-training on the mat can boost the coordination and core strength needed when pounding the pavements, helping you decrease injury risk and enhance agility.
Christy's passion for yoga has also been passed onto her mother, Maria, who took up the practice at the age of 50. "It's never too late or too early to start," she said, citing her mom's success as "evidence enough."
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