A large number of seniors walk into the yoga studio. They come seeking a gentle practice and can even be desperate due to lack of physical strength and energy to compete with youth.
How do we serve them? How can we appropriately accommodate them through a class?
Here are some tips for you to consider when designing a session for active older adults:
- Incorporate simple, gentle, effective and specific movements.
- Have a supporting teacher to assist students who might need modifications.
- Limit the class size to not more than 15 students.
- Teach simple spinal alignment for every pose to avoid injury.
- Incorporate stabilization movements’ specific to hips, legs, shoulders, arms.
- Use props like a chair or wall for support.
- Avoid postures that require forward spinal flexion and deep twists.
- Encourage participants to breathe in a natural rhythm.
- Ask participants to observe each movement during the class. “The rush in life is over. It is time to pause and look within.”
- Five to ten minutes of meditation in the end of each class is a great blessing.
- Encourage participants that there is an innate nurturing and caring energy deep within all of us. All we have to do is look within and smile. 🙂
- Amma often says that peoples’ bodies have grown but not their minds. For the mind to grow as large as the world, first we should become a child. Only a child can grow. Let us pray to keep the innocence of a child and grow in our minds.
Author: Yoga Shobha – Brahmacharini Shobhana
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