In so many ways, aging is a blessing and our yoga practice can truly flourish as we grow older.
But it can be challenging to find reliable information about how to practice yoga to support aging bodies and minds through the many transitions that come with age.
On a physical level, yoga practice for older adults needs to evolve to serve the special requirements of aging bodies with a variety of conditions. Yoga can meet older students where they are, offering opportunities for strengthening and balancing, mobility and ease. However, it’s important for teachers to have an awareness of the benefits — and risks — that come along with asana.
Emotionally and mentally, yoga offers tools to handle the challenges that come with aging. This includes facing loss and grief, and for many people, doing so in isolation. Yoga offers supportive philosophy, spiritual guidance, and community, as well as potent subtle practices such as relaxation, pranayama, and meditation, to help our students find some calm in the ongoing process.
The population of older adults is incredibly diverse, so yoga teachers need to expand their knowledge if they want to serve this diverse community. We need up-to-date information and training so we can keep our students safe and offer them a truly effective practice.
In this 21-hour training, Jivana will cover the fundamentals of serving older adults from the perspective of the koshas. You’ll also have the opportunity to learn from guest teachers who specialize in topics that will support your teaching toolkit. Plus, the training includes four pre-recorded practices for older adults that you can experience and draw inspiration from.
This program is designed for yoga teachers, however older adults who want to understand more about building a safe and effective personal practice will get a lot out of the training.
On-Demand enrollment includes 1 year of access to the course content, including live course recordings (recorded live in Jan-Feb 2025), pre-recorded practices and associated resources, via our online course portal.
In the training, you’ll explore:
-
Working with Our Aging Bodies with Jivana
-
Expanding Energy & Breath as We Age with Jivana
-
Our Aging Minds with Jivana
-
Creating an Appropriate Practice for Older Adults with Jivana
-
Yoga & Health Care: Supporting Older Adults with Eve Adler
-
Mental Health, Dementia & Grief: A Decolonized Perspective with Ekta Hattangady
-
Building Strong Foundations for Easeful Aging with Carol Krucoff
-
Empowering Older Adults with Reduced Mobility Through Asana Practice with Jess Geevarghese
-
Eternal Awakening with Jivana
Plus, access pre-recorded practices:
-
An Ayurvedic Menopause with Kallie Schut
-
Yoga for Arthritis with Dr. Steffany Moonaz
-
Yoga for Post-Stroke Recovery with Sunny Barbee
-
Chair Yoga for Stability & Focus with Liz Oppedijk
Session 1 (FREE PREVIEW
Working with Our Aging Bodies: Anamaya Kosha
with Jivana Heyman
In this opening session, Jivana will offer an overview of Accessible Yoga for Older Adults and consider the pancamaya kosha model that yoga uses to understand the layers of our human embodiment. In particular, he’ll reflect on the ways the anamaya kosha (physical body) changes as we age. This includes a discussion of:
- Major health issues affecting older adults, and the ways that age impacts our bodies
- How these common health challenges intersect with yoga practice
- The potential benefits of yoga for older adults
- Safety concerns and contraindications of practicing asana for older adults
He’ll also share a short practice focusing on building strength and improving balance for older adults.
Check out the first session of Accessible Yoga for Older Adults as a FREE course preview (REPLAY now available!)
If you are curious about this new 9-part live online course with Jivana Heyman & guests, with additional pre-recorded practices (now available for on-demand enrollment!), we invite you to check out the first session as a FREE course preview.
Enter your details below to receive access to the captioned recording of the introductory 1-hour session with Jivana Heyman, Working with Aging Bodies: Anamaya Kosha, which was recorded live & online on January 24th, 2025, as a preview of the full Accessible Yoga for Older Adults course.
*You'll be taken directly to the captioned session recording, however we'll also email a link for you to access it. Please check your Gmail promotions tab or spam / junk mail folder if the replay email doesn't land in your main inbox, it may be there!
Session 2
Expanding Energy & Breath as We Age: Pranamaya Kosha
with Jivana Heyman
In this session, Jivana will continue with an exploration of adapting asana for older adults since it’s a vast and complex topic. He’ll also discuss the ways that asana practice supports strength and increased stamina–particularly strong muscles and bones as we age. He’ll also explore subtle yoga practices that focus on increasing prana (energy) as we age. This includes pranayama, breathing practices, and how we can find appropriate practices for ourselves and our students.
This session will include an asana practice for people with osteoporosis or those who may be at risk for bone loss.
Session 3
Our Aging Minds:
Manomaya Kosha
with Jivana Heyman
We usually think of yoga as a physical practice, but that’s just one small part. According to traditional teachings, yoga is ultimately about the mind. As we age, working with our own mind can become easier or more challenging depending on our life circumstances and a host of other issues. In this session, Jivana will continue an exploration of the breath and how it works with the nervous system to calm the mind. He’ll explore how we can support older adults with the inward, more subtle yoga practices such as pranayama and meditation. After all, meditation is the heart of yoga practice, but it can be challenging to turn inward when you’re experiencing trauma, stress, grief, or memory loss, which is common for so many of us.
This session will include a couch asana practice designed to prepare us for meditation.
Session 4
Creating an Appropriate Practice for Older Adults: Vijnanaya Kosha
with Jivana Heyman
In this session, Jivana will explore yoga practices that connect us to the wisdom body, vijnanamaya kosha. This is our intuition, or higher mind, which we may have greater access to as we age. As we know, age offers wisdom, but sometimes we need to work at it. We can become more sensitive to subtle changes in our bodies and minds as our interoceptive ability expands. This session will focus on important considerations for sharing yoga with older adults as we support them to connect with themselves. Jivana will also explore high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis, inflammation.
This session will include an asana practice designed to address joint mobility, muscle strength, as balance, as well as a practice to help people get up off the floor.
Session 5
Dementia, Mental Health & Grief: A Decolonized Perspective
with Ekta Hattangady
In this interactive workshop, you’ll reflect on your understanding of dementia and the unconscious biases you hold.
Ekta will bring forth perspectives from their experience working with people with dementia, and from Buddhism, that allow for a more expansive view of the human life span and its accompanying malaise.
This workshop will include reflection, journaling, discussion, and a slideshow presentation.
Session 6
Yoga & Healthcare: Supporting Older Adults
with Eve Adler
Explore the knowledge and tools you need to work with older adults in healthcare settings. We’ll review current research about changes that can occur in the body and mind with age, and explore the importance of exercise, both physical and mental, in the aging process.
We’ll also consider questions that older adults should ask their doctor before starting a yoga practice, safety guidelines when practicing asana, how to practice chair and bed yoga in healthcare settings, and the importance of resting between poses. We’ll also discuss the essential topic of how to best support caregivers of older adults. The workshop will end with a short yoga practice.
Session 7
Building Strong Foundations for Easeful Aging
with Carol Krucoff
Yoga offers numerous tools for aging well with practices that can build strength, boost balance, enhance strength, and increase flexibility. Yet some commonly taught yoga postures may pose significant risks for older adults. This workshop will offer essential information about health conditions common to seniors—including heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and arthritis—and present evidence-informed movement considerations to help reduce risk and enhance effectiveness for people in midlife and beyond. We’ll explore practices that are accessible for active seniors and can help them remain independent by reducing fall risk, improving and/or maintaining bone and joint health, and enhancing physical function. These practices can also help those in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond prepare for aging well.
Session 8
Empowering Older Adults with Reduced Mobility Through Asana Practice
with Jess Geevarghese
The Silver Tsunami, a wave of older adults who started turning 65 in 2011, has hit the United States. While it’s easy to think of “older adults” as a monolith, there’s tremendous variation in their ability, mobility, and needs. The session will address the diverse needs of older adults in a yoga practice, which is crucial for fostering inclusivity and ensuring safety. Specifically, we’ll discuss the differences in needs of active older adults and those with decreased mobility in a yoga practice. We’ll discuss the different types of aged care facilities (in the U.S.), and dive into the considerations necessary for working with this less mobile population. We’ll also consider how to best work with mixed-level classes in these spaces, and the business aspects related to serving this population. Interspersed with the lecture will be two 20-minute practices for this population.
Session 9
Eternal Awakening:
Anandamaya Kosha
with Jivana Heyman
This session will be divided into two parts, including a reflection on the anandamaya kosha, the bliss body, as well as a course summary.
First, Jivana will discuss how yoga connects us to an eternal place of peace and joy, as well as offering us acceptance of loss and grief as well as illness and our eventual death. He’ll also consider the intersection of ageism and ableism, and ways we can use the tools of yoga for healing as individuals and in community.
Then, he’ll review the presentations from all of our guest faculty and offer a summary of the entire course.
PRE-RECORDED PRACTICE
An Ayurvedic Menopause
with Kallie Schut
In Āyurvedā, yoga’s sister science, it is taught that the stages of life are closely aligned with a doṣa (constitution) and the associated panca maha bhuta (great element) which overlay qualities and characteristics from which we can adapt and adjust as we move through the stages of life, including menopause. Through this gentle and easeful vata-pacifying yoga practice incorporating mudra, mantra, and pranayama, Kallie shares the principles of an ayurvedic approach to menopause.
PRE-RECORDED PRACTICE
Chair Yoga for Stability & Focus
with Liz Oppedijk
This practice will invite students to focus on finding balance in body and mind, or to set their own intention. Every part of the practice will offer options so students can choose their own level of flexibility and range of movement. The practice will focus on encouraging good posture, lengthening the spine, and lifting the chest to counteract slouching, in service of allowing the breath to flow more easily, as well as joint-opening movements to encourage comfortable and available ranges of motion. The sequence will refocus on posture and breath between movements, and include a fun element with music / sound to stimulate new neural networks and help retain the ability to multitask.
PRE-RECORDED PRACTICE
Yoga for Arthritis
with Dr. Steffany Moonaz
This gentle chair yoga practice, led by esteemed yoga therapist and researcher, Dr. Steffany Moonaz, is designed specifically to support those with arthritis and chronic pain. This class, accessible to those who are unable to get up from the floor or don't feel comfortable doing so, will focus on mindful movement, breathwork, and relaxation techniques to help alleviate discomfort, enhance flexibility, and promote overall well-being.
PRE-RECORDED PRACTICE
Yoga for Post-Stroke Recovery
with Sunny Barbee
This gentle and therapeutic practice will support students who have experienced a condition resulting in significant weakness, such as a stroke or brain tumor resulting in hemiparesis (partial paralysis). The sequence is mostly seated with brief standing poses using the chair for assistance. Some poses will focus on relieving spasticity (stiffness or rigidity) and others will assist in improving balance.
Are you curious about how this training differs from our signature 50-hour Accessible Yoga Training Online?
Check out our FAQs for further details about these two courses.
Check out the course FAQs
Tiered Pricing Explained:
- Community Rate (supported by your peers)
- Sustainer Rate (covers your enrollment)
- Supporter Rate (covers your enrollment + supports your peers)
*Choose the pricing tier that best suits your financial means.
If you are able to enroll at the Supporter or Sustainer Rate, your contributions support the ability to offer a lower rate to community members experiencing financial difficulties.
If you would like to clarify which pricing tier is most appropriate for you, please refer to this helpful graphic by Alexis J Cunningfolk:
The Green Bottle: Where You Fall On The Sliding Scale
Intention of Equity Pricing Structure:
Please take a moment to consider the intention of our scholarship program and equity pricing structure, which was created in order to amplify training access for those who hold marginalized identities and those experiencing significant financial hardship.
If neither of those qualifications apply to you, we ask you to please consider other payment options, including using the tiered equity pricing structure, or supporting others in our community who have decreased access to financial resources by enrolling as a Sustainer or Supporter, if this is accessible to you.
EQUITY PRICING OPTIONS
*Choose the pricing tier that best suits your financial means.
Includes 1 year of access to the captioned replays of the 21-hour Accessible Yoga for Older Adults online course (17 hours recorded live & online in Jan-Feb 2025, plus 4 hours of bonus pre-recorded sample practice videos, and associated resources).
Community Rate
$399 USD
Sustainer Rate
$449 USD
Supporter Rate
$499 USD
PARTIAL SCHOLARSHIPS
If our tiered pricing options are financially inaccessible, please click here to access our partial scholarship application form.
