26/02/2026
I saw this article…. And could not agree more!!!!
This week I spoke to a woman in her 60s who is retired, had recently finished her yoga teacher training, and had started teaching at a senior center. She said that someone had referred her to me because, "even though I finished teacher training, I have no idea how to adapt what I learned to the kind of people I'm now teaching. I feel clueless."
It's not the first time I've heard this.
More than 10,000 people in the U.S. turn 65 every single day. And yoga participation among adults 65+ has increased about 5x since 2002.
The yoga space is quickly changing - it's getting older...and older.
So, we, as a teaching community, need to adapt our teaching to meet the needs of these folks.
But the problem, as I see it, is that so many yoga teacher trainings are built on the assumption that everyone who goes to yoga wants a workout.
The reality is that many older adults come to class for mobility, mental health, nervous system regulation, functionality, and a sense of community - and the last thing they want is to hurt themselves trying to do something they haven't done in 50 years.
Yoga teachers need to be able to navigate many different situations including having students who can't do "regular" sun salutations but don't want to feel singled out; working with students who are fearful about moving; and then also working on adapting their instructions to both mat and chair students at the same time - and do all that while keeping your head on straight.