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Teaching Yoga To The Older Generation
Yoga Vidya Mandiram is a registered Yoga School centered in the magical Himalayan valley of Rishikesh, India.

We provides certified courses by Yoga alliance USA 200 hours, 300 hours, 500 hours Hatha, Ashtanga, retreat and Kids Yoga TTC.

When you first decided, to learn yoga, you may not have given this much thought. However, after a few classes of the Yoga Teacher Training in India, this must have struck you. You can join professional yoga classes now at any renowned college of yoga. India is the birthplace of yoga, and the teachers who are trained under the sages, can provide you with a holistic learning environment. After you have completed a foundation level yoga course, which many formally call the 200-hour yoga TTC, you should always aim for the 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in India.

It is one of the advanced level yoga courses, which can give you a great push in your career. The course tends to help you to dive deeper into the subject. You will learn all those modules in huge detail, on and above what you learnt in the foundation course. Take the example of asanas, meditation, and Pranayama. You will also learn some advanced strategies, when it comes to teaching diverse groups of students. Today, you shall get a chance to delve deeper into the teaching modalities for older yoga students.

How To Teach Yoga To Seniors?

Times have changed and today, people are living beyond the age of 60-70. It can be attributed to a huge extent to the medical technologies that are improving day by day. So, the need for restorative and preventative practices are also quite popular. You can start learning yoga after retirement as well.

In the 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in India, you will get the ultimate chance to learn about the teaching modalities. You can teach children, absolute beginner teens, adults, middle aged, and the old. So, this training mainly widens your sphere. If you have completed the basic course, and is teaching yoga at any of the schools, you will find a lot of older students in your classes. Some of them attend yoga classes, to recover from illness, some to recover from surgeries, while others want to make yoga a part of their life, for preventative functions.

Teaching yoga to seniors can be a task in itself. There will be times, when you may have to repeat the same thing again and again. Some may have developed memory problems or may be suffering from hearing loss. However, it is good to challenge your abilities at times. With age, stiffness in the joints sets in, the spine also undergoes compression, and you tend to lose mobility and balance. Muscle and bone mass also decreases. Too many years of bad postures can lead to sitting and standing posture problems. Amazingly, yoga has a cure for all these. You can actually restore the body to its former self, and towards anti-gravity healing, with the help of yoga. There are a few sets of instructions, that you will probably learn, when you set out to teach different age groups. Let us learn about the things that you should follow, when teaching older adults. This is possible, when you do the Yoga Teacher Training in India from Yoga Vidya Mandiram.

Understanding Training Modalities for the Old

· You have to dive into the age-related physical changes that affect the body. The first thing that you ought to do, is to find out what ailments the incumbent is suffering from. So, the knowledge of anatomy will come to your rescue. You can suggest various alterations and modifications to your old yoga students. You should be always ready to face things such as stiffness, neck pain, back pain, and arthritis, to name a few. Moreover, you cannot expect the spine to be straight as well.

· You should be ready to go back to your lessons, learnt in the 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in India, which will enable you to work around the problems. You can start with some leg stretches and torso stretched before, you suggest hip openers, chest openers and groin openers. Moreover, you should to provide the seniors with adequate support at the back or under the head.

· You also need to slow down the pace of Yoga. In case, you started with Hatha Yoga, you are already going slow. Hatha Yoga is one of the practices, which can give you the stability and balance. It is not much different for old students, in this case. There will be some seniors, who may have practiced yoga in their middle age or before. So, they may become excited and try to do difficult poses. However, it will be your duty as a teacher to help them to slow down. Always suggest warmup exercises, before you give them the asanas. Meditation may be a better option to start with.

· You should also encourage the older students to use more props. They can use bolsters and cushions when doing seated poses. Moreover, if you have making them do folded poses, then you have got to equip them with blocks and straps. Do not be in a hurry, to get the best out of them. You can always achieve th best, if you are patient. Some of the seniors may feel more over confident, but that is just about it. You should go at your own pace. Once you are confident that they will be in better space, you can suggest pace.

· However, there is something, that you must do, so that the seniors are not discouraged. Always consider them as individuals. Some of your older students, may be better off than you, in fitness. One size may not fit all. Moreover, there will be students, who require some more customization, than what you are already suggesting to the others. So, you need to give personalized attention as well.

The 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in India will prepare you to be a teacher, who can understand the body and the mental prowess of the students. Then only you can be identified as a successful teacher. Do not go by assumptions, as they can be false. As a teacher, you should also have a one-to-one counselling session with the students, to understand their past and chart out their future, in a better manner.