Hello Yinsters!
I haven't posted in a while but I have more concerns about yin for seniors. I teach a group of seniors, quite old and super-stiff with lots of medical conditions. I class is labelled "gentle yoga and meditation". I offer a lot of warm-up movements and stretches, then some standing postures, going back to the floor for sphinx to child eventually to legs up on chairs before shavasana. Most of the forward bends offered are folds from the hips rather than rounding of the spine. Sara Meeks has scared me off the forward bends unless supported. Sarah Powers says forward bends with rounded spine are ok. I am confused!
My students have bad knees, backs, shoulders, fibromyalgia, MS, hip replacements, past stroke, heart history, you name it. I don't know if I am serving them well. I have only blocks and towels as props, no bolsters or blankets. Other than lower and upper body pavamuktasana, is there a safe yin sequence I can teach. Going into the summer, with all of the yang energy, my seniors need yin more than ever!
I would love some ideas on safe sequencing for my lovely but older students. By the way, the average age is somewhere between 65 and 70.
A challenging question to be sure: how many students do you have in a typical class? The challenge you are facing stems mostly from the fact that you are teaching a “class.” This was not the way yoga was originally shared or taught.
Imagine this scenario: you walk into your doctor’s office because you have a mind-bending migraine. There in the waiting room are 29 other patients waiting for the doctor. The doctor arrives on time and looks at all the patients and says, “Okay – today we are doing aspirin!” You think, “great! That will really help my migraine.” But the patient sitting next to you has asthma and aspirin will do nothing for her. The next patient is suffering stomach pains from ulcers and aspirin will really harm her. Another student … oops, sorry … patient is 6 months pregnant and raises her hand, “will aspirin be okay for my baby?” The doctor ignores all the variations and just says, “aspirin, aspirin, aspirin.”
Now of course this is ludicrous: no doctor would prescribe medicine in a group setting like this – everyone is different and everybody requires a different therapy. But, this is exactly how our yoga classes have evolved. A teacher walks in and says, “Okay, today we are doing backbends and hip openers.” Some students are delighted but many groan inwardly. Good teachers try to find out what is going on with their students before class starts and tries to shape the class to what is present, but with 30 students or more in some classes, this is not always practical or possible. And even if the students speak up, they may not know what is really going on in their own body: that is what they have come to class to figure out.
In your case, you have a class full of seniors who definitely have challenges and you want to figure out what is the lowest common denominator of yoga poses that you can offer that will work for all of them. Good luck! Many elderly students can do flexion of the spine: Sarah Powers is right – sometimes. Many students with lower back disorders absolutely should not flex their spine. Some suffer from arthritis but it is mild and stressing the joints will be great for them: others suffer severe arthritis and any stress will be bad. I could go on, but you get the point.
When you are dealing with an “at risk” population, you will want to keep the classes deliberately small, get to know exactly what their conditions are, and have lots of props on hand to make the poses accessible for them. There is another word for this kind of yoga: yoga therapy, and it is best done in small groups or one-on-one.
Yin Yoga can absolutely help seniors! But! Which asanas, how deep, what options, how long the holds will be depend on each individual’s situation. If you don’t have the option to do this, you better default to the lowest common denominator and just do very simply exercises: the pawanmuktasanas, some easy Wall Yin and seating postures with no spinal flexion and reclining/restorative poses. Regardless, however, get props! If the studio doesn’t have them, ask the students to bring them from home. Everyone has blankets and pillows that they can bring.
I hope this helps: I would be interested to hear other opinions.
Thanks for you great although somewhat troubling response. Yep, I guess Ii am teaching an "at risk" population. My classes are made up of 15 - 18 students. I am thinking of insisting on class size max of 15. I am also thinking of offering 3 levels of classes, gentle, restorative and hatha. The rec centre where I teach needs a lot of prompting for props. In fact, I recently raised $400.00 for props and decided to spend it on blankets which could be rolled up to create bolsters since bolsters are so pricey. I have not yet spent the money. If you have other suggestions I would welcome them.
For now, I will have to teach to the lowest common denominator, as you say, and work with a lot of safe warm-ups, pranayama and meditation techniques. Chairs come in handy as well.
good idea to get as many blankets as possible: these can be molded and folded in many ways.
I wonder if it would be possible to ask your students, if they are regulars, to give you a written description of any "challenges" they have, like high blood pressure, osteoporosis (where), arthritis, etc. That way you can give a standard class for the group and suggest specific modifications for individuals.
Bernie,
I created a very simple health form which I ask students to fill out. It has been really helpful. I can share it with the group if you would like.
Lydia