Yoga for Seniors: Embracing Wellness Through Gentle Practices

By Dennis Bluthardt, By Dennis Bluthardt

As yoga’s popularity grows, older adults are tapping into the time-honored way to work out. And why not? Yoga moves are easily modified to suit your activity level. They get you stretching, sure, but also serve to strengthen your body and increase muscle tone. Most importantly, yoga helps with balance–a crucial component of fitness that allows lessening those dreaded fall risks.

But beyond the physical aspects, yoga also helps to center you mentally. Got stress? As proven, this moving meditation can put you at ease, no sweat. Seniors who regularly engage report feeling calmer, more emotionally stable, and happier overall! At the same time, joining a class provides a fantastic community–necessary for older adults who may be shy of friends in their current state of life.

Understanding Yoga for Seniors

Modifications of traditional poses are crucial so that seniors can practice yoga safely. Not all seniors have the same flexibility, strength, or balance level!

Further, in my experience teaching yoga to “older” bodies, those who are just starting to practice have many questions about the benefits of yoga because they want to be sure they’ll be spending their time wisely. Many college-age yogis or those in their 20s or 30s do have questions about the benefits of yoga, but they are more willing to try it out before asking many questions.

Most of the seniors I have practiced with are dubious. Few are younger at heart and up for anything, but for the most part, “What’s in it for me?” is the mindset that I have seen. Considering the many modifications that can help non-senior yogis and those without injuries, yoga for older adults has several benefits.

Key Benefits of Yoga for Seniors

Yoga can help older adults strengthen their sense of balance and reduce their fall risk. It makes a lot of sense. Tree Pose significantly improves your ability to balance and strengthens your standing leg. Warrior II Pose improves leg strength and requires aligning the body correctly over a space. Warrior II activates the brain’s ability to locate joints, known as proprioception, an essential factor for people who don’t want to have a fall.

Yoga and meditation Guru BKS Iyengar said that stilling the fluctuations of the mind is an essential pathway to health; improving mental health is a positive reason seniors should book a yoga class.

Various techniques are employed to extend that inner calm. Coping with the decline of old age can be challenging. Good sleep and a calm mind are some factors that make yoga very appealing to older women and men.

Essential Yoga Poses for Seniors

Yoga can support flexibility, strength, and relaxation for older adults. Some beginner-friendly poses you can try right now are the Mountain Pose (Tadasana) for better posture, the Cat-cow Stretch (Marjaryasana-Bitilasana) to make your spine more supple, or a seated forward bend (Paschimottanasana) to stretch your hamstrings.

For relaxation, you could try Balasana, better known as the “child’s pose.” Try poses like Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I) to gain strength and stability,

You can modify these poses to make them more accessible at different ability levels. (In some cases, for example, you could use a chair or try the pose out next to a wall.)

On balance: It’s super important for your older adults—preventing falls and promoting general stability—for seniors to focus more specifically on balance. Enhancing their respective foundations means sticking to a few particular poses. They’ll want to support some beginner-friendly standing poses. Any one-legged pose will help—like standing Vrksasana or “tree pose.” Or, you could try a standing forward bend: Uttanasana.

Seniors standing for “tree” also: Poses like these will engage your core muscles, stretching and strengthening your legs and spark-like surges in mindfulness and body alignment.

Find their (your) center/ centers: With each pose, breathe.

Creating a Yoga Routine for Seniors

Safety is paramount. Check with your healthcare provider. Healthcare professionals will also inform seniors of what they should or shouldn’t do so that they can familiarize themselves with these motions and have a medical expert on hand when they first learn.

Many yoga studios offer classes for seniors specifically. These classes are also frequently more low-key and oriented to yoga beginners, as they cover the basic, most gentle movements that aid balance and flexibility. A local fitness studio is likely to have an accommodating, senior-friendly listing. Additionally, seniors should take advantage of virtual classes. Those new to the exercise will similarly find much use for home learning videos.

When looking for a class or an instructor, seniors should seek out ones that specify they are experts in old-age-related practice. Choosing someone with experience in yoga for seniors will mean this individual knows first-hand the struggles seniors face regarding their practice. These instructors will offer modification pose options and make the moves manageable.

Additional Wellness Practices

Incorporating meditation with yoga practices equates to long-term benefits for seniors and life. Yoga keeps the physical body flexible, strong, and balanced. Meditation works within those physical parameters to “train” the mind to be clear and calm, regardless of the emotionally difficult or confusing situations we find ourselves in.

Senior programs can help with this transition. Mindful breathing (focusing on the breath for a minute or two every day) can help ground you and make you more aware of the present moment. Perhaps performing a few minutes of guided imagery (everyone loves going to the beach) could help decrease anxiety and make you feel better.

At the very least, memory improvement and enhanced concentration skills (with yoga philosophy teachings in most classes) will start popping up with some regularity. Those are the primary reasons for enhanced cognitive functions. After all, everyone, as we age, needs to adamantly “draw a line” and wage outright war on this type of dementia.

Yoga offers numerous benefits for seniors. I want to highlight three things: improving balance, overall wellness, and a sense of community.

Balance is an important skill to maintain as we age to prevent falls and injuries. Yoga poses often require you to plant your feet as your base and hold positions focusing on stability and core strength. Balance translates into your daily life, as you will become less afraid of falling if you can simultaneously balance mental and physical aspects.

I primarily view yoga as a stress and anxiety reliever. Lots of us are much happier now that we don’t have the same responsibilities as we did when we were younger. But those years are still possible. Gentle yoga exercises force you to breathe and relax, giving you the mental wellness you might miss.

Last but certainly not least, as we grow older, senior-targeted activities, but not limited to, are a great thing to seek out. I wouldn’t want to walk into my first yoga class and embarrass myself in front of many youngsters. Join your local YMCA with your best gal pals and slowly go into your practice at your own pace and with those like you around.

Please comment below if you have tried yoga and what your experiences are with it! Whether you are an expert or a beginner, I’m sure others reading will be inspired to try it now that they know the benefits.