Teaching Yoga to Seniors

20-hour online certificate course with yoga therapists Kimberly Carson & Carol Krucoff

 

Play video

 

Register Now

Expert Instruction

Based on the pioneering program offered at Duke Integrative Medicine, learn the key health issues facing older adults and how to safely promote strength, balance, flexibility and pain relief with yoga.

Receive Certificate

20-hour training qualifies towards Yoga Alliance RYT, IAYT and other professional continuing education requirements.

Unlimited Access

Come back again and again to review online course content, deepen your understanding, and inspire your teaching – from any device, anywhere, anytime.

A Lifetime of Yoga Benefits

Adults over age 65 are the fastest-growing sector of the US population and – like many Americans – are increasingly drawn to yoga. This presents both a great opportunity and a serious challenge for yoga instructors, since some commonly taught postures may pose significant risks for older bodies.

Our Yoga for Seniors teacher training is designed to enhance your sensitivity to the complexity and vulnerability of older adults, to give instructors the skills and confidence to safely and effectively teach seniors, and to improve the safety of your practice.

What You Will Learn

The basic physiology of aging and why some yoga practices may be risky for older adults

Essential information about health conditions including heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, lung disease, and chronic pain

A skillful method for adapting yoga practices safely and effectively for seniors and others with these limitations

Tested lesson plans and tips for teaching mixed classes with students of varying ability

Techniques to enhance and refine your voice as a teacher

Expert, Heartfelt Instruction

Yoga Therapists Carol Krucoff (Duke Integrative Medicine) and Kimberly Carson (OHSU)

We love working with seniors and want to share with you the rewards that come from supporting the health of our elders, honoring their stories, and witnessing the beauty and power of the ageless human spirit at this important stage of life.That’s why we created this unique program in collaboration with top medical experts from University Duke Medical Center. Together we combined the best of current, evidence-based medicine with the ancient wisdom, experience and tradition of Yogic teachings. In this course, you participate in specially designed yoga sessions where you experientially learn how to appropriately modify postures for safe and effective work with older adults, with emphasis on individuals new to yoga. Online course modules also include

  • A balance of lecture, movement, skill-building sessions, and discussion.
  • Yoga sessions geared to mature bodies, including chair-based practices and appropriately modified postures for those not able to get down to and up from the floor.
  • Learning about common ailments affecting older adults and how to respond to students’ complex medical challenges.
  • Integrating a conceptual model for skillfully adapting postures and practices.

Expert, Heartfelt Instruction

Yoga Therapists Carol Krucoff (Duke Integrative Medicine) and Kimberly Carson (OHSU)

We love working with seniors and want to share with you the rewards that come from supporting the health of our elders, honoring their stories, and witnessing the beauty and power of the ever-young human spirit and its fullest expression at this important stage of life.

That’s why we created this special program in collaboration with top medical experts from Duke University. Together we combined the best of current, evidence-based medicine with the ancient wisdom, experience and tradition of Yogic teachings.

In this course, you participate in specially designed yoga sessions where you experientially learn how to appropriately modify postures for safe and effective work with older adults, with emphasis on individuals new to yoga.

Online course modules also include:

  • A balance of lecture, movement, skill-building sessions, and discussion
  • Yoga sessions geared to mature bodies, including chair-based practices and appropriately modified postures for those able to get down to and up from the floor
  • Learning about common ailments affecting older adults and how to respond to students’ complex medical challenges
  • Integrating a conceptual model for skillfully adapting postures and practices.

Earn Your Certificate of Completion

Earn a certificate of completion in Teaching Yoga to Seniors with the acclaimed Carson-Krucoff approach.

This 20-hour program is designed to introduce essential principles of safe and functional movement for older adults, particularly in the application of teaching yoga.  It qualifies for continuing education credit with Yoga Alliance, International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT), and other professional development organizations.

It combines the best of modern, evidence-based medicine with the ancient wisdom, experience, and tradition of Yogic teachings.

Details

$295 $395 Course Fee

10% Discount for groups of 3 or more.

Installment billing available. Select “PayPal CREDIT” for 6 months of interest-free financing

Course registrants are encouraged to have experience teaching yoga or another form of movement (i.e., fitness, physical therapy) and a commitment to keeping older adults functional and safe.

Course consists of pre-recorded lectures, readings and review quizzes. You can start or stop at anytime.

Contact us if you have any questions.

What Past Course Participants Say

“… I feel extremely blessed…”
Kelly Bendis Miller, RYT-200

“…Kimberly and Carol have so much experience and knowledge to share…”
Mary Gengler Fuhr, Occupational Therapist, RYT-200

“… I am leaving with so much more confidence…”
Kathryn Jones, Health Writer, Yoga Instructor

“…the energy was amazing…”
Paula Monson, RYT-200″

“…when you are willing to let something go, there is room to bring something new in …”
Gayle Baker, RYT-200″

“…this has been awesome… was so helpful as I’m a visual learner…”
Angela Johnson, RYT-200

“… if we teach with love, and live with love, that’s going to go a long way…”
LauraRose Hisrich, Fiber Artist, RYT-200

“…older adults have the most to lose, but also the most to gain …”
Jennifer Johnson, Occupational Therapist

“… too often we look at older people as disabled, this really makes it seem as they are enabled through this practice …”
Kim Bell, RYT-200

Student Experiences

“This was among the best trainings I have attended.  The mix of factual materials on aging, health issues, do’s and don’ts and practice sequences was on target to provide a solid basis to teach a broad range of seniors.”

Carol Mermey  RYT 500, Takoma Park, MD

“Carol and Kimberly present a complete program that incorporates eastern and western sciences, adaptation of yoga poses and teacher development through sharing of experiences, self discovery and lesson preparation. The insights shared by the attending teachers, plus Carol and Kimberly’s knowledge and rapport, made this program invaluable to me.”

Dr. Howie Shareff  Raleigh, NC

Instructors

Kimberly Carson, MPH, C-IAYT, E-RYT, is a health educator and yoga therapist specializing in the use of yoga and meditation for seniors and people with medical challenges. Kimberly has developed and taught yoga programs being researched at Duke University Medical Center and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). The Mindful Yoga program (in the research literature as “Yoga of Awareness”) developed by Kimberly and her husband Jim has been shown in research trials to significantly reduce pain and fatigue in women with metastatic breast cancer, breast cancer survivors, and women with fibromyalgia. Kimberly is co-author with Carol Krucoff of the DVD Relax into Yoga and the book Relax into Yoga: A Six-week Program for Strength, Balance, Flexibility, and Pain Relief.

Carol Krucoff, C-IAYT, E-RYT, is a yoga therapist at Duke Integrative Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, and an award-winning health journalist. Carol served as founding editor of The Washington Post’s Health Section, and her articles have appeared in numerous national publications, including the New York TimesReader’s Digest, and Yoga Journal. She is author of several books including Yoga Sparks: 108 Easy Practices for Stress Relief in a Minute or Less, and Healing Yoga for Neck and Shoulder Pain, and is co-author with Kimberly Carson of the book and DVD, Relax into Yoga for Seniors.  Carol has practiced yoga for more than 40 years, has studied with master teachers from around the world, and has served as a consultant on several yoga research studies.

Read the instructor’s paper Relax into Yoga for Seniors: An Evidence-Informed Update for Enhancing Yoga Practice Benefits by Reducing Risk in a Uniquely Vulnerable Age Group. Published  in the open-access medical journal, OBM Geriatrics in their special issue on Yoga in Older Adults.  

About Us

Yoga for Seniors and Yoga Calm are honored to join efforts in developing this course.

Yoga for Seniors provides professional development training for yoga teachers and health professionals at Duke Integrative Medicine and at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health.

Yoga Calm is a health and wellness education company that supports youth in yoga studios, schools, family and therapeutic settings. Over 20,000 teachers, counselors, parents and therapists from around the world have taken Yoga Calm college-accredited courses and staff trainings.

Yoga Calm’s unique contribution is the provision of highly engaging activities that develop self-regulation, attention, mindfulness, social/emotional and integrative movement/fitness skills for all ages. This balanced, integrative approach to wellness and human development is at the heart of the Yoga Calm method.

Heading

Teaching Yoga to Seniors