Yoga For Seniors - Gentle Classes To Improve Your Quality of Life
Golden Years For Fitness
Yoga: A Holistic Practice With Holistic Results
- Lower the risk of cardiovascular disease
- Recovery from strokes and surgery
- Prevent falls
- Manage arthritis, pain and inflammation
- Manage diabetes
- Manage digestive issues like IBS
- Improve sleep quality
- Facilitate the grieving process
- Manage depression and anxiety
Yoga Is For Any Body
Start Practicing
Below is a list of challenges and classes that are ideal for 55+. Whatever you choose, try to do the classes regularly so you can see the benefits of a consistent yoga practice. You may be surprised how great it can make you feel!
GENTLE YOGA VIDEOS FOR SENIORS
The best place to begin is our subscriber-only Back to Health Senior 30-Day Yoga Challenge, which begins with very gentle, short, beginner yoga classes and progresses to ones that are slightly more challenging and rewarding. If you aren't able to afford a sustaining membership at this time, apply for one of our bursaries.
Back to Health Senior 30-Day Yoga Challenge
Duration: 30 days, 1 class/day
Instructors: David Procyshyn, Satiya Channer, Tianne Allen
This 30-day yoga challenge designed for seniors offers you a daily practice that alternates between yoga classes and guided meditations. It is designed to help you safely improve your mobility, strength and balance, while teaching you how to relax and feel less stress and anxiety. Classes are ideal for 55+.
If you would prefer to try a few classes first, here is a sample of our free classes that are great for 55+:
An Introduction to Yoga for Seniors
Duration: 6 mins
Instructor: David Procyshyn
This gentle introduction to yoga helps you understand how to move and stretch in a way that is safe and most beneficial to you and your body. David teaches you a few basic principles of yoga that you can carry with you into any class.
Chair Yoga for the Upper Body
Duration: 27 mins
Instructor: David Procyshyn
This gentle beginner's yoga class is all done in a chair. You would be surprised how much you can do! David shows you how you can stretch most of the major muscles of the upper body in a thorough and effective way. He makes the poses more accessible by using a strap. As you progress, you can move your hands closer together. If you don’t have a strap, you can use a rope or a belt.
Chair Yoga for the Lower Body
Duration: 16 mins
Instructor: David Procyshyn
We can also effectively stretch and strengthen the lower body while sitting in a chair. In this chair yoga sequence, David shows you how it’s done. Using a strap, David takes you through how to stretch the back, front and sides of the legs, as well as the hips and lower back, which will help encourage blood flow to your feet and strengthen your balance and body awareness.
Get Started With Yoga
Duration: 19 mins
Instructor: David Procyshyn
This is a gentle yoga classes that teaches you how to do yoga safely, to get the most benefit and avoid injury. David teaches you how to sit, stretch and adapt your poses and movement using yoga props, including blankets, blocks and a chair (if you have them).
Slow Flow: Salutation Variations
Duration: 19 mins
Instructor: Guy Friswell
In this short class, Guy guides you through a series of three distinct salutation sequences: salute to all directions, salute to the gods and goddesses, and salute to the moon. Use any or all of these sequences at the start of your practice — particularly in the morning — to get your body warmed up and your energy flowing.
Yoga for Arthritis: Wrists, Ankles and Feet
Duration: 12 mins
Instructor: David Procyshyn
Tightness in your hands, wrists, ankles and feet can lead to pain, and in this class you will learn how to avoid it and find relief. David shows you how to gently and thoroughly stretch the muscles of the hands, fingers, forearms, ankles, feet and toes, helping with arthritis and joint inflammation. It's helpful to have a couple of blankets, a yoga block (or two) and a strap (or something similar) nearby.
Release the Neck
Duration: 16 mins
Instructor: David Procyshyn
This class can be done seated on the ground, standing or sitting in a chair. David shows you how to help relieve a stiff sore neck and headaches with this effective series of stretches and movements that are designed to release all of the muscles of the neck. Once you learn to do this stretching routine, you will be able to do it on your own, whether you’re watching TV or waiting in line at the bank.
Hatha Yoga for the Hands and Wrists
Duration: 16 mins
Instructor: David Procyshyn
This class can also be done seated on the ground, standing or sitting in a chair. The series of gentle stretches and yoga poses in this hatha yoga class is perfect for those who work daily with their hands, whether you're an office worker, musician or carpenter. Doing this hatha yoga class regularly will help improve flexibility, range of motion and blood flow to the hands, wrists and fingers.
Yoga for 55+: Return to Practice
Duration: 28 mins
Instructor: Satiya Channer
This yoga for 55+ class is a little more challenging for the average senior. It comes with many benefits, including helping you establish the strength and flexibility that you need to maintain your abilities as best you can, such as your balance, the range of motion in your joints and your pain-free body. It will also prepare you for Satiya's next class: Yoga for 55+: A Beginner Flow.
Yoga for 55+: A Beginner Flow
Duration: 68 mins
Instructor: Satiya Channer
This yoga class for 55+ is perfect for beginners or anyone who feels they need a gentle yoga class that is longer and slightly more challenging. It begins with Satiya slowing you down, breathing, meditating and letting go of the day. She makes her way toward gentle, modified sun salutations, followed by a hatha yoga flow that includes balancing poses, and openers for the spine, hips, legs, shoulders and groin. It may feel a little more challenging than the average Yoga for Seniors class, but it will likely be accessible to most who are in this age range.
Gentle Hatha Yoga for Lower Back Pain
Duration: 22 min
Instructor: David Procyshyn
Lower back pain is very common, particularly as we get older and our muscles tighten. Even if you don’t have lower back pain, it’s a great idea to do a class that helps prevent it, since it can be difficult to find relief once lower back pain has set in. This gentle, beginner’s yoga class teaches you how to care for your back by taking you through a self-massage routine using tennis balls and a series of stretches that release key muscles in the hips, legs and back.
Restoring Equilibrium
Duration: 65 mins
Instructor: David Procyshyn
This class is great for beginners and the elderly, since it is a very thorough stretching of the entire body, allowing you to release most of the tight areas of your body. Beginning and ending with deep relaxation, this longer yoga class for seniors, beginners and tighter yogis moves slowly and deliberately through a gentle sequence of poses that helps you stretch and feel calm and balanced.
Please Note: You need to be able to sit on the ground to do this class.
Align, Stabilize and Stretch
Duration: 53 min
Instructor: David Procyshyn
David spends more time in this class on alignment and stability so that you can safely stretch the hips, legs, back and shoulders. Do this class to reinforce alignment principles while increasing the range of motion in your joints. This is a great class for increasing the strength of the small muscles around your joints that aid in stability.
I hope you enjoy the above resources. Comment below if you have any questions for comments!