Yoga For Seniors

I guess it's been awhile since my last post. I read somewhere that most bloggers stop writing after about 4 months, so I guess I'm pretty typical. Except my reason for not posting has more to do with my split personality than simply losing interest. As you may well remember my life is going down several different paths. Becoming a certified yoga instructor being one of them and teaching young children in our crippled public education system being another. This school year has brought me the opportunity of teaching a combination class of Kindergartners and First Graders. And it has only been in recent weeks that I have emerged from the depths of this new assignment. Finally feeling like I can now focus on my training again.
Actually, truth be told, this is my second attempt at writing this post. And I have done three more parts of my training since I first started it. Yoga for Seniors being one of them. So let me talk about that. It could be called "Gentle Yoga", "Chair Yoga", or a variety of other softer, gentler names. This one-day training was down in San Diego County in a town called Poway. Someplace I had never even heard of. It was at a gym called "For Women Only" or something like that. So needless to say it was one that I felt much more comfortable spending an entire day at. Not that I have anything against men who hang out in gyms, it's just that it has been my experience that when they figure out there's a yoga training going on they have a tendency to hang out around the room where we are doing our training, flexing their muscles or some other form of male strutting. And I just find this behavior rather annoying. But back to doing yoga with seniors. I had heard that this class could just be renamed "Yoga with Props" and not being a big fan of the use of props, I went into it with somewhat low expectations. But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Of course we did the entire class using props such as a chair, straps, and blocks, but for me it was so much more. I learned a lot about the variety of health issues and restrictions that seniors may bring to the yoga experience. We also talked a lot about what it's like to teach seniors. How you have to get used to them talking throughout the entire class and how they have no problem telling you exactly what they think of you, your choice of music, and maybe even what clothing you have chosen to wear that day. Sounds a lot like my current teaching position in Kindergarten and First Grade.
I found this description of this group of students charming in the very least. I have always had a soft spot for elderly folks and have wanted to do some volunteer work with them for quite some time. So maybe this summer I will finally dust off that dream and incorporate teaching "Yoga for Seniors" to my growing list of summer activities. I'll keep you posted......