With the senior population living longer, more youthful lives, it just makes sense to tap into their need for therapeutic exercise classes that help them to relax and strengthen their muscles. Becoming a yoga instructor is one career move that allows you a large amount of flexibility, and choosing to teach seniors opens up new opportunities to attract new participants to your sessions. While you may be eager to start showing older adults how to work their way through the poses, you must first complete your yoga teacher training to demonstrate your competence as an instructor. 

1. Look for Courses That Cover Human Anatomy 

You don't need to be a doctor or biologist to become a yoga instructor. However, you should have some basic understandings of the human body so that you understand what a senior student is saying if they tell you that they've strained a specific muscle or feel pain in a certain area of their body. Look for classes that offer some insight into how the various bones, muscles, and ligaments all work together in the body as you perform basic poses. While you may not need to take an intensive biology course, you will benefit from having an instructor who at least uses the correct terminology for parts of the human body.

2. Learn How to Use Props and Modifications

Many seniors are coming to take yoga classes for the first time in their life, and it is possible that you will also have students who have stopped practicing yoga for a period of time. Seniors are also more likely to come to your class with health issues such as arthritis that limit their movement. During your training courses, you will want to focus on how to help people modify their poses using traditional props such as straps and blocks. You may also want to ask your yoga teacher to show you how to help seniors do other forms of yoga, such as chair poses.

3. Commit to Developing Your Own Practice

Your students will feel more comfortable taking your classes when they know that you are an expert. Be sure to carve time out of each day to practice your asanas. You will also need to make sure that your training program is intensive and that you participate in every single lesson. By taking your practice to a new level, you can help senior adults begin to make progress in theirs.