When I was a younger person, I occasionally attended yoga classes taught by people with stunning acrobatic skills. I would think, “That’s beautiful, but…there’s just no way…”
I started to secretly call those classes “Last Man Standing Yoga” – the poses keep getting harder and harder. Students start dropping like flies. Eventually, only the teacher is left performing – the rest of us eating dust.
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I struggled with feeling like a sub-par teacher. What was I supposed to do – get a hamstring transplant?
I had to get better at understanding, embodying, and explaining the rationale for teaching differently – in a way that helps people dismantle the obsession with hypermobility and acrobatics. I got labeled the gentle or beginner teacher (which at the time was hurtful but I now see it as a compliment, thank you very much 😇).
Pretty early on I learned something that in yoga circles tends to get swept under the Manduka: hypermobility is genetic – and it’s not necessarily a gift.
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One of my friends was a hypermobile teacher, and while she was wonderful and hugely popular, she developed all sorts of joint problems and pain that she kept secret. I remember her telling me that she just needed to stretch more. But she was wrong about that and eventually she realized she had to completely change the way she practiced and taught. She still works hard to heal her injuries from those days (and curses her younger self’s cluelessness…don’t we all 😂).
While I felt empathy for her (and many others who’ve followed), I also felt a little grumpy. Hypermobile teachers were commandeering packed classes and promoting dysfunctional, inaccessible movement – unhealthy for hypermobile students on one hand, shaming for the non-hypermobile on the other (risky for both). They cashed in on the largely unspoken edict that hypermobility was an asset, something to strive for, and the hallmark of a good yoga teacher, the goal of practice.
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That was about 20 years ago and while hypermobility still dominates yoga in the U.S, it’s inspiring to see how much has changed and how many more choices there are now. I think it’s partly because so many of the people who were attracted to yoga in the 90s and 2000s are getting older – they simply have to find more sustainable ways to practice.
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Aging is the inevitable reality of life (and needless to say, better than the alternative). Although I’d been an advocate for accessible yoga basically since I started teaching, a few years ago I realized that the ability to rethink, reframe, and embody the positive aspects of aging was going to be equally essential if I want to keep advocating.
We live in a youth obsessed, death denying, death defying culture.
In addition to my Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube feeds screaming at me with images of youthful hypermobile yoga poses, they are also really screechy about face creams, push up bras, miracle weight loss diet plans, and devices promising to rid me of my unsightly turkey neck. (Lucky for me advertisers understand that reversing gravity’s effect on my face, boobs, belly, and neck will finally give my life the meaning and purpose I’ve always longed for. 🙄)
Women are subjected to a lifelong barrage of advertising aimed at our insecurities. Aging women are additionally assaulted with messages that we are losing value and so if we don’t respond, that loss will accelerate.
I love teaching slow, mindful, sustainable, low-risk, nervous system focused yoga. And I will probably (fingers crossed) be able to teach it for years to come. I use my practice to feel better in my body and to feel better about who I am, not to lose weight, look younger, nail a handstand, or accomplish anything other than health, self-understanding, and ease of movement.
And that’s all I want to teach too.
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The great thing about teaching yoga is that the older I get, the more studying I have under my belt, the more experience I have, the more I have to share, the more people I can help, and the better I become at teaching. And I have lots of role models.
Did you know that famed yoga teacher Indra Devi lived to be 102? She was one of the first women that Krishnamacharya agreed to teach and she became well known in Hollywood in the 40s and 50s. She taught Greta Garbo, Eva Gabor, Yul Brenner and Marilyn Monroe.
Marilyn and Indra Devi, source unknown
Geeta Iyengar taught yoga most of her adult life until she died in her 70s. As the oldest daughter of B.K.S. she carried on his lineage and specialized in yoga for women’s health. Then there are folks like Nischala Joy Devi whose book The Secret Power of Yoga is a sweet and practical interpretation of the Yoga Sutras, Judith Lasater who started teaching in 1971 and is still a tour de force, and Angela Farmer whose yoga teacher “untraining” idea was brilliant – and way before it’s time.
I am also inspired by all the not so famous older yoga teachers like Ida Herbert who taught in Canada and Connie Dennison in Scotland. There are so many of them. And they all got better with age.
No one wins the rat race. We will all go gentle into that good night. But for older women yoga teachers, instead of raging against the dying of the light, we may want to consider raging against the sexism and ageism that tells us to quietly fade away. We may wish, instead, to lay the foundation of a healthier yoga world for the women teachers who will come after us.
The second half or third of life is the best time to step into wisdom, knowledge, authority, service, and power. In order to uplift the next generation, we need to be willing to ruffle a few feathers.
For me, older teachers have been important role models and shining beacons. Because yoga is not about how you look, it’s about how you feel…and, if you are practicing sustainable yoga as you age…you will feel mahvelous.
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Thank you for sharing your beautiful insight.
My daughters an I have hyper noble it’s a disease that is painful and gets worse with age if you don’t strengthen the muscles around your ligaments. Thank you for writing this, it says everything I have ever tried to articulate to others when I talk about yoga.
Thank you Roberta and I’m sorry that you struggle with hypermobile joints. I am glad to hear that you have found a way to use yoga that supports you!
Great blog, I wholeheartedly agree. I’m a uk yoga teacher 58 years old and one of my favourite teachers is Candi Lee who I’m guessing is probably in her 60’s and is a wonderful instructor. I was lucky enough to attend her workshop when she came here a couple of years ago and her class was a slow but powerful and sustainable flow, with an emphasis on ‘sustainable’, in each move or pose, especially seated breath work. I left pooped but very happy!
Keep flying the flag Kristine!
Thank you Louise – you too!
I second all of that! And though I was saying yes yes yes throughout, I was pulled up short in the second to last paragraph by the word “authority”. Something I never thought of for myself. I’m claiming my authority now, along with my wisdom and all the other good stuff! Thanks for that.
Great wisdom here, thank you. i am one of those hyper flexible people and it has been envied by others in yoga classes but I was given a disservice by those who encouraged focus on flexibility. i have all kinds of joint problems that i finally figured out that stretching just makes worse and disabled me for weeks at a time until i learned more gentle techniques and combined with strengthening poses. I still have the potential for all the joint problems now but manage them with yoga and mindfulness.
Love the direction to bring us away from marketing to our insecurities and focusing on our strengths!!
So good—love it! As a 71 year old yoga teacher, teaching in a retirement community, I think this article is “right on”! My students like this focus for their yoga classes. Benefits for all!
Thank you!
I was fortunate to go to a couple of classes with Lilias in a Mason studio in Ohio. I was so appreciative of her insights, soulful beauty and maturity. She took time to meet my husband, after I talked him into it, because I found her to be a remarkable experience and have a remarkable personal presence. He agreed. I say: “And that’s why I do yoga”.
Thanks again Kristine
Greetings, Kristine. You are creating a beautiful space for older teachers of yoga. Truly grateful! I am 79, closed my studio of 20 years due to COVID and am still teaching in the mindful, conscious way that I’ve always taught. Some years back I studied with Angela Farmer in Lesbos, Greece…learning about the grace and beauty of the female form…forever informing my own practice and my teaching. Thank you, Kristine. ❤️
Lovely article and comments.
Hi Maureen, so nice to see someone the same age as me still going strong. Where do you teach and are your students seniors? My favorite yoga studio shut down abruptly at the beginning of the pandemic and I allowed myself to go into a funk. This not working for me I am back out and wanting to teach again. Seeing posts like yours gives me hope. Thank you
That’s great Sylvia – please keep the faith! COVID has been a hard time for yoga teachers. I teach only online at the moment – but at some point I hope to be back teaching in person in Asheville, NC. xo
Love this!
Keep it coming Kristine, as you have mentioned … this can be a lonely journey or one can step up step out and walk their talk. I’m 74yrs, live in Geraldton Western Australian and realizing my desire to become a strong advocate for Accessible Yoga for my community. With the Subtle Yoga Community support ‘I Will’ achieve this goal.
Thank you Keitha. And thank you for keeping the faith and helping folks in your community – I have no doubt you will achieve your goal and you are very much supported here. xo
Amen sister! To every single word of this!!! I found myself exhausted from the shaming gaslighting and ostracizing in the local yoga studios that almost drove people like me off our mats for good. Thank goodness for finding teachers like you Kristine, and others who validated the HEALTHY practices that remained within the realm of the realistic and honored each person’s unique journey. I now have the most beautiful group of people to share practice with and teach. I hope you continue to teach practice and inspire well into your 100’s Kristine!! Much love and gratitude. 🙏🧡
Aw thanks Beth! You too! Glad you found your tribe – so important!
Beautiful and empowering comments Kristine.
thank you!
Well said! The times, thank goodness, they are a’changin.
So grateful for your teachings that inspire me to pass on this underlying wisdom of Yoga in my classes with an average age of 70!!
Thank you, Kristine, for the wealth of knowledge and experience that you share through so many venues–your blogs, your courses, your FB postings. I am typically the “elder” in the room, as a yoga teacher of 66 years, but other than the grey hair and the wrinkles I haven’t quite felt eclipsed yet, but I do wonder sometimes, “how long…?” so it’s reassuring and refreshing to read your take on all this. Thanks again.
Thank you for your comments and thank you for doing important work Shanna!
Hi Kristine .. yes! Thankyou … I am 55 years old and have been doing yoga since 26 years … I have allways been drawn to teach Accessible yoga for people to use in every day life , in the Community. The yoga I learnt in my teacher training was yoga for ‘where you are at ! ” … Poses can all be modified … working on mobility , then strength … I totally resonate with all you speak about ! and love your focus on the Nervous system … so important in this life that can be so demanding . Thankyou
Great that you had such a good teacher training Celena! And thank you for sharing yoga with regular folks!
Thank you for articulating to the larger world what needs to change in American yoga teaching. I am 72 y.o. and have been doing yoga off and on for 50 years. As a physical therapist by profession, I know the deep truth of your insights. I taught “beginner yoga” for the last 2 years, begging people not to force range of motion. Correct alignment for the body and the limitations people have is a way to love where we are and to practice authenticity. Blessings on your work!
Thank you Pam! And thank you for all the good work you have done/are doing!