Yoga, Breath, and the Body

Adriene Mishler is a yoga teacher from Austin who puts high quality yoga and mindfulness practices online at no cost. Her free videos are sorted by length, from ten to thirty minutes. There are sets for beginners, back pain, mental health and mornings. It is a friendly place to start at home with no one watching.

Jivana Heyman coined the phrase Accessible Yoga and wrote Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body. His podcast, running since 2020, looks at yoga for older adults and people with disabilities. Episodes include safer practice for older bodies and how yoga therapy fits with Western medicine. He also helped found the nonprofit Accessible Yoga Association.

Carol Krucoff is a certified yoga therapist who teaches at Duke Integrative Medicine. She co-directs a teacher training in yoga for seniors with the Kripalu Center. Her books include Relax into Yoga for Seniors and Yoga Sparks, a set of practices for stress relief in a minute or less. She founded the Health section at The Washington Post.

Steffany Moonaz is a certified yoga therapist and Director of Clinical and Academic Research at the Maryland University of Integrative Health. Yoga for Arthritis offers practice for people living with arthritis and the people who care for them. Free options include a seven-day email mini course and a YouTube channel of classes and modifications. Live classes and trainings are paid.

This NIH page sums up what research says about yoga for back and neck pain, anxiety, depression and several chronic conditions. It is frank about risk. Sprains and strains are the most common injuries, and people 65 and older are treated for yoga injuries at higher rates. It advises working with a qualified instructor and telling your doctor what you practice.