How does yoga change for people with special needs, seniors, or pregnant women? Seniors, pregnant women, and people with special needs can do yoga if they want to exercise or relieve pain and stress; however, it is recommended that they speak with a doctor before trying any exercise program.
For seniors, pregnant woman and even children, I think the first thing they can do to prepare is to talk to their physician, especially if they have a health condition. Any one with a "special need" should always get the advice of their doctor before starting any type of exercise program.
Q: Do they need modifications?
It depends. For seniors, and everybody really, it's important to know if you've got somebody with a health condition, so you can address that. If you have somebody that's totally healthy and is there for a different intention, then you have to address that. So, if they're not healthy, they need to talk to their physician first. They need to be able to come to that teacher and say, 'I have high blood pressure' or 'I have emphysema' or 'I have osteoporosis,' and all those conditions could be handled differently by that teacher if that teacher is trained. If they don't have any of those conditions, I treat them just almost like all the other students when I think about it. We do almost everything. Vini yoga is a modification in and of itself so we modify for those in the room all the time. "When you get to know people you'll know their structural conditions." For example, some people have this rounded upper back and so I know that I want to open up that chest and try to bring some circulation to that area there. Or a lot of people have knee problems, so we don't do any kneeling postures. I don't make them do something that their structure, that would harm them.
Before I start any class, I ask them (the students) what's going on. Does anybody have any knee problems? Does anyone have neck and shoulder problems? Sometimes they'll just offer that up themselves, so like here at The Crossings, generally people come in that I've never seen before and will never see again, unless they're here for a week and they come to the class every day. And so I have 5 people come in and somebody says 'I have knee problems.' I'll address that condition probably pretty early in the sequence and then I won't have them kneel. I'll adjust the class; I'll do it for everybody. I try to respect the conditions that are in the room and we can do a sequence without some kneeling postures. Just so that person doesn't feel left out. There are a lot of things we can do that will benefit everybody in the room without harming the person who has the condition.
For pregnant women, I would like for them, especially if they haven't done yoga before, to go and speak with your physicians about his or her philosophy on for instance whether or not they want you to lie on your back, and that's controversial. Some physician's say, 'Oh just do whatever feels okay to you.' Some physicians say, 'I absolutely do not want you lying on your back.' These are important things to find out before ever entering a class.
With pregnant women, we don't want to do anything that causes a lot of contraction in the abdomen, so we want to keep that pretty safe in that area, so deep twisting is probably pretty contra-indicated. Obviously, lying on your stomach is contra-indicated. Perhaps inversion could be contra-indicated. Things that are good for pregnant women: pelvic opening, squatting type things that are going to widen the base, the inner thighs, the birthing area, hips. Lateral bending, side bending, is good for pregnant women. You have to do some forward bending but it wouldn't be real deep forward bending because the belly's going be in the way. There is also the issue of adapting. Pregnancy is a condition that's finite so I would do is work with that person, maybe before class or after class to give them some adaptations or things to do while the rest of the class was doing things that were contra-indicated for that person, like laying on her stomach, or her back. Breath work is always good for a pregnant woman.
