Are you aware that Taiwan is about to enter a “super-aged society”?* According to the latest data, the proportion of elderly people in Taiwan is continuously increasing, and it is estimated that by 2025, more than 20% of the population will be over 65 years old, making Taiwan a super-aged society. This social trend has driven attention to the health and well-being of the aging population and the elderly, emphasizing preventive health management and adaptive fitness programs like senior yoga.
The Challenge of Aging
Healthy aging is a challenge that begins at birth, and it becomes increasingly challenging as time goes by. The wisdom tradition of Yoga has always addressed the challenges of aging, and provided practices for enhancing wellness at every stage of life — especially for ensuring greater health, resilience, and vigor in our later years.
Keeping consistent yoga practices helps the aging population prevent and alleviate discomfort and functional decline associated with the aging process, enhancing the physical and mental health of the elderly, and sustaining vitality and happiness throughout life.
Five Areas of Healthy Aging
The Upanishads laid out five fundamental areas in which we can support healthy aging through practices that fit our present state of health and age. This workshop will use these five categories — known as the ‘Vayus' or functions of the ‘Life Force' or Prana — to explore the yogic tools available to us for healthy aging. And these categories will help us focus on understanding the process of aging from both the yogic and the scientific perspective.
Sep. 27th Healthy Aging: The Role of Asanas and Movement Functions
The Friday Workshop Intro Session will start with the role of asana and movement. Most of the pain and inflammation associated with age occurs in the fascia or connective tissue of the muscles and joints, and problems there can make even a young body feel old!
This session will explain and explore the kinds of movement in asana that reduces the inflammatory process in muscles and joints, and can be adapted to different bodies in simple and memorable ways. Asana is not just about ‘stretching' — the practice is about maintaining healthy tissues that restore and replenish themselves through movement, maintaining lightness and resilience, or what today is called ‘fascial fitness.'
The session will include both ‘theory' and movement. And the specifics of adapting practice for seniors who are more limited in their movement will be explored more deeply in the Sunday session.
Sep. 28th Healthy Aging: Sustaining Vitality and Health
The Saturday Workshop Session will continue in this theme of movement and fascial fitness, and will explore the further dimensions of Yoga practice that maintain vitality, support proper rest and sleep, maintain the vital role of digestion and the immune system through Yoga practice as well as through diet, and finally maintain cognitive health, or clarity and vitality of mind.
This will include focus on the central aspects of breath practice that support vitality, relaxation practices that support healthy and rejuvenating sleep, and practices for mental focus and clarity that are not just limited to meditation.
Sep. 29th Healthy Aging: Asanas and Teaching Seniors
The Sunday Workshop Session will focus on asana, and how the practice can be adapted for seniors, while keeping the focus on the elements that make the practice beneficial at any level. This will be of interest and benefit to teachers as well, who are looking for inspiration for working with seniors.
Many movement modalities are beneficial to seniors. Our focus will be specifically on asana, and the actions that are essential to their benefits. By the afternoon, we will also get into practical applications in breathing practices, and ways to adapt breathing practices to more senior students.
In conclusion, this series of Master Workshops with Doug Keller offers a rare learning opportunity. The course content and themes progress gradually, not only enhancing your personal practice but also equipping you with practical tools to support the wellness journeys of the aging population and others. Experience how Yoga can extend vitality and well-being throughout life.
Dates and Daily Schedule
Sep. 27th 19:00-21:00
Sep. 28th 9:00-12:00，13:00-16:00
Sep. 29th 9:00-12:00，13:00-16:00
*Subject to change. Any changes will be notified well in advance.
Suitable for
This course is ideal for teachers or practitioners who wish to teach senior yoga. It offers an in-depth study of foundational teaching techniques, asanas, breathing, and meditation applications for the elderly, also helping you better understand their health needs and activity levels, and enabling you to design high-quality yoga classes suited for the aging population.
This workshop is also suitable for elderly individuals looking to enhance their physical and mental health, especially those seeking to improve physical function, reduce stiffness or pain, lower the risk of chronic diseases, and enhance overall well-being. Yoga practice can not only improve the declining physical and mental functions of the aging population but also enhance social interaction in classes, reducing feelings of loneliness.
CE Credit
14 hours of CE credits for Yoga Alliance
Doug Keller's background reflects a lifelong commitment to studying, imbibing and sharing the vast field of knowledge and practice known as yoga. After receiving degrees in philosophy from Georgetown and Fordham Universities in the United States, and teaching philosophy at college level for several years, Doug pursued his “post-graduate” education in the practical experience of yoga at the Siddha Meditation Ashram, Gurudev Siddha Peeth, in India, for seven years, and spent a total of 14 years doing service, practicing, training in and teaching yoga in Siddha Meditation Ashrams worldwide.
He received intensive training in the Iyengar system in New York City, practiced Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga in India, and became one of the first certified Anusara yoga teachers, producing three highly respected books on asana, pranayama and yoga philosophy. His work has since taken him beyond the confines of the Anusara system. Doug's further expansion in learning is reflected in his latest and most in-depth work, “Yoga as Therapy”, which is one of the most comprehensive, innovative and useful treatments of the structural aspect of yoga therapy available.
Doug's teaching is rooted in a vast and inclusive perspective of study and practice that honors the insights of the many streams of wisdom that flow into the river of yoga. A regular columnist for Yoga+ Magazine, writing the “Asana Solutions” column that addresses specific therapeutic problems, Doug is a ERYT500 with Yoga Alliance and a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists.
