wisdom in motion

Yoga is emerging as a holistic avenue for older adults to meet physical activity recommendations associated with numerous health benefits and reduced mortality risk. Current yoga interventions, however, fall on one of two extremes of intensity, emphasizing either very gentle, chair-based movements or poses requiring hypermobility. To find a balance between these two extremes, we have developed an introductory yoga intervention that incorporates self-categorization theory and health education. Our participatory team consists of yoga instructors, older adults, and community health workers as well as researchers from exercise physiology, neuroscience, and implementation science. The long-term goal of this work is a scalable, educational, and community-based yoga program for older adults. The overall objective of this planning grant is to garner feedback on the yoga intervention that aligns with the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, develop the training protocol for this intervention, and solidify the feasibility of our team to carry out a subsequent larger-scale trial. The contribution of this work is expected to be an intervention informed by both practice- and research- evidence that will be easy to implement. Ultimately, this work may increase the proportion of older adults meeting strength, balance, and cardiovascular training recommendations through yoga.