This week, we bring you something a little different for our Training Thursday series:  a report on how two 4yoga teachers prepared and delivered a training for other potential and current yoga teachers!

On Sat., Feb. 1, 2025, Trudy Burkeen and Frances Strickler provided this training to nine participants at Be Happy Yoga & Salt Cave.  In their two-hour workshop, they covered three main points:  how to design a chair yoga class, how to sequence the poses for a chair yoga class, and how to provide modifications for students taking a yoga class in a chair. 

Between them, Trudy and Frances have accumulated 13 years of experience teaching chair yoga, making them the ideal leaders for this training.  They also advocate for chair yoga for people in many different situations and settings.  

As Frances noted, “chair classes are not only for seniors.  They are great for people on vacation and office workers.”  Trudy commented, “chair classes are great for people just starting to practice yoga. A gentle class will help in the movement with stretching, strengthening, and in using the breath to give ease to the body.”

Participants who are in training to be yoga teachers completed this workshop as part of their 200-hour teacher training program; those who were already yoga teachers earned two hours’ worth of continuing education toward their ongoing professional development.  To remain registered with Yoga Alliance, our field’s largest professional organization, yoga teachers must complete and report 30 hours of continuing education every three years.

To benefit from the experience that Trudy and Frances have acquired, join them for a Gentle class at 4yoga, where participants are always welcome to use a chair for comfort or support.  Trudy teaches each Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. and some Thursdays at 9 a.m.  Frances typically teaches the first Thursday of the month at 9 a.m.