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$180.00 Compassionate Senior Yoga Training Certification 2025
This two-day program, developed by Heather Hagaman and Maryam Ovissi, will cultivate compassion and understanding for the journey of aging.
Aging is a natural journey. Today, seniors, aged 65 and older, represent the fastest-growing sector of the population. In the diverse field of Yoga, one of the greatest needs is to offer safe, customized and joyful spaces for seniors to gather, connect and cultivate reverence for themselves and each other.
One focus of this two-day program will be the skill and art of teaching chair yoga. We recognize that chair yoga is for everyone, not only seniors. Feel free to attend this workshop to build skills for chair yoga in general. Props, including the wall, will be used often.
Training highlights:
- A methodology and sequence structure
- Overview of the principles and guidelines for teaching seniors
- Overview of common issues for seniors
- Tools and practices from our compassionate senior toolkit
- Build skills to customize over 20 asanas for the senior/chair community
Certification requirements include:
- a paper with 3-5 takeaways
- a 20-minute video of a sequence incorporating skills developed from this weekend
- attendance at the complete two-day training is required
This certification is an optional training in the 300HR Teacher Training, and is open to all.
Barbara Okerson is presenting a half-day workshop on osteoporosis on Sunday, November 16th. We highly recommend you attend. REGISTER HERE
(PLEASE NOTE: This training is nonrefundable. If you cannot attend after registering, you may email admin@belovedyoga.com before November 13 to request account credit.)
Heather Hagaman
Heather Hagaman MA C-IAYT is the Director of Beloved Yoga’s Befriending Therapeutic Programs with a specialization in Trauma and Recovery in Reston. She has a Masters in Psychology from Marymount University and is a board certified Yoga Therapist. Heather also holds a Certification in Trauma Sensitive Yoga from David Emerson and Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk (Kripalu).
Heather is a pioneer in the new field of Yoga and Trauma Recovery. This emerging field utilizes Trauma Informed Yoga and Meditation to help people start to move beyond PTSD, Addiction, Anxiety, and Depression and start to build fulfilling lives. There are numerous studies now that show that Yoga compliments addictions and trauma recovery. Heather has worked extensively with psychotherapists and health practitioners to assist clients in reaching their wellness goals.
Heather believes that recovering from trauma requires healing of the mind, the body and the breath. Many people in addictions recovery have experienced traumatic stressors from childhood. These events can create havoc in one’s nervous system and set up a maladaptive coping system for years to come. Yoga helps to move the stuck energy in the body; it helps release the issues that live in our tissues. Once released, a person can begin to learn yogic tools to self regulate and to self soothe. Yoga helps one to pause and not run from the feelings but flow with them as energies. Yogic tools help the person to stay present, breathe and grounded rather than to reach and run to the outside world for an instant fix.
By creating a non-judgmental and confidential environment, Heather holds sacred space to help her clients connect and feel safe in their own bodies. This space encourages clients to experience inner connections and a way back to wholeness. Clients are given enormous control in their sessions and are encouraged to approach their practice with curiosity and mindfulness. This approach assists her clients in developing body awareness through intereoception (the sense of the physiological condition of the body) to cultivate the feeling of being grounded and embodied. Grounding invites you to sense your body, notice your tension patterns, and surrender the weight of your physical body into gravity to feel the support of the earth. As a resource for trauma recovery, grounding can help you reclaim a sense of safety, feel rooted in the present moment, and strengthen your resilience.
Maryam Ovissi
Maryam Ovissi, MA C-IAYT E-RYT 500, RCYT, RPYT, YACEP
Trauma Informed Yoga Therapist
"Yoga is a proven system and philosophy that provides tools for the individual to develop a self-care routine that meets them where they are. As a teacher, I am only the guide.”
Maryam is a certified Yoga Therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) and under the tutelage of Bhekaji Lynch, she received her 500-hour Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT) accreditation with Yoga Alliance. Honoring the lineage and teachings of Sri Krishnamacharya, Maryam upholds the principle that the Yoga practice is a personal and individual journey and not a one-size-fits-all practice. Although A.G. Mohan, Indra Mohan and Dr. Ganesh Mohan continue to serve as her main teachers, she claims nothing can replace the gifts and wisdom born forth by showing up for herself every day through Sadhana (personal practice). She continues to study with renowned teachers in the world of Yoga. Maryam’s personal mission as a teacher of Yoga is to provide an opportunity for her students to have access to tools that allow self-healing, self-empowerment and self-realization. Her unique style provides space for multi-level practitioners to journey through Yoga in group, semi-private and private classes. In her private Yoga teaching, Yogic tools are offered that serve the person and their personal intentions.
Exemplifying the Yogic life off the mat and beyond the studio, Beloved Yoga is dedicated to giving back to the commUnity, partnering with many outreach programs including the Remakery, Cornerstones, the Southgate Community Center and the Teen Center of Fairfax County. Maryam founded and is co-director of Love Your Body Day, an annual free event held since 2008 at the Reston Town Center bringing together local area yoga studios, wellness practitioners, eco-conscious vendors, and Bhakti music for a fun day of healthy activities for the whole family.
Maryam's personal expertise is in integrating yoga therapy into cancer care. She works as a Yoga Therapist at Inova Schar Cancer Institute- Life with Cancer as well as the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Maryam’s love expands to embrace the creative spirit. She is the founding Trustee for the Ovissi Foundation, dedicated to supporting artists of Iranian heritage. Maryam makes time to explore creativity in her own life through writing poetry and mark making. She released Soundscapes to Contemplate, a compilation CD of her poetry set to conscious electronic mantra music by artist and producer Saeed Younan.
