Who We Are & What We do
Frank teaching seniors at a Health Fair
Silver Age Yoga Community Outreach is a 501(c)3 non-profit, founded in 2003 by two yoga teachers: Frank and Serpil Iszak.
Frank (1931-2018) and his wife Serpil felt the incredible benefits to their physical and mental health that their yoga practices offered. They realized that if the benefits were this tangible for them then yoga could have a profound impact on the senior population, assuming that such a program was developed for seniors specifically.
In order to accomplish this they created (along with medical research partners) a geriatric science-based yoga: Silver Age Yoga.
They had a dream that the most underserved seniors would have access to weekly free yoga classes, and that dream culminated in the creation of SAYCO – Silver Age Yoga Community Outreach. The benefit to students is profound, and the need is even greater. Simply put: the more teachers there are teaching Silver Age Yoga, the more seniors’ lives are being positively impacted. Yoga teachers who want to teach seniors have found this training invaluable.
Our goal is to have Silver Age Yoga classes in every major city and every small town – in fact everywhere you find seniors, you find people who would benefit from Silver Age Yoga.
If you’re a yoga teacher who wants to teach seniors, we invite you to take our special Online Certification Course so you can join us in helping seniors through SAYCO or in your own practice.
Our Mission: To provide health enhancing and life enriching yoga practices to our underserved senior population.
To reach this underserved senior population, we need teachers who are specially-trained and certified by Silver Age Yoga. Without this vital training, the risks to a senior citizen in yoga class can easily outweigh the benefits.
If you love yoga and you love seniors – you are in the right place!
You can use your newly-acquired skills in a number of ways:
- Add Senior Yoga Classes to your current Yoga Teaching practice.
- Teach on site Senior Yoga Classes in Retirement Homes, Senior Communities or countless other venues geared towards seniors.
- Develop better yoga practices for seniors you already teach.
- Become part of our Silver Age Yoga Community Outreach Program (Silver Age Yoga-administered classes specifically targeting underserved seniors).
Any way you choose to utilize your new found skills, our Silver Age Yoga Certification Course will help you achieve your goals.
“I am a RYT-200 and just completed a 500 HR CYT (October 2010) with an emphasis in yoga therapy. The SAYCO (Silver Age Yoga Community Outreach) program is exciting to me because it is a well thought out program from both a yogic and public health perspective.
The details about senior health issues are comprehensive in the sense that the asanas reflect the anatomical and physiological limitations that could be present in the senior population. I feel comfortable teaching the asanas and I know that they are safe. I also like the different venues offered by the program: chair, chair assisted and floor exercise.
I have been exposed to other programs that have similar objectives but they are not as well designed or documented. The SAYCO manual is an invaluable resource for new senior yoga teachers.”
Dr. Sylvia Hood Washington