How to Teach Bone-InformedTM Yoga

A Weekend Intensive for Yoga Teachers and Therapists

September 12–13, 2026 • Live on Zoom

Not a list of poses. A way of seeing.

Your students are aging. Their bones are changing.

And most yoga teacher training programs never prepared you for this.

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A diagnosis of osteoporosis or osteopenia is not rare. It is not limited to frail elderly women in chair yoga classes. It is sitting in your general classes right now. In the body of the 54-year-old who just got her DXA results and doesn't know if she should still be doing downward dog. In the 68-year-old who stopped coming to class after her doctor told her not to bend forward. In the 72-year-old who is afraid to tell you she has osteoporosis because she doesn't want to be treated differently.

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These students deserve better than a list of poses to avoid. And you deserve the training to give them something better.

What Bone-Informed Yoga Is

Bone-informed yoga is not a style. It is not a specialty niche for frail older adults. It is not Fishman's 12 poses. And it is emphatically not a longer, more cautious do's and don'ts list.

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Bone-informed yoga is what happens when you understand the whole person in front of you — their bones, their nervous system, their fear, their aging beliefs, their fascia, their gut, their breath — and you teach from that understanding rather than from a generic protocol.

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Yoga is not a set of poses. It is a system of principles applied to the human condition. And aging is the human condition.

This Training Is For You If...

• You teach any yoga class where students over 50 show up — which is every yoga class
• You work privately with clients who have osteoporosis, osteopenia, or age-related bone loss
• You've been teaching "yoga for osteoporosis" and sense there is more to the story
• You want to stop passing along unexamined, contradictory advice about what your students can and cannot do
• You are a yoga therapist who wants a deeper, more nuanced framework for this population
• You believe yoga is medicine — and want the knowledge to back that up

What You Will Learn

The Science

• Bone physiology — through the lenses of Western anatomy and Eastern models including Ayurveda
• The DXA scan — what it measures, what it misses, and how to help your students interpret it
• Fracture risk — beyond bone density to bone quality, fall risk, and whole-person assessment
• Aging science — lifespan development, stereotype embodiment, the nocebo effect, fascia, and the gut-bone-nervous system connection
• The research on yoga and bone health — including Fishman's 12 poses, what the evidence actually supports, and where the gaps are

The Framework

• The pañcamaya model as a whole-person teaching tool
• How to assess a student through all five dimensions — not just the physical body
• How each dimension connects to bone health — from the structural to the psychospiritual
• Viveka — cultivating discernment in yourself and your students

The Teaching Skills

• Cueing for bone health — what to say and what to remove from your language
• Nocebic cueing — how to identify and eliminate fear-based language from your teaching
• Forward bends, twists, and inversions — the nuanced truth
• Sequencing principles — not a fixed sequence but a living, adaptable framework
• Balance and proprioception — how to teach body schema effectively
• Scope of practice — what is and isn't your role
• Marketing your classes accurately, ethically, and compellingly

The Integration

• A 90-minute follow-up session two weeks after the weekend to discuss what you put into practice
• Real scenarios, real questions, real refinement

Day 1

Saturday, September 12

9:00am — 3:00pm Pacific

Bone science, aging lens, nocebo effect, pañcamaya model

Day 2

Sunday, September 13

12:00pm — 3:00pm Pacific

Teaching skills, sequencing, scope of practice, marketing

Integration Session

Saturday, September 26

10:00am — 11:30am Pacific

What you taught, what you noticed, what comes next

What's Included

• Full weekend live training with MB — recorded with lifetime access
• Invitations to future live cohorts at a discounted rate
• 90-minute integration session on Saturday, September 26
• Pre-work online modules — available September 1
• Fit Feet bonus course (a $57 value)
• One month Vital Bones Community Library access (a $39 value)
• Webinar replays — Fracture Risk and the DXA Scan
• Yoga Alliance CEUs — available upon request
• IAYT continuing education credits — available upon request

What Your Colleagues Say

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Your one-size-does-not-fit-all approach is empowering and your attention to detail and safety is the key.

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Mary Beth's quiet embodiment as a basis for her teaching made it squarely land and stick. I learned some key things at a doable pace that I have incorporated into daily practice and teaching.

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What gifts you're offering — and it's also so inspiring. Thank you for being such a resource and visionary.

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The most valuable aspect of this workshop was the tone that Mary Beth set. Very nurturing, with an emphasis on improving practice from where each student is.

About Your Trainer

Hi, I'm Mary Beth Ray — yoga therapist, holistic nutrition consultant, and doctoral student in gerontology at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.

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I've been practicing yoga for over 30 years, teaching for 17, and specializing in bone-informed yoga for the past eight. I've served on the teacher training faculty at two Bay Area studios for a combined twelve years. I'm BoneFit trained, certified in Yoga vs. Osteoporosis, and an ambassador for the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation.

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I also have osteopenia myself. This work is not academic for me. It is personal. And I think you'll feel that in how I teach.

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I bring an academic mind and a curious heart to everything I do — because you deserve both the science and the soul.

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Early Bird Rate

Expires September 1, 2026

$297

Use code EARLYBIRD26 at checkout

Full Price

After September 1, 2026

$397