Medford teacher Judy Scribner-Moore instructs older students in yoga tailored to their needs

It’s 2026, and for some that means a New Year’s resolution to become healthier by going to the gym or taking classes. And while Judy Scribner-Moore does see an influx of students for her Yoga for Healthy Aging classes every January, she says it’s actually higher in September.

“It’s that back-to-school mentality,” Scribner-Moore says.

It’s a bright, frigid afternoon and Scribner-Moore is sitting in her attic studio in West Medford. The weak sunlight filters through the windows, and from her vantage point Scribner-Moore can look out through the barren trees and watch the Mystic River flowing by.

Scribner-Moore has been teaching yoga in the Greater Boston area since 1987, welcoming students into her Jerome Street studio for Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning and evening sessions throughout the year. However, in 2020, COVID-19 changed all that.

“That’s when I went on Zoom,” Scribner-Moore says. “Now, most of my students don’t want to leave their houses!”

She laughs, adding her students are a mix of people who take online classes and come to the studio. They range in age from her youngest student at 55 to her oldest at 90, with the average age in the early 60s.

Scribner-Moore says many of her students have health issues, such as spinal stenosis and arthritis. Yoga can help them feel more comfortable in their bodies, she adds.

“I give people the opportunity to fall into their bodies, and in any given moment, to know what’s good for them,” Scribner-Moore says. “I also give them variations on traditional yoga poses [so they can do them].”

Her classes are self-paced, Scribner-Moore explains, and there’s no right or wrong way to go about doing yoga.

“It’s slow moving, progressive, and I often start classes in a reclining position,” she says. “I want people to ask themselves what’s good for them at that moment.”

Artist and educator Sandy Butler, a long-time student, now attends classes from her home in Alaska and described her experience in Scribner-Moore’s classes.

“When I first started studying with Judy, I was experiencing a good deal of pain and stiffness in my knees that neither my primary care physician nor the orthopedic specialist could fully diagnose,” she says. “After working with Judy for a few months, my pain lessened and my flexibility increased dramatically. She helps students visualize and imagine the subtleties of poses from within and strongly emphasizes listening to the wisdom of one's own body.

“Not only is Judy a skilled and experienced teacher, she is also a very warm and caring person,” Butler adds. “Her classes are friendly, comfortable places in which to practice yoga, and she makes an effort to know each student as an individual, treating them as a fellow traveler on the path of inquiry.”

Giving it a try

Scribner-Moore says it’s important people are aware of the differences between challenging themselves in a yoga class and being in pain.

“I find that you have to be comfortable and to trust yourself,” she says. “Yoga gives you the ability to trust your own experience. There needs to be some challenge to have yoga be beneficial. It can be hard at the beginning."

“I myself was rigid. I was mentally and physically shut down,” she continued. “It was a very slow softening into my authentic self and it was also a trusting of self.”

Scribner-Moore says there are as many styles of yoga as there are teachers and it’s important students find what’s right for them. She says it’s understandable that people are anxious about whether or not they’re flexible enough to do yoga or might look silly doing the poses.

“My classes have become tailored to your individual needs,” Scribner-Moore says of what makes her different. “My practice is more organic.”

She says her first teacher would often ask students not to practice between classes.

“We would say that we wanted to get better, but she would tell us she didn’t want yoga to be spoiled for us,” she says. “It’s like making a resolution where you say you’re going swimming three times a week and then you miss class because it rains. Then you miss a week and then before you know it, it’s over.”

Scribner-Moore says it’s important to help students build in success and a once-a-week class can meet those goals. But sometimes, yoga becomes a part of you and it’s about the practice.

“That’s when it becomes a living practice,” she says. “My teacher told us that if you want to do more, make sure it’s not an obligation.”

So if anyone is interested in yoga, Scribner-Moore says give it a try.

“Arthritis, osteoporosis, spinal stenosis are so common as we age,” she says. “I think my classes focus on supporting healthy joints and strong bones.”

And if you’re not flexible, Scribner-Moore has some advice on that, too.

“There are people who are naturally flexible and there are people like me, who are naturally stiff,” she says, with a laugh. “But people who are stiff are blessed because we can get more flexible, but people who are already flexible, their joints start to collapse on themselves. All of my students have their own issues, but they’ve all become more flexible people.”

Scribner-Moore is offering new 2026 winter sessions, running from Jan. 6 through March 11. All ages and experience levels are welcome. For more information, visit yogawithjudyscribner.com or call 781-866-9299.