Chair yoga for those with arthritis

[Guest guest]

HI,

This was in USA Today. Now this sounds like Yoga I would be interested in!

I like to work out but getting down on the floor just never appealed to me.

Especially in the winter, getting on the cold hard floor was not a fun idea.

In Christ,

Nedra 2 of 5, ADHD, Inflammatory Arthritis, Sjogren's, + migraine

Borg Mom Resistance is Futile in finding what works for my kids

Nick, 18, AS, ADHD, + CAPD

Ben, 16, AS + ADHD

Matt, 13, very AS, ADHD,+Complex Partial Seizures of the Temporo- Limbic

region

God knew there would be children with Autism - and in honor of them He made

the planets in the solar system spin round and round, round and round.....

Chair yoga catching on among senior citizens

PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP) — A more gentle form of yoga is catching on in some

retirement communities.

The yoga mat is replaced by the chair. Sometimes two.

Instructor Lakshmi Voelker-Binder says her students can duplicate any yoga

pose typically done on the floor, but it's easier on those less limber

muscles.

During a recent one-hour session, she taught her comfortably supported

participants to stretch by holding modified versions of traditional yoga poses.

The normally upright forward bend, for example, entailed sitting in one chair

and positioning both legs on a facing chair, the hands reaching for the second

chair's arms.

" The only thing I won't ask you to do is headstands, " Voelker-Binder joked

to the group of six women ranging in age from 50s to late 70s. They were

gathered in a dimly lit ballroom at the Joslyn Senior Center near Palm Springs.

An estimated 13.4 million Americans practice yoga or other mind-body

exercises such as tai chi, according to a 2003 survey by the Sporting Goods

Manufacturers Association. Of those, an estimated 1.6 million were 55 or older.

Those numbers are expected to rise, said spokesman Mike May, as senior

citizens join health clubs and senior centers offer more exercise programs.

A self-described hippie who felt " misplaced in New York, " Voelker-Binder

moved to Palm Springs in 1989, becoming one of four yoga instructors in the

desert city east of Los Angeles. Today, the lean and lithe 55-year-old says

there

are at least six yoga studios in the area but she teaches the only chair

yoga class in town.

The older students say chair yoga increases their strength, flexibility and

concentration.

" It keeps me motivated, " said Edie Wallace, a 79-year-old in jeans who

switched smoothly between poses.

" It helps me want to go further and do more, " Wallace said. " Walk that extra

half-hour. "

Nearby, a new student said it was more challenging than she expected.

" I noticed some lopsidedness that I have, " said , 56, who had

gone to mat yoga classes for about 18 months. " Plus you have to really balance

yourself on the chair, or else you end up slipping. "

Voelker-Binder discovered chair yoga in the late 1980s when she was teaching

a mat class and one of her students, Candace Terry, developed rheumatoid

arthritis. Terry, who was in her 30s when they met, said her arthritis was so

severe she had difficulty dressing herself or opening a car door — much less

doing form poses on her hands and knees.

" Lakshmi understood my predicament, " said Terry, now 53. " It's a gentle way

of teaching people to experience it as best as they can, which is very

encouraging. "

Terry said she saw gradual improvements in her health as she practiced chair

yoga daily for about five years after being diagnosed with arthritis.

" I feel that between yoga, good nutrition and other things I've done in my

life, I've beat the odds compared with many people stricken with the disease, "

she said.

Peggy Cappy, an instructor who created the video " Yoga For the Rest of Us, "

which includes some chair poses, offers the chair option at her yoga classes

in borough, N.H., to help students ease into more strenuous poses. It

also helps them gradually build muscles and joints until they're strong enough

to practice on a mat, said Cappy.

" The chair is there for safety, " she said. " As a result, people are willing

to try things because they know they're not going to be hurt. "

_http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-02-03-chair-yoga_x.htm_

(http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-02-03-chair-yoga_x.htm)