Chair Yoga Catching on Among Seniors

By DAISY NGUYEN, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, February 3, 2005


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.

more:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/article?f=/n/a/2005/02/03/national/a132831S35.DTL&type=health

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