By Carol Martin

I have been guiding students in Chair Yoga within senior living facilities for almost three years.  The blessings have been beyond measure.  I have made so many friends, the administrative staffs, aides, and of course, forged strong bonds with my lovely students.  I feel very blessed that they show up for class, week after week, to strengthen their bodies and minds. 

My first visit to a facility is complimentary.  I want to make sure that my students feel comfortable with me so they can relax in class.  It is also a good way for the activity director to make the determination if they want me to continue with the facility.  Due to the current recession and the budgets of some facilities in my area, I found that a complimentary visit is a win-win situation.  Most directors have me come back, some weekly, some twice a month, and a couple only monthly due to budget constraints.

When I first started, I realized a great fear for the elderly was that if they fell, they wouldn’t be able to get up.  As a matter of fact, that’s how they had arrived at an assisted living facility, they had fallen in their home and couldn’t get up.  Although they were now in a controlled environment, they were still very concerned about falling.  I stressed remaining calm and I began to show them the proper way to move after a fall, after assessing if they had injured themselves, of course, and how to get to a chair or object to help them up or to a call button.  So we worked on upper body strength and the muscles in their legs that would address the movements involved with moving along the floor or getting up.  I have had students tell me that they were successfully able to get up or get to a call button without panic because of our practice.  Actually, because of these incidents, and the students not being able to reach a call button once they had traveled to it, finding that it was too high on the wall to use it, the facility changed its standards for height on the wall for their assist buttons.  After several months, a few students in the class felt comfortable enough with getting down on the floor for Sivasana at the end of class, with the confidence that they would be able to get back up.  The feeling of liberation is empowering for the student.  I would like to add here, it is facility policy that they always call a nurse after a fall, even if they can get up by themselves and are not injured.  Of course, not all my facilities will allow them to get on the floor or even do any standing exercises at all and I respect that.  These things are discussed with the director before my first visit.

So many times in a senior facility, the only exercise they have is to watch someone on a DVD.  They just follow along with no interaction with the instructor. They can’t ask questions and don’t know why they are doing the exercises.  They are just parked there.  I feel it is so beneficial to get together for a class, have some conversation with the instructor, and have a few laughs (actually a lot of laughs!).  Once, during one of my explanations for doing a certain pose, one of my students said, let’s just exercise!  Upon reflection that week, I realized that she was used to watching a tape, not going to a class and really learning about her body/mind.  She just wanted to get it done, she didn’t know how to relax.  I feel like the information provided is beneficial for use in between classes.

Unforgettable, is one of the conversations I had with the director of one of the facilities a couple of years ago.  I had been there only a couple of months and it was at a nursing facility, many in wheel chairs.  Apparently, administration had told the director that he had to cut back on spending, so he let me know that I probably would not be able to come back.  About a week later, the director called me and told me that I had to come back.  I asked him if I had misunderstood and he said that no, he had gone past the dining room (where class had been held) and to his astonishment, the room was filled with people waiting for yoga class.  Apparently, because the class was already on the calendar and the residents didn’t know of the cut-back, they assumed I was coming.  Here is the blessing, he told me that in all his years as the activity director at that facility, he had not seen the residents show up to a class of their own volition, usually they have to bring them to an activity.  Needless to say, tears were streaming down my face, I was so honored that I could convey the importance of yoga, and I went back the following week.

Blessings that come from seeing my students progress, even if it is only a change in their color from looking pale to having rosy cheeks when they leave, improved mobility, and improved mood.  Every once in a while, there is one person who is skeptical and appears a bit grumpy but as time goes by, the edge dissolves and their mood improves.  They learn to relax, totally let go.  I had a lady tell me a couple of months ago that she had attained a quarter-inch in height when she was measured at the doctor’s office.  He gave her yoga class the credit.

Many employees of the facilities try, if their time allows, to sit in on yoga class, and of course, family members who are visiting their elder at the time of class.  A grandson of a student, who is to be deployed to Afghanistan later this month, said he was going to take the yoga techniques with him.  Many daughters come to class regularly with their mothers.

Several years ago, my mother was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, with only six months to live.  Of course, there are no words to explain our emotions.  After spending every day with her, except when hospice was there, I would go home with so much tension, fear, and anxiety.  Of course, there were the prayers, counseling, and other things you do to try to relax and then I remembered I had done some yoga mixed into an old exercise tape years before, so I went to a local yoga class.  I was awestruck at the difference it made in my life.  I only wish that I had found it sooner.  I was retired and about a year after my mom passed away, I was trying to find a fulfilling and meaningful purpose for my life.  I was getting out of bed one morning and out of nowhere, a booming voice in my head said “Seniors”.  Now, I had to stop for a moment and think, seniors what?  Then it clicked!  Senior yoga.  I went straight to the phone books, without even having my morning tea, and within forty-five minutes, had three clients!  I did extensive reading and modifying and put a program together.  I had my yoga mentor (yoga teacher trainer) come over to observe my routine to make sure it was safe and effective.  I feel my calling was a huge blessing.

I began a Teachers Training Program at a local studio a year and a half ago because I wanted to receive certification.  I received certificates in Asana 1, Asana 11, Pranayama 1, and Sanskrit.  I felt like I had the information I needed to continue teaching Chair Yoga even though the program didn’t address it and all I lacked was Meditation, which I don’t teach my senior students.  We do a stage-by-stage relaxation at the end of class.  But I wanted to be able to offer my students the best class experience they could get from me.  That is where Aura Yoga comes in.  You have provided me with all the materials to meet my exact needs.  The decision to continue and complete my education with you has been wonderful.   

In conclusion, I have mentioned only a few of the many blessings of Senior Chair Yoga, they are endless.  Although I am guiding the class, my students are my teachers.  I take none of the praise, I give all glory to God.

Carol Martin teaches Yoga classes in St. Ann, Missouri.