Yoga a popular class at local Senior Center

Thousands of people turn to yoga each day so they can experience the health and mental benefits that come from participating in the exercise. Senior citizens in Carter County now have the option of taking a yoga class at the Elizabethton Senior Citizens Center.

“They were all in one class,” Jackson said. “We had around 20 individuals and they were doing chair and regular yoga. You do get the same benefits with chair yoga as you do with standard yoga. With them both in the same class neither was getting the attention they needed to have a quality class.”

The chair yoga class is still small with around five people taking part. The traditional yoga class averages around 15 individuals each week but Jackson expects attendance in both of those classes to grow as word continues to spread about them.

Jackson is a certified yoga instructor. She said she did not start to do yoga until she was 60 years old and once she started it changed her life. She explained she had worked as a teacher and administrator in California for most of her working life which meant she was on her feet all day long. She was suffering from hip pain and had tried a number of unsuccessful treatments before turning to yoga.

“I was trying everything,” she said. “I tried magnets, chiropractors, cortisone shots and none of them was solving the problem. Someone recommended yoga and I was at the point where I was willing to try anything. It was like magic. Within two sessions I could feel a difference. I have never again had to go to chiropractors or get shots or take pain medicine. It has changed my life.”

After she retired, she decided to pursue yoga seriously and got her certification to teach yoga classes. She said she can teach all ages and takes into consideration any concerns or limitations someone has.

The yoga classes last approximately one hour. She said they offer a taste of “zen” to participants. The experience can be a silent, meditative class or one with verbal instruction, depending on if there are any newcomers in the class who need more direction.

Jackson said there are almost always newcomers to the class. She said there are regulars who attend each session but there are also usually a few new faces who come to check out yoga and see if it is for them.

Two of the yoga class regulars are Paulette and Jerry Bray. The Brays are members of the Senior Center and frequently volunteer at events and programs hosted by the center. Paulette said she was one of the original members who encouraged the Senior Center to start offering yoga classes. She noted she has been attending the class ever since it was started.

“I thought it would be something good they could offer for people’s health,” she said. “I had never done yoga before but I got a DVD and tried it. I thought I would be able to learn better being taught one on one with a person.”

Since starting yoga, she said she has noticed an improvement in her balance along with the ability to relax. She said she also has better quality of sleep.

Jerry Bray started doing yoga to help strengthen his back and to improve his mobility. He said he used to get yoga training at home but has since started coming to the senior center with his wife. He combined yoga with massage therapy to see an improvement for his back pain.

“I have seen the benefit of yoga,” he said. “Before I started doing this, I could not get down on the floor, but now I can.”

Lisa Botts was one of the first-time attendees at a recent yoga class at the center. She said she learned of the yoga class while attending a Zumba Gold class at the center and decided to give it a try.

“I have never done yoga before,” Botts said. “I want to get the benefits of stretching to improve my flexibility.”

For Jena Booker, yoga is just part of her exercise plan. She also regularly participates in water aerobics and the Zumba Gold class at the senior center. She said she has been to the yoga class three times and plans to keep it up after feeling the benefits of that exercise.

“I didn’t know how stiff I was until I started this class,” she said. “It really does work to loosen you up.”

Chair yoga begins at noon and gentle flow yoga begins at 1:15 p.m. on Wednesdays. The cost is $3 per class. Jackson said seniors do not have to be a member of the Senior Center to take her class.