LAKESIDE –
This might not be your mother's yoga class, but it very well could be your grandmother's.
For seniors in the Lakeside area, the county-sponsored class that began this month means they can do yoga without driving far or paying much. They get a decent, inexpensive meal out of it, too.
It's exactly what the county and Salvation Army say they want to happen with the program.
About two dozen people, nearly all of them senior citizens, showed up for the first class held May 6 at the Lindo Lake Community Center. The hourlong yoga session is not the type of advanced yoga that requires limber joints and careful execution. The instructor, Lanita Varshell, said the exercises are taught so that everybody can participate.
“My goal is to get people moving joyfully before we work on technique,” said Varshell, who operates A Gentle Way Yoga & Joyful Movement Center in La Mesa.
Pat Leja, 75, said she has been repeatedly prodded by her 63-year-old brother to do yoga, and that a free class in her hometown finally motivated her to go through with it.
“With my arthritis and my two fake knees, he kept telling me to get to a class. Finally they came to me,” she said after the class as she munched on an Italian antipasto salad.
“I'm being a good sister and doing what my brother said, and (Varshell) was fantastic,” Leja said.
Yoga and lunch
for seniors
What: Yoga class for older adults. No experience necessary. Box lunch provided after class.
When: 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every other Tuesday. Next class is June 3.
Where: Lindo Lake Community Center, 9841 Vine St., Lakeside.
Cost: Free. There is a suggested donation of $3 per lunch for people 60 years and older; $5 for all others.
Reservations: Reservations are required for the lunch. Call (619) 443-9176 and ask for Elaine.
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The San Diego County Health and Human Service Agency's Aging and Independence Services teamed up with the Salvation Army, the county Parks and Recreation Department and the county library to create the program. The program has been running successfully in Vista since last year.
In Lakeside, Aging and Independent Services will pay the $125 instructor's fee while Parks and Recreation provides a multipurpose room for the session.
The Salvation Army provides the meals, which they say are much higher quality than an average cheap lunch. The meals cost an estimated $6.90 to prepare, said Suzi Woodruff Lacey, a public relations director for the Salvation Army. The county reimburses the Salvation Army $3.49 for each meal. A $3 donation is requested from each senior who eats a meal, but only if he or she can afford to pay. People 59 and younger are asked to donate $5.
Officials also encourage seniors to participate in library activities at a branch next to the Lindo Lake Community Center. The yoga classes will be held every other Tuesday.
Nancy Saint John, principal librarian and public information officer for the San Diego County Public Library, said the yoga class is a cost-effective way to draw seniors to the community center for nutrition programs.
“Seniors don't see themselves as old anymore,” Saint John said. “They act young and don't want to go to a senior center and eat mashed potatoes and gravy.”
After the class, seniors ate their lunches while they socialized and praised the yoga class, especially because it is free and does not require taking the freeway to get there. A few said the fact that is in Lakeside made the difference between going and not going.
“When you're on Social Security and the price starts getting up there, you really have to think about it, and with gas at $4 ... ” said Irene Woods, 76, of Lakeside.
Varshell's instruction assumed everyone in the class had no prior yoga experience and incorporated “gentle yoga,” with simple posture stances, breathing exercises and “laughter yoga,” which does involve a lot of laughing.
“Science proves that when your body is having fun, it reacts in a whole different way,” Varshell said. “It's like making love versus pumping iron.”
Sheree Collier, 50, had stopped by to make a payment to use the center for her upcoming wedding. When she was told that a free yoga class was about to start, she stuck around. Collier, an insurance company employee who regularly works out, praised the class.
“It worked every part of your body from your head to your toes,” she said.
Alan Schnepf is a freelance writer based in San Diego.
