I teach Nia which is a cardio dance available to any age. At both the low end of the age spectrum and the high end of the age spectrum, if you can safely move about the floor and follow basic movements you can do Nia. So there are young and old Nia dancers. I teach at facilities that have age restrictions, but that is only the facilities, not Nia. Then I also teach gentle yoga to older adults. The classes are held at the “Senior Centers” so while some of the classes are open to those 18 years and older the population in class tends to be older. As I am sure many of you that teach at a facility with older people will attest, it is amazing to work with these people. They come week after week and keep trying. In my class I have a wide variety of experience levels. They come back every week and do the poses to the best of their ability. I am inspired by their drive to keep doing.
I check in with them to confirm that they are seeing and feeling some benefit to the class. With many I can see it, but I want to confirm that they recognize it. Recently one of my students was sharing some things he learned and he said, “I learned that I need to learn how to relax.” I laughed and agreed. It is not easy to do for some. It is not always second nature to breathe and “rest” into a pose. The corpse pose at the end of the class is one of those poses. In fact one class asked if we “had to” do it. I said yes. To me that is part of yoga. That is part of my class. I believe that quieting the mind and relaxing for 5 to 10 minutes after a class is necessary. For many it is a Challenging Easy Pose, it is difficult to be still. Just now as I am typing I remember this person not being able to be still at all when we first started doing yoga. Now there is stillness. I believe every one can benefit from this moment of restfulness. I love that even those who think it is unnecessary, keep trying.
A bit ago we did a pose that several students said is “hard”. I agreed with them. It is hard . . . that is why we are doing it. We are doing a very modified version, but it is one of those poses that works many if not all the muscles in your body, so yes, it is “hard”. And we do it so that they can benefit from it. In working on so many muscles it is a balance pose, that requires flexibility and strength. One of those awesome poses that does so much . . . so we do it. And what spurred me to write this post is that while they were saying it was hard they were not saying, “It’s hard, I don’t want to do it.” They were just saying, “Wow, this is hard.” And then they moved into position to do it again. Love it. Love those inspiring active people in my classes!
I just wanted to share with you that I have some amazing inspirations in my life.
What about you? Do you know any older adults that cause you to think, “I wanna be like that when I am their age”? Some of those people that just keep trying? They might not be doing it in a clearly recognizable way but they are still trying?
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