GALFROMDOWNUNDER UPOVER

Last Tuesday there were around 15 -18 people in my 6pm Chelsea Rec Center class - mostly newbies to yoga. One game young guy, an 80 year young woman, and the rest in their 20-40's. Great! So much for my inital idea of a Yoga for Boomers class - with a timeslot of 6pm, this is now simply called, Easy Yoga by the Galfromdownunder. It's listed as part of the ShapeUpNYC initiative - so it's free to all participants, regardless of whether they are members of the Rec Center. One thing about being a volunteer teacher:  I get to teach whatever I want. As a warmup for this group, I've developed what I call a Groundhog Salutation. It's basically a Sun Salutation but you never get up on your feet to worship the sun, you say down at woodchuck (ferret or Aussies) level.  It's a good limber up for the back before you totter to your feet. The drill: Inhale - hands and knees post cat/cow. Exhale - Down dog. Inhale - drop knees on the way to ... Exhale ...

It's the end of the first week of my post-Bike Friday life, and I yet I still find myself subconsciously doing things one could call "work related". Since May is National Bike Month, I came up with the idea of giving the seniors at the Hudson Guild - where I volunteer teach yoga - a little thrill by riding it around their lunchroom. "Great idea!" said Yehudit Moch, the activities director, tasked with the tireless work of coming up with programs to keep seniors active and engaged. "Let's called it Folding Bike Fun, and do it at 12.45pm, towards the end of lunch, before they disperse." For disperse they do - the attention span is short, and hearing and vision loss doesn't help. The night before the demo I had this last minute idea to invite some local senior cycling friends to the show. Four names came immediately to mind: Tod Moore (72), a bicycle tour guide who rides every year in France; Jesse Brown (70), former president of t...

"Lynette, tell them about your yoga class. LYNETTE'S GOING TO TELL YOU ABOUT YOGA!" Yehudit is gathering people around one of the giant round tables in the cavernous community dining room. Some people aren't moving, so I won't get their attention. Most are already walking out the door. There's at least two generations of a Chinese family with a translator in front of me. Someone asks if I can speak Spanish. "Sufficiente para sobrevivir," I answer. I start to describe some simple movements and talk about Ujayi or "Darth Vadar" breathing. "Slower," says Yehudit as we raise our arms above our heads. I announce that we will be doing standing yoga in my class. I catch a glimpse of a Chinese gentleman in a wheelchair just as Yehudit says, "what about people who can't stand?" "We'll be doing sitting postures as well," I say. Thus began my induction to volunteering yoga at the Hudson Guild S...