Asian Women's Project at the Geffrye
In 2012 I was asked by the Geffrye Museum in Hoxton to run a 6 week yoga programme for the Asian Women’s Group. The group, like most I teach, was of mixed age and ability but with many suffering from bad posture and associated lower back problems.
The yoga programme was designed to tackle this. To teach the women the difference between good and bad posture; and provide them with the confidence to practice a series of postures to alleviate lower back pain once the classes came to an end.
The results - recorded in my blog at Yoga and More - were really positive. For me, the group proved highly enthusiastic and fun to teach. And all the women said they enjoyed the classes and reported an improvement in lower back pain, joint mobility and breathing.
I was delighted to be asked back to continue the classes in the summer of 2014.
... I loved it. It was interesting, refreshing and above all the teacher is very friendly and jolly. ... I would like it to continue.
Chair Yoga at St Hilda's
Yoga for all ages and abilities...
For further information about the St Hilda's East chair yoga programme contact:
St Hilda's Chair Yoga Project
The chair yoga project was set up as a voluntary programme to provide weekly yoga classes to a group of students who attended the
St Hilda's East day care centre in Shoreditch, East London.
The group comprised mainly women in the 60 plus age group, the majority being in their 70s. The levels of fitness varied but there were many with quite serious mobility and health issues. So the structure of the classes had to accommodate that.
The aims of the programme were to improve students' posture, increase joint mobility and general fitness levels, including breathing and to promote a general feeling of well-being. Also to encourage home practice and an interest in exercise and health.
The classes sought to achieve these aims through gentle chair based exercises that were:
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easy to learn;
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had adaptations for those with higher fitness levels; and,
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provided an introduction to meditative relaxation techniques.
The results were encouraging and it became plain that the students really enjoyed their weekly classes. The breathing and relaxation/meditation exercises proved particularly popular and all the students reported increased levels of calm and contentedness. A number of the students said that they practiced the exercises at home, with one student sharing them with her sister. Another was inspired to join weight-watchers losing 14 pounds as a result.
The successful outcome of the project, documented in case studies and feedback reports, was used to support a series of funding applications by St Hilda's East. These have enabled the chair yoga classes to continue for the past three years at both St Hilda's and other community centres in East London.
...it makes my aches and pains
go away. Elsie, 72