November 27, 2012 in City, Health Class says regimen restored long-lost strength,flexibility

Bill Bayne, right, and Jim Millgard, center, practice yoga on Tuesday at Yoga Shala studio on the South Hill inSpokane. (Full-size photo)

It took just one collective inhale from the group of middle-aged men for Katie Scanlon to realize she wasnt going to be able to stick to her originalplan.

The yoga veteran was out of her element and so were the men on the mats in front ofher.

They moaned and groaned with every movement. They lost their balance just moving one foot forward orbackward.

They asked me to teach them yoga because they were feeling like they were getting stiff, Scanlon said. That might be anunderstatement.

Three years ago, the group of about eight men in their 50s and 60s approached Scanlon at her Yoga Shala studio on the South Hill and asked her to teach them yoga to help them work on their strength and flexibility. She agreed, on the condition that they would come once a week for a wholeyear.

I knew that if we only did it for six weeks, they wouldnt really notice a benefit from it and then they would walk away from it thinking, Oh, I tried yoga and it really wasnt that great, Scanlonsaid.

They agreed to her terms, and three years later are still coming to class once a week. Theyve also expanded the group to include wives, girlfriends and others their own age looking for an alternative to yoga classes geared toward youngeryogis.

Follow this link:
Yoga for the older set - Tue, 27 Nov 2012 PST