There are many forms of yoga. Hot yoga, goat yoga and even yoga with horses. A group of senior citizens meets twice a week in Freeport to maintain their mobility with the help of a piece of furniture. WNIJ’s Yvonne Boose joined them during one of their sessions.
Chairs were placed in a circular pattern around a room in an open space at the Senior Resource Center in Freeport. The participants are sitting in chairs, which makes it easier to perform the moves because they don’t have to get down on the floor.
The session starts with a ritual. First, the person must blow their nose. This is done so that they don’t have to stop and do it during the session. Next their hands are wiped down with a cloth and then a dab of essential oil and lotion are rubbed in.
Some seniors are sitting down after completing the ritual.
Everyone has a kazoo for a quick dance exercise and a scarf for the yoga session.
The dance kicked off.
They moved to the R&B and funk band Kool & The Gang’s song “Celebration.” Scarves were twirling like dance companions. And the kazoos intertwined into the melodies.
Then Bernie Hicks rings a bell to symbolize the beginning of the yoga session.
Patricia Kessinger, 80, led the group. She moved from Kansas City, Kansas to Freeport in 2023.
“Anytime I go somewhere new,” she said, “I always ask what I can do? What do I have to offer the community?”
She came to the Senior Resource Center to get her taxes done and saw a brochure about the Better Balance and Strength for Older Adults program. She asked staff about teaching yoga to seniors and they agreed. The chair yoga class has been going for almost a year.
Kessinger’s taught yoga for over 40 years, including chair yoga.
“I don't push a lot for them to do all the postures just perfect,” she explained. “Just keep moving. It's so important to just keep moving, even if you can just do a few of them.”
She said she thinks it’s especially important for seniors to go at their own pace.
Hicks, the bell ringer, turned 78 recently. He’s been participating for the last few months. He said he feels more relaxed when he leaves the sessions.
“I've had arthritis for about 40 years and managed it pretty well,” Hicks said, “but lately I had a massive flare up and been going through some therapy exercises for my hands and my shoulders and our chair yoga here. It's one hell of a great group of people.”
Cindy Ranero, 72, likes dancing before the seated movement, but her favorite poses are the ones that don’t hurt.
“It really has made us more mobile as a group,” she explained. “We see in each other improvements and things that we couldn't do at the beginning that we're doing now, and it has helped us.”
Deloris Fair, 80, lived in Freeport for 60 years. Fair describes the sessions as a place of love.
“I used to be in good shape for 30 years, I worked like a man at a factory that didn't want me to there,” she added. “I just love trying, and I don't think I'd be still walking if I hadn't come here and started this class.”
Kessinger, the class instructor, teaches participants about vitamin supplementation and various parts of the body.
“We had a series on the colon and what it does and where it's at, and that kind of thing,” she said. “And then we taught on the vagus nerve and how important that is, and on the chakras, which is a lot of people think is woo-woo, but it's not.”
Kessinger said chair yoga is a good place to start for those who want to get into practice, regardless of the age.
“We were not created to be sitting on a chair eating bonbons watching television,” she said. We were created for movement, and when we sit for long periods of time, the blood puddles in our lower extremities.”
Kessinger said lack of movement can cause arterial and heart issues.
