Island Senior: Virtual classes offer a variety of options

Contributed photo

When the nutri­tion­ist at Peace Health asked me what sort of phys­i­cal exer­cise I would be will­ing to com­mit to, I declared bold­ly that I would do yoga three times a week. I had just dug up my old yoga pro­gram that with enough adap­ta­tions I could still man­age to almost do.

What has helped me the most in keep­ing this com­mit­ment, how­ev­er, are the chair yoga class­es taught by Kat­ri­na Wen through the Mullis Cen­ter. It pro­vides a fun way to acti­vate ener­gy while mobi­liz­ing the spine and major joints. It includes stretch­es of the back and legs, both impor­tant in slow­ing down the aging process.

The spe­cial care we gave to our knees in last week’s class made me feel like the class had been cre­at­ed just for me. I’m sure though that I am not the only senior on San Juan Island whose knees could use some extra love.

Besides week­ly live Zoom class­es we are now able to get a video record­ing of the class to use as many times as we want to through­out that week. This is great if you want to use the class more than once and at times that work best for you.

Fit­ness class­es through the Mullis Cen­ter also include a bal­ance and stretch class that pro­vides a gen­tle way for peo­ple to train their abil­i­ty to bal­ance by ton­ing and recon­di­tion­ing var­i­ous mus­cle groups (legs, glutes, low­er back). Nav­i­gat­ing our bal­ance pro­vides a real­is­tic way to strength­en our core; there­fore it also aids our diges­tive health when it is done reg­u­lar­ly. Bal­ance is high­ly val­ued as a means of fall prevention.

Both Mullis Cen­ter class­es are avail­able live via Zoom — chair yoga at 9:30 a.m. on Tues­days and bal­ance and stretch at 9:30 a.m. on Thurs­days. There is a sug­gest­ed fee of $6 per class. The Mullis Cen­ter is com­mit­ted to mak­ing these class­es avail­able, so if cost is pro­hib­i­tive a slid­ing scale is avail­able. To sign up for class­es, arrange to receive week­ly access to the record­ed class­es or to learn more regard­ing the slid­ing scale, con­tact Anna at the Mullis Cen­ter at 360–370-7520 or info@mulliscenter.org.

As an addi­tion­al resource for San Juan Island seniors and seniors belong­ing to the Mullis Cen­ter, Belling­ham Senior Activ­i­ty Cen­ter offers a vari­ety of vir­tu­al pro­grams. Please call BSAC at 360–733-4030 for more info on these classes:

• Mon­day 1 p.m. – Strength and train­ing for balance
• Tues­day at 11 a.m. – Longevi­ty stick
• Wednes­day at 9 a.m. – Span­ish conversation
• Wednes­day at 1 p.m. – Strength train­ing for balance
• First and third Wednes­days at 1:30 p.m. – Brain power
• Thurs­day at 11 a.m. – Longevi­ty stick
• Fourth Fri­day (sec­ond Fri­day in Per­son) at BSAC 1 p.m. – TED Talk Discussion

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