Hello and welcome to the Vintage Voice. I'm Jessica Rap and I'm here with my co-host Gail Bass. >> Hello. >> And we have a really special guest here today, uh, Bridget Yansy. Thank you for joining us. and we're going to uh talk about yoga and the aging process and
ways to age well in the body, mind, and community. Uh so let's get started and talk to um Bridget about yoga. Great. >> All things yoga. >> All things yoga. >> Perfect. >> Okay. Well, my let's start with why yoga
is beneficial to seniors. I know research shows that doing some yoga helps uh with some age markers like strengthening the legs and balance and you need all that and also um reducing stress. So why is yoga so why is yoga so
important for seniors to try out? Yeah, balance is very important. I think that's probably the top reason why people who are as they age why they should um practice yoga. Um and it's built in to the practice, right? A lot of the poses and the exercises that we
do in yoga, they require balance to hold them. And so it's really great for balance. The other thing that kind of complements that as well is that um yoga strengthens and tones the muscles of the upper legs and the pelvis. It's it's pretty focused on that especially like
lunges like when we do the warrior poses >> and that tones the muscles that we need should we fall and need to get back up. we it gives us the strength to get back up as long as we're not, you know, injured or whatnot. Um, so for me, those
are some of the key things, but I also think, um, yoga is great. It can help improve range of motion or if nothing else, maintain the range of motion that you have. And because we work on strengthening the muscles around the joint, it also helps to improve mobility, which is important. Like if
you're reaching up to get, you know, a big bag of sugar off a top shelf or whatever. It's not just about the reach and the range of motion, but the strength to hold that. >> Think about something we see when we're out in public all the time. >> Not all concrete sidewalks are even. I see people of all ages trip.
>> Yes. >> On sidewalks. I saw somebody do that in my neighborhood the other day and I just thought, you know what? I didn't think about how important our balance is to make sure that we don't fall when we do something. >> It's very important. It's very important to make sure you don't fall. >> It's also just, you know, it's movement
for the sake of movement, which is important. It's just I we've all heard the old adage um move it or lose it, right? So, we need to move and and keep moving or else we will lose our mobility and our our ability to walk and our and it will affect our balance. I also think
that um you know yoga's it it's what I see in my students because I teach a lot of chair yoga to senior citizens at at the senior center and I also see an improved sense of self. You know, people feel better because they know they've got they're strong. They know they
they're secure in walking. They they know they can go to Sprouts or Fries on their own and they don't have to have someone there to help them. So, it gives them independence, too. >> Well, think about this. You know how on if you're on the grams and the >> Facebook chatter Instagram, >> oh yeah,
>> whatever its name is today, >> people will take pictures of their food, but they don't take pictures of themselves after they've eaten the food. But they will take pictures of themselves when they're all sweaty or after they run a marathon. When you've done something physically, you feel
better about yourself. And even if you know your hair is crazy, you're proud of that. And yoga is part of that. Even though it's not as intensive as running a half marathon, you're still doing something, right, Jessica? >> Right. And I feel I've done yoga before and the type that I've done is, you
know, the same sequence over and over again. And I I loved that because you can challenge yourself and you can see the improvement. >> Progress. You can see progress. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> It's really nice. >> Yeah. And you talk about yoga being a stress reducer. Um, you know, I start every one of my classes telling my
students, um, relax your jaw, breathe in and out through your nose, and make sure that your belly moves as you breathe. And that puts us in the calmer side of our nervous system, right? And I tell them, you want to maintain this throughout the whole practice. You want
to keep your jaw relaxed throughout the whole practice. You want to breathe so your belly moves, you're breathing diaphragmatically is what I mean throughout the whole practice. And if you do that and move to that cadence and and you know do things that strengthen your body and and help you to feel
better about yourself in just one hour you're going to feel you're going to feel different than when you started. >> Did you see how we both instantly changed? I was like I am slouching feel myself breathing. Thank you for that reminder. It's good posture. Good posture is and good posture is important
and yoga enforces that because it strengthens your back muscles the muscles the qls along the spine and the erector spin in the spine >> and those are key to balance. If those are muscles are weak you're wobbly and you know it can and you lose your balance easier. So it's yeah it's really
important. Talk to me about chair yoga because I know you've I forgot to mention in your intro that you've worked with the city as a contractor with leisure education and parks and recinda senior center mostly um doing yoga classes and um you have a big following.
>> I do and I feel very blessed about that. Yes, I have I I teach what maybe eight or nine chair yoga classes a week and those are all levels classes. Um I also just get my little commercial in. I teach chair Pilates, gentle chair Pilates, um and better balance classes
as well. So, um um but so chair yoga, you know, I know people tend to think, oh, chair yoga, you're going to sit in a chair for an hour. How fit can you be? Right? >> I don't look at chair yoga that way at all. Um in fact, we we actually stand up and and do poses in our chair yoga
classes. And my chair yoga classes are the same classes that I used to teach as Matt yoga classes. The only difference is you're sitting in a chair instead of getting down onto the floor and you're using the chair um like for poses like down dog or tabletop or wherever you
might have or plank where you might have your hands on the floor. You're doing it on a chair. And so and they're still doing down dogs. We're still lifting a leg up behind us and stepping forward into a warrior lunge pose. >> Um and so they're you know they're very
challenging classes I think and that's what my students want. that's why they come. They want to be challenged. They want to build strength. Um they want to try things that they didn't think they could do anymore. >> Now, you touched on something really briefly. You said there's misconceptions about what chair yoga is. Are there
other misconceptions about um chair yoga besides people thinking it's not real exercise when it actually is. >> It is. Yeah. I'm the number one thing is people say, "Oh, I can't do yoga. I'm not flexible." >> And I tell them, "That's why you do yoga because you're not flexible." Because
yoga improves flexibility and we've been talking about strength, but the flexibility is just as important and yoga really yoga really means balance and and bringing two opposites together like is as you go back to the meaning of the word yoga and joining um opposites
and so we do both strength and flexibility and um and so that's that's one thing I hear. People always say, "Oh, you must be really flexible because you do yoga." And I'm semiflexible. Well, I'm not super duper I'm not as we call them gumbies in the yoga world, but
but you don't have to be flexible to do yoga. And then yeah, the other thing is people think, "Oh, I don't need chair yoga. I'm I'm more, you know, I'm more advanced than that." I had a woman once tell me that she thought she um she had trouble getting up and down off the mat when she was doing yoga. And I said,
"Well, why don't you try chair yoga?" And she's like, "Oh, no. I don't need chair yoga." But then she came and she's like, "That was a workout. That was really a workout." So, um, teachers teach chair yoga differently. And there are some classes that where people need to stay in the chair the whole time, but
there are classes where people want a good workout, but they can't get up and down off the floor. And so, chair yoga is the ideal workout for them. >> What should beginners consider when they're to stay safe? Because, let's face it, you know, you should always consult with your doctor before you do
any definitely any kind of exercise. Talk to your doctor first, everybody. But then after they okay you what should somebody consider when they're starting out? >> Well, I think it's really important to know your limitations to know if your balance is bad. You need to know that
and you need to not come into a class and start doing challenging balance poses. You know, standing with one foot in one position and another foot in another with your arms up >> and the temperature at 110 degrees. >> Well, we don't do that at dealinda, but >> we believe in AC.
>> Exactly. Exactly. ceiling fans and AC for sure. Um but um >> knowing your limitations is important. Knowing what you can and can't do and being honest about that with yourself, right? That's very important. Also, start with a beginning or a gentle
class. Um it may you may feel like it at first it's it's not as challenging as you thought it was, but it's better safe than sorry. Sorry. So, I would start with a a gentle class. >> And um also, I think you should tell your teacher if you're new. I love it when my students come up and they say,
"I've never done yoga before. I'm here to do chair yoga." Um, and that way I don't I can help them individually, but I can also work it into my teaching when I describe the poses in a little more detail than I might Yes. when so people know what they're doing or people who
don't know what they're doing can get a better idea of what they should be doing. >> Yes. I'm the queen of the modified pose. >> That's perfect. Well, I mean, chair yoga is a modification in and of itself, right? Right. Right. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Now, you know what? You you didn't reveal any private details when you shared about the woman who said she she
was having problem getting off the floor and then she tried chair yoga. Do you have any other personal stories you can share from some students who really found their groove doing yoga? >> Yeah, I I think and I get hund I've had excuse me I have hundreds of stories
that I could share. I mean there's just so many but there is one that resonates with me and this is actually back when I first started. Um, I had a student who came up to me and she was on a walker and she said she'd always been so active her whole life and um and she she'd
gotten sick and so she was bedridden for a while and it got to the point where she couldn't even walk out to her mailbox alone >> um and uh without you knowing there was somebody there to help her. And so her doctor said she should try chair yoga. So she did and she started doing chair
yoga with me and one day she came up. She goes, "I want you to know I walked to the end of the driveway all by myself, no walker." >> And um and I she was so proud of herself and she kept me updated on her story. She goes, "I went down to the neighbor's house. Um I hadn't been in their house
in a few years. I walked down the street. I walked around the block." And the the the the penultimate point of this is that she came in one day and she said, "I just booked a trip to Europe with my granddaughter and my great-granddaughter and we're going to
go do a river cruise um down the Rine in Europe." And she also said that um she was going to fly home through upstate New York where she was from and she was going to see her newborn great great I don't know how many greats it was but grandson in Rochester, New York. And
then she and her daughter were going to drive across the country to get back home. And this was a woman who could barely get out of bed. And she kept saying it was from the yo. Yoga was the only thing she was doing. So she kept saying >> that's great. That's a great story because so many people are bedritten and they want to get up and they want and
they're older and they want to do for themselves. You see this more than me that you know this is a way for them to do it. >> You can modify it. You know Lois could barely stand. Well, she's no longer with us, but she could no longer stand when she first came to chair yoga. And then eventually she got up and stood behind
her chair. And it was it was just so wonderful to see. So, >> she totally gained her independence back. >> She did. She did. That's amazing. >> Yeah. Yeah. She was And by the time she came back from Europe, she was 92. >> She told me she was she had just celebrated her 92nd birthday. >> You know what's going to happen? I'm
doing that Ryan River cruise this summer and my dad's going to be turning 92 this summer. He's going to say, "Why aren't you taking me?" >> Exactly. And I'm going to say you never took me to the Grand Canyon. >> He needs to come to chair yoga if he wants to go. >> Okay. Well, I think this is the part that I've been looking forward to the
most. Um >> can you um guide us through a simple seated short practice, a few exercises? >> You guys are going to do them. You ladies are going to do them. >> I got my pants on. >> You're ready? I don't have my pants on. >> That's okay. That's all right. Okay. Um,
so as I said, I always tell my students to sit up at the front of the chair, right? So sit up at the front of the chair so that you're using your back to hold you up. >> And um, then I invite them to close their eyes and relax their jaw for just a moment. >> And really what I want you what we're doing here, a lot of times we're
somewhere physically, but we're not there mentally. So we take our attention to our breath and just kind of bring our whole self here. >> Okay. And then we're going to open our eyes. I do lots of stretches, lots of range of motion. Arms up and just give yourself a big stretch. Take your
interlace your fingers. That's it. And then take your hands down. We always start by moving our spine. So, we're just going to round our spine back and arch our spine forward and round back. And you're going to move to your breath. You're going to inhale
as you arch and exhale as you round. And just go back and forth. It's like a cat cow. >> Cat cow. If you've ever done like gym classes or even Pilates, they use cat and cow. Yes. >> The things we do when we get up after being on a plane for 12 hours.
>> You should do, right? That's this stuff's important. I also have them twist. I'll just take one hand behind them and take the opposite hand to the other knee and we'll twist. >> And then we'll twist to the other side. >> Oh, these stretches feel good. >> Yeah, don't they? It feels really good
to move your spine. Really good. And then just a little side to side. So we'll they have props down to hold their hand, but we'll just kind of go side to side. Right. So what you're doing here is you're moving your spine in all three directions that it moves. >> I see.
>> Yeah. And then after we do the spinal movement, we open the hips and shoulders a little and we'll do some warrior poses. Do you want me to show you how we do those? >> You can. I'm not going to do warrior, but if you want to show, you can. >> I mean, I'll just show you with the chair so that people can see. I'm just going to Is this okay? turn my chair.
So, this is, you know, in this is a warrior pose that we do. Um, this is a good one for balance. I know you can't see everything I'm doing, but my right knee is bent. My left leg is pretty straight. And then my I'm on my back toes and flat on my front foot. And then I'll take my arms up. And you can see
how this is a great pose for building strength, for balance, right? >> So, we do lot we do different warrior poses. We do standing balances where you'll stand on one leg, right? Like a tree pose. I mean, it's >> um different and and those are
incorporated into every practice. So, >> I like doing those when I'm standing in line. >> It's good. I always tell my students, yeah, you're standing in line at um Walmart or something, stand on one leg and try to take your hands off the the cart, you know, and practice. >> Um yeah, I tell them to do all kinds of
weird things in public, >> but don't do it if there's a spill on aisle four. >> No, don't don't. That's true. That's true. What's one small simple movement somebody can practice could try at home today without you know your class? What's one small movement? >> So I tell my students to do just what we
just did every day. I say if you're not going to come to yoga that day, sit on the edge of your bed when you get up. Do your cat and cows and do your twists, right? And do your um do your side flexion. Move your spine in the three ways it moves. Um because we've got to
keep our spine mobile. if your spine seizes up, you know, with you can't walk. It's hard to balance. Um, uh, and so we've got to keep the spine moving and mobile and flexible as well as strengthening. And that's what we did. It's very subtle, but it'll strengthen your spine as well.
>> So, I think that's the that's the important thing. And then you should combine that, of course, with a walk. You should get out and walk every day. Walking is one of the best things you can do for balance, really. Well, where can listeners find out about where they can uh do your classes?
>> So, I teach it via Linda and um all my classes are up there. It's pretty simple. You just go to the Scots City of Scottsdale website and you can search by class, search for classes using my last name, Yan Cy, >> and all the classes that I'm teaching
will come up. I will tell you that they do fill up quickly, so you we've got to register early. But I also do teach a drop in chair yoga class at Vinda. It's every Monday and Tuesday at noon and you can go and pay $10 at the front desk and you can come when it's good for you and
join me for drop in chair yoga. >> That's a perfect way to try it and see way to try it. Yeah. Yeah. >> Well, that's great. Well, thanks so much for being here today, Br. >> Thank you for having me. >> It was so fun doing some exercises with you. Thank you. Feels so relaxed just doing the
>> We're in our zen. >> Your zen. Yes. Yes. >> Well, thank you for joining us today on the Vintage Voice. We hope you learned something new today. And as always, stay vertical, Scottsdale. We'll see you next
time. And remember, cat.