East Bay seniors do yoga, stay sprightly

Oakland Tribune, Oct 19, 2007 by Rachel Cohen

SAN LORENZO -- Alice Norlinger fixes her eyes straight ahead and bends over into the "Downward Facing Dog" pose, hands touching the ground. From there, she lifts her feet up over head and into a balanced handstand.

On Thursday, she turned 87 years old.

As the one of the founding members of the advanced yoga class at the San Lorenzo Adult School, the San Leandro octogenarian also celebrated nearly nine years with the class.

"You get stronger and stronger as you do the poses and all of the sudden you're aware that you can do the poses," Norlinger says.

Most of the 35 members of the class are senior citizens and have learned the advanced poses or body positions through years of practice. Norlinger started yoga when she was 79, after taking the adult school's aerobics classes. She says she didn't do any exercise until she was 60 because she was busy raising four children.

Now, Norlinger says that after the twice-a-week, two-hour class, she leaves energized to do house cleaning and yard work and to cook dinner for her 92-year-old husband, who uses a walker to get around.

Her friend, Rhea Buckley, 84, of San Leandro has also been in the class since it began. They met about 20 years ago in an exercise class.

Buckley says she uses the extra energy she gets from yoga to tend a vegetable garden larger than the sunlit gym where the class meets. She also walks and peddles a stationary bike. Norlinger just started using an exercise ball for balance at home. Both women say they scrapbook any clippings they find about yoga.

Another practitioner and class member of four years, John Chavez of San Lorenzo, says he especially notices his increased flexibility when driving, and that now he is able to look in different directions without turning his whole body.

For more information visit http://www.slzusd.org/adultschool.

He turned 65 on Thursday. He celebrates by doing a tree pose with Norlinger, during which they each stand on one foot and lift up an arm.

"I feel relaxed after class," Chavez says. "Like nothing is an obstacle. You feel like you can take on the world."

He adds that when he talks about yoga with his colleagues, they still tease him with lines like "you wear a tutu," "you go into a trance" and "you hold hands."

But no matter, he says that maintaining the combination of muscular strength -- in his abdomen and lower back -- as well as flexibility and inner peace keep him looking forward to the class.

"Yoga alleviates stress and depression," he says. "That is the number one factor we combat in law enforcement -- mental and muscle fatigue."

Teacher Nancy Leigh-Smith has been with the class since the beginning, and also teaches at the Hayward Adult School and at a studio in Alameda. She says that San Lorenzo Adult School is one of the best deals around, at $35 to $30 for 13 weeks per individual. Sessions are held twice a week.

Classes in yoga studios usually run around $13 to $16 per class, she says.

For more information, e-mail nancy@yogainthemiddle.com or visit http://www.slzusd.org/adultschool.