Ageless Yoga with Annette Wertman

On a sunny afternoon, May 19th,  Pam, Bobbi and Annette (perhaps attendance was low due to the Long Weekend!?) met (in Bobbi’s backyard) for the 3rd gathering of  the group Yoga Teachers for Older Adults.  We had a wonderful time catching up, sharing ideas and enjoying some goodies. Bobbi presented a thorough discussion on the ‘knees’ and demonstrated some of the ‘asanas’ she does with the participants in her Chair Yoga class at Kitsilano Community Center.  Pam has volunteered to share her ‘Laughter Yoga’ & ‘Toning’ with those that attend the next gathering….7:30 p.m. on a September Sunday night.

a 'correct' way to hold up the leg

Place & date TBA. Keep posted!

Every Chair Yoga class I encourage my students to remove their shoes and socks. “It is good to feel the floor with your toes…..you will benefit more from your yoga practice….some of the asanas will be more accessible, etc.” I nudgingly say. The responses include; “the floor is cold”, “the floor is too dirty”.

But, we have found a solution – thanks to the suggestion of one of the students – a regular yoga mat, cut in half and placed in front of the chair, below the feet. At then end of class, the mats are sprayed and sponged with a solution of tea-tree oil and water, left to dry a little and then stored for the next yoga class.

Guess what? More and more students are removing their sneakers and socks!

good to feel the toes

Nineteen people were there to support me as I defended my thesis proposal – Yoga for the Older Adult: An Exploration in Pathways, Motivations and Barriers – on Friday, April 20th at 1:00 at the downtown SFU campus in Vancouver, BC.

Poster for Thesis Proposal Defense

The critique from my committee was very helpful, as well as questions from the audience. I am now ‘fine tuning’ the questionnaire and hope to do a pilot study very soon.

Some comments were:

Your presentation was very good, very professional looking and well delivered.

Congratulations on your academic success. I can honestly say that I admire your focus, intelligence and tenacity.

Your defense was really very good – well prepared and researched and a great entertaining presentation and a topic that I think is really current and necessary.

May I say I am impressed. I think you are on track doing an outstanding job that will do nothing but encourage the growth and understanding of the need to bring yoga to older populations.

You are invited to attend the following MA thesis proposal defence which is presented as part of the requirements for a graduate student completing their Master of Arts in Gerontology Degree. The presentation is designed to facilitate the development of the research topic by providing feedback and guidance and to make certain that the thesis will meet the expectations of the committee before a significant portion of the work (research) is undertaken.

"yoga = a work in"

Date: Friday, April 20th, 2012
Time: 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Location: Harbour Centre Room 2260 – Simon Fraser University, Vancouver BC.
Title:  Yoga and the Older Adult: An Exploration into Pathways, Barriers and Experiences
Presented by: Annette Wertman

Open to the General Public.

What a fantastic way to do a teacher training – in sunny Costa Rica. And how wonderful to fall asleep with sounds from the jungle and the raging ocean surf, only to wake up to roosters and ‘Howling Monkeys’!

The Kundalini classes, taught by Gloria Latham of Semperviva Yoga Centre, were intense, rigorous and at times emotional, but the feeling of freedom, gratitude

loving it

and openness achieved from raising the heart rate and chanting was…….. indescribable!

A strong group of women (mostly from Vancouver) breathed deeply and supported each other. When not in training, you could find us surfing, walking the beach, reading, suntanning, swimming in the glorious Blue Spirit resort pool….or EATING!