Activities for the Mind, Body

Continuous learning can be considered indispensible, no matter your age. For seniors, it’s important not only to keep the mind sharp, but also to stay active. Through programs geared toward seniors, local retirees are gaining new knowledge every day.

Charles R. Hill Senior Center

At the Charles R. Hill Senior Center in Vinton, they make it a priority to provide retirees with beneficial programs and activities that ensure opportunities for learning, socializing and camaraderie.

Senior coordinator at the Vinton Senior Center and heartbeat of the building, Penny Beyer puts an enormous focus on improving the quality of life every day, for every single person who walks through the door.

“We are the best kept secret,” explains Beyer. “My favorite thing is the people who come out, by far.”

Participants enjoy a variety of instructed classes, as well as crafts, daytrips and potluck luncheons. Occasionally, informative speakers and professional instructors – such as AARP ambassadors, preachers, chiropractors and hospice nurses – provide seniors with learning opportunities or advice. Musicians also come by from time to time.

And while she never takes her hand off the pulse of the program, Beyer is a participant just as much as she is the coordinator. Fluently playing two roles, Beyer teaches the crafts class and is always one of the 20-25 participants in the center’s most popular class, Tai Chi.

Steve Garay, a pastor and certified Tai Chi instructor, puts a huge emphasis on the socialization of the group and improving each individual’s confidence and mobility during the time he has with the group.

“Here we practice Tai Chi for arthritis. It helps with balance, focus, and also breathing” says Garay. “So often our seniors feel disassociated with society and feel cut off because they’re retired and out of the mainstream…this is when health becomes a concern. With programs like this (senior center), it builds a community and just like anyone else, they need that community.”

The class helps participants embrace the surrounding environment while reaping the benefits of healthy exercise traditions. And it’s a spot where retirees feel connected and sophisticated again, improving their mental and physical well being simply by learning.

First-timers to the class are sometimes hesitant, but the center puts an overlying importance on the comfort of their newcomers to make the environment more than inviting.

“Social interaction is extremely important, for several reasons,” says Mary Beth Layman, special programs director. “Gathering here is a goal to set; it helps prevent depression, it keeps their minds stimulated, it keeps them involved in current events, and mainly, offers a sense of belonging through participation. And that’s what we’re all about.

Kirk Family YMCA

Similar to the Vinton Senior Center, the Kirk Family YMCA values seniors, providing various functional fitness activities from water aerobics to chair-assisted exercise – that encourage exercise as well as a sense of belonging.

“There is a fitness component, but they aren’t competitive classes. People here will accept anyone and they are extremely supportive,” says 4-ever Fit instructor Patricia Placona. “With a lot of people having extended family around the world, this is their surrogate family. They provide the backbone of the program.”

Two of the most popular programs offered for retirees at the YMCA are 4-ever Fit and the aquatics class.

With a precise focus on both the physical and the mental well-being of the participants, the instructors of these classes see limitless opportunities for retirees to learn and see progress.

Upbeat, inspired participants are what give these classes their color. While working with resistance bands, light medicine balls, dumbbells and performing simple arm/leg movements, members go through a variety of moves allowing muscles to contract and relax, essentially building and refining body muscle.

“We do fun things to make it interesting; we get silly,” says aquatics coordinator Lynda Calkins. “ You begin to feel proud of what you’re doing. It carries over and honestly, swimming is one of those things you can do for a lifetime.”

Shying away from competitiveness, the aquatic classes aim more for safety first, but also reaching personal goals and rediscovering skills that will lead to more confidence each session. The chair-assisted program, 4-ever Fit, shares the same goals.

Simply by going through a workout at their own pace, participants begin to see the benefits before the class is even over for the day. In an environment that supports laughter and devotedness, participants are easily able to be themselves. They gain a sense of togetherness, opening the doors to other opportunities such as fitness and friendship.

“Here, a lot of it is social; they are very tight-knit,” says Placona.

All the while, these retirees are setting and reaching goals, improving their quality of life so quickly that they often don’t realize it until they start doing more in a day’s time.

“We develop a ‘toolbox’ of skills and after every lesson I give them something else to put in their ‘toolbox,’” says Calkins. “When they come (to the Y) by themselves, they practice and take those skills out of the ‘toolbox’ without any instruction or hesitation.”

One of the regular water aerobics participants, Sharon Proffit, says the classes are contagious.

“Seeing people have fun while they’re getting healthy makes you want to do it too,” she adds. -DF