August 2015 Fitness FROM PAGE 7


yoga again after a 3-year break. The 74-year-old heard about


TriFusion


from her cousin and the duo attends most of the Monday classes together


“I feel I’ve do


Shepard says. “Since


better,” been


doing exercise, especially coming here and to the strength training classes at the Y, my cholesterol has come down about 25 percent.”


At the end of the class, Luna turns


off the lights for a brief meditation. Morris describes this as an important therapeutic part of the class.


“We have a quiet time for about 10 minutes and close our eyes and just mellow and blank everything out. It’s really good for us. It relaxes us.”


Jane Alexander, who lives down


the road from the studio, has been coming to the senior class since it began nearly two months ago.


“It’s beautiful,” she says. “I rest so good at night after I leave here.”


While she takes advantage of


other fitness opportunities, such as swimming and walking, she says that she has felt “more limber, more moveable, since we’ve been coming to yoga. It’s really helped a whole lot.”


One of Deborah McNaulty’s


goals in the beginning of her fitness plan was to lower her blood pressure.


medication; I didn’t want to become her taking so many different McNaulty says.


“I looked at my mom on all this pills,”


Her hard work has paid off: her blood pressure has come down and she is hopeful that she will soon be able to stop her medication.


In class today, McNaulty is one of two students using the wall, making up for her hesitation in the previous class.


“Last week I had eaten really bad. I’d had a birthday; my body was like ‘what are you doing?’ I was puffy, I could tell the difference.”


This week, as she and another student move into an inverted pose on the wall and lift their arms into a prayer position, the other students in the class give a cheer.


“I think with all these wellness programs I have met some amazing seniors who have become my family and we’re all on a path to healthy eating and exercise. We’re all helping each other,” McNaulty says.


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The Hampton Roads Messenger 15


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