Center Adds Elder Yoga to Outreach Programs

Photo By Lora Vahlsing

The Fond du Lac Center for Spirituality and Healing (the Center) offers a number of community outreach programs that bring yoga and its benefits to groups that may not otherwise have access to such programming. In February, it began offering a yoga course specifically designed for elders at the Woodlands Senior Park.

“Joyful, Gentle Yoga for Elders” is a series intended to bring the benefits of yoga to the elders of the Woodlands community. Suzanne Boyle teaches the class at the Woodlands every Tuesday. “I teach Gentle Yoga,” says Suzanne of her teaching style, “my message is to be gentle and compassionate, with yourself especially, and that will ripple out to all the lives you encounter.”

Suzanne, who also teaches at other venues including the Center, often incorporates mini-lectures at the start of her classes saying, “I love sharing the stories I have heard and the inspirational writings I…come across.” According to Suzanne’s bio, “Joyful, unhurried, balanced and relaxed breathing will help you transform your physiology and your response to stress and anxiety.” She writes, “Yoga is a serious study, but I approach my practice, my life, and my classes from a light-hearted perspective. Each person’s practice is an expression of their own inner joy and I encourage everyone to discover an expression of that inner happiness through the integration of breath and fluid, organic movement.”

Suzanne Boyle is a 200/300 hour with 7 Centers Yoga Arts (2004), and a 500 hour certified yoga instructor with Viniyoga Institute (2011), and participates in continuing education annually with Gary Kraftsow, head of Viniyoga Institute. Suzanne also teaches Viniyoga at the Center every Wednesday evening from 4:30 – 6:00 PM.

The Joyful, Gentle Yoga for Elders is one of many community outreach programs conducted by the Center. It also offers free yoga for veterans at its facility at 74 S. Main St. in Fond du Lac. Veterans can obtain a yoga pass at the Center that is good for life and entitles them to attend any of the regular yoga classes. The Center offers at least one regular class every day of the week except Sunday. In addition to the veterans outreach, beginning this month the Center will once again run a special yoga program for women in the A.R.C. program. The Center also provides 10-class Community Cards through various community outreach programs in the area. These cards give access to the Center’s daily regular yoga classes for individuals in the community who have sought assistance for various needs.

Regarding its senior program, the Center’s blog states, “It has long been the effort and intention of the Center to reach out and honor and appreciate the community’s elders who hold a cherished space in our community--both for the tremendous contributions they have already made and also the wisdom they continually have to offer.” The senior program began in February and will continue as long as funding is available.

The Fond du Lac Center for Spirituality and Healing would like to express its gratitude to the Fond du Lac Area Foundation for the generous contribution making the senior program possible. The Foundation granted $2080 in November from the Jim and Marie Kuber Fund in support of the “Joyful, Gentle Yoga for Elders” program. The Jim and Marie Kuber Fund was established 1998 by Jim and Marie Kuber to enhance the lives of the elderly in the Fond du Lac area.

For information about community outreach yoga programs offered by the Center or for information about public and private yoga classes, you may contact the Center’s Director, Michael Ketterhagen, at 920.921.9404 or visit the Center’s website at FCSH.org.