It sounds easy – but it’s not! Chair yoga is not sitting and watching TV but rather all about balance, stretching, and proper breathing. I just completed my 5th class, so there’s still a lot to learn. I have trouble controlling my breathing, lack the necessary flexibility, and definitely need the chair for balance support. A neighbor friend talked me into going, and now I’m committed to make it a regular part of my retirement routine, every Tuesday morning at 10:15. I’ll miss next Tuesday due to our trip to Las Vegas but will seek a chair in front of a winning slot machine. In all seriousness, it is something you can practice at home, but I haven’t taken the time. Perhaps when I am more familiar the stretches it will seem more natural. 

The class is right after I finish my run and just a golf cart ride away. Today was 5,175 consecutive days, the tenth longest streak in Florida. It will of course continue in Vegas and then Orlando next week when my wife and I are there with the grandkids. It will be a good change of pace to run some different routes than the familiar path I tend to religiously follow every single day. It’s fun to say “hi” to all the regulars that I’ve met in the past two years of living here. Many of them I’m unfamiliar with by name but their faces are a daily fixture. We did get a new Islandwalk directory, but not everyone is listed. I often feel like I’m stalking when I see someone turn into their driveway or front door, so I memorize their street number and look up their address after the run. My wife has met several during her daily trip to the dog park with Tally. I wave as I “slog” by, making mental notes as to their identity. 

There’s a couple with three dogs that I see most mornings, but only know him because of an Iowa sweatshirt that he wears. I recently acknowledged a guy in an I.U. hat also wearing a Rutgers t-shirt. He was wearing all I.U. gear the day after the Purdue victory, obviously proud of that accomplishment. There is a group of women that are in the chair yoga class that pass by most mornings with a friendly “hello.” The instructor rides her bike down the wide sidewalk path that I follow. N.Y. Yankee guy wears the hat when he walks the dog, and many other unidentified “neighbors” give a nod of encouragement. 

I’m hoping that chair yoga will help with my running, although the first few times it made my muscles stiff the next morning. I need help with speed and balance, feeling like the ground is unsteady under my feet or working against me as I try to make progress, like going the wrong way on a moving sidewalk. Too many times I’m easily passed by a speed walker that I find particularly embarrassing. The harder I work on trying to go faster, the more my pace seems to slow. Ultimately, I’m just trying to make it to the chair at the end.