Different backgrounds, same benefits

Lyon Park classes for seniors link Duke, ministry

BY HUNTER LEWIS hlewis@heraldsun.com; 419-6651

Six decades ago, Florence Sherald ran through the halls of Lyon Park Elementary School trying to escape the wrath of Ms. Griston.

"I guess I was mischievous," Sherald said. "I thought she was the meanest teacher this school had."

Sherald grew up, moved away from Durham's West End neighborhood, then returned several years ago. Now 70, she's traded in grade school mischief for a polarity yoga class for seniors at her former school, now the Lyon Park Community Center.

The yoga class, called Easy Energy Exercise, is one of a handful of collaborations between the Duke Institute for Learning in Retirement (DILR) and Calvary Ministries of the WestEnd Community, Inc. The partnership has brought together seniors from different backgrounds under Lyon Park's roof to learn easy, self-help exercises to reduce everyday stress.

"I've got chronic arthritis, and [polarity yoga] has helped me so much with stress and dealing with pains," Sherald said. "I notice the difference. I'm walking better, sleeping better and eating better. The pain is still bad, but it's decreased so I can sleep at night."

At a recent class, Donna Puttler, a registered polarity practitioner, calmly led the seniors through a series of exercises designed to increase and balance the flow of energy in the body.

Puttler compares the energy flow through the body's different pathways to busy roads carrying traffic through a city. Polarity yoga is based on the energy flow among the five elements - ether, air, fire, water and earth - through their corresponding energy centers from the throat down through the heart to the tailbone.

"Be aware of your bodies," Puttler tells her class after they complete an exercise with pelvic movements and concentrated breathing. "Are you now beginning to feel the connection between the pelvic area and upper body?"

The class moves on to a "Fire" exercise, as the 12 women rise to the tip of their toes and shout "Ha!" from deep within their chest. The exercise is designed to move energy from one's "fire center" - the solar plexus and diaphragm - out of the body, Puttler tells them. The fire exercises help stimulate digestion.

"Oh, that's good," one class member says.

Sara Craven oversees DILR, a 27-year-old organization that has become so popular among area seniors that it has outgrown its space at the Bishop House on Duke's East Campus. The institute offers dozens of classes, ranging from literature and gardening to computer basics and yoga.

"When it became apparent to us that we could partner with Lyon Park and Calvary Ministries, it seemed wonderful," Craven said. "Not only did it provide us beautiful space, it opened the door to a new group of students for the classes."

DILR will put on Tai Chi and belly dancing classes for seniors during the winter, Craven said.

"[Belly dancing] is a fun, wonderful exercise and a wonderful thing," she said. "In general, dancing is more fun than calisthenics. It's a hoot, really."

Craven and Dionne Greenlee, director of development and programs for Calvary Ministries, teamed up to bring some of the DILR classes to Lyon Park.

"Sara Craven and I met and talked about a neat way to build community from seniors in a different part of town. It was an experiment, but it's growing," Greenlee said. "The response has been very favorable."

Greenlee said nontraditional classes like easy energy exercises and belly dancing help to expand the horizons of seniors. Some of the women like Sherald were born in the neighborhood, while others hail from Peru and Argentina.

"It is a neat place," Greenlee said of Lyon Park. "This is becoming a center of community partnerships and programs to be offered for all backgrounds."

Whether it's yoga, walking the trails or visiting friends, Sherald says she heads over to Lyon Park about five days a week.

"Lyon Park is one of the greatest things that could happen on this end of town," she said.

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