Just Breathe: Yoga class helps seniors improve balance, strength

Soft music fills the room as a yoga instructor tells her students to breathe deeply while holding a warrior pose.

With each deep breath, Kathy Cross, 73, said, she can feel the release of stress and tension from her body.

“After an hour of yoga, I feel like I can conquer the world,” Cross said. “Almost as if I have a new lease on life.”

YogaXoga, a yoga business that travels to locations throughout the Kansas City area, offers classes at the Old Mission Methodist Church in Fairway, where a majority of the yoga students are over 60. Every Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m., the students gather for Heidi Valenzuela’s “demystified” yoga class.

“I teach yoga that focuses on the mind-body connection and stress relief,” Valenzuela said. “We take out the mystical, more traditional aspects of yoga, focusing on the health benefits.”

Valenzuela, the sole YogaXoga instructor, teaches 10 to 12 classes a week in churches and businesses throughout the metro area.

“This class has been so great because it really is catered to our needs,” Cross said. “(Valenzuela) is an instructor that meets our needs and is always considerate and compassionate.”

Valenzuela began taking yoga classes as a break from a stressful corporate career. She said when she saw the mental and physical benefits of yoga, she became a certified yoga instructor and began teaching classes on her own.

Soon, through word of mouth of friends and family, YogaXoga was born. Valenzuela left her corporate career behind to focus on her passion for yoga.

“With yoga, I’m able to see tangible results,” Valenzuela said. “It’s different than working on a project at work or in school. I see people who are stressed and achey and after an hour with me they feel better. I’ve seen physical ailments of all extremes, but people are able to come to class and leave feeling better.”

Valenzuela said yoga benefits students of all ages, and helps strengthen and stabilize the body through daily moves that can be done at home. Many of the moves taught in a demystified class focus on balance, building strength in the ankles and feet.

“Balance is so important, especially this time of year,” Valenzuela said. “The seniors who take my classes are learning ways to recover from a slip or trip and adapt to the situation by finding balance.”

Valenzuela’s students see other physical changes in their bodies as well. After only a few classes, many are relieved of back pain, shoulder aches and other ailments.

“My arthritis is not bothering me as much,” Pat Hess, 70, said. “I’ve had better health overall.”

Hess is on oxygen support 24 hours a day but is still able to participate in the classes at Old Mission.

 “People don’t believe anyone on oxygen can do this,” Hess said. “But we work together to get it done.”

Valenzuela said she keeps her classes stress-free, creating an atmosphere perfect for keeping the mind engaged while stretching the body.

“One of the most important lessons yoga teaches is stress management,” Valenzuela said. “Yoga gives the tools needed to improve reactions to stress, recognizing stressful situations and how to better deal with them, both mentally and physically.”

YogaXoga brings rewards to both student and teacher every class, Valenzuela said.

“I know I’m impacting their life for the better,” she said. “Anyone can take a yoga class and see positive changes. Teaching it is such a joy.” 

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