House of Jai offers yoga classes for senior citizens;Upper East Side studio teaches strength andbalanceRishi yoga program from owner Molly Lehman lets older folks stay limber longer

BY CARRIE COUROGEN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

PUBLISHED: THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012, 6:00 AM

UPDATED: THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012, 6:00 AM

ENID ALVAREZ/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Molly Lehman of House of Jai yoga studio, during a private lesson with client Bunny Grossinger, 87, at Grossinger’s home on 68th

St.

This is one yoga class where Gwyneth Paltrow isn’t welcome.

A new studio on the upper East Side offers sessions for seniors, a group that can benefit from yoga by

building strength and balance.

At House of Jai, the 65-and-older set won’t have to worry about keeping up with the younger crowd. But

they’re not going to get off easy, either.

“We’re not going to be babying them,” says Molly Lehman, co-owner of House of Jai, which opened in April.

“It’s about honoring where they’re at and honoring their ability to do a very serious physical practice.”

Lehman has experience teaching yoga to this age range. She met 87-year-old Bunny Grossinger eight years

ago at a Manhattan gym as the senior was about to give up exercise.

Back problems had limited Grossinger’s mobility to the point where she was struggling to make it to the gym.

Desperate to stay fit, she hired Lehman for personal classes.

With no gym equipment in Grossinger’s home, Lehman introduced her to a modified yoga program, and it

clicked.

“That was the moment that changed my life physically and mentally,” Grossinger says. Years ago, doctors had

told her she would soon need to rely on the assistance of a walker. Now, she proudly says, “I can walk.”

DAILY NEWS

Health

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Molly Lehman is co-proprietor and director of Vinyasa at the soon-to-open House of Jai yoga studio on the

upper East Side. (Susan Watts/New York Daily News)

The results pushed Lehman to share the therapeutic benefits of yoga with more seniors.

“It isn’t really fair that seniors have to hire a private yoga instructor to do yoga,” she says. “They should be

able to do it, too.”

House of Jai offers Rishi yoga, after the Hindu word for wisdom, for those over 65. The class is specifically

geared toward seniors who have physical limitations keeping them from regular classes.

Drop-in sessions cost $25, and clients can purchase an unlimited membership for $149 per month.

Additionally, a new student promotion costs $45 for 10 consecutive days of classes.

Old age is often accompanied by degenerative problems like arthritis, spinal stenosis and decreased mobility.

Rishi targets those problems by focusing on therapeutic routines rather than a challenging physical workout.

Its main goals are to increase range of motion, better balance, and help seniors regain strength.

“Their pain can be constant,” Lehman says. “And the relief that they feel and the benefits are [magnified]

compared to a young person. It just makes their lives more enjoyable and more manageable.”

Lehman explains that older clients benefit more than young when it comes to pain management. Their normal

level of pain can be consistently high. Yoga can minimize this and make an enormous difference in their daily

lives.

Grossinger, who thought she was destined for a wheelchair before she began studying with Lehman, agrees.

“If you’re not crippled and get up and go outside, go to a restaurant and go to class, your whole mental attitude

changes,” she says. “You’re part of the world. It saved me physically so that I did not deteriorate and get

depressed.”

Marianne Ryan, clinical director of physical therapy at MRPT Physical Therapy in midtown, says yoga can

help seniors with two common problems: balance and strength.

She finds that the functional training emphasized in yoga specifically benefits seniors. Moves that stress

balance can help them avoid dangerous falls. Certain poses increase flexibility, and

floor exercises aid in regaining both physical and mental strength.

The key for older yoga students, Ryan says, is to avoid letting their ego put them at risk for injury by trying to

keep up with the more flexible people in class.

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House of Jai’s Rishi program is designed to prevent just such injuries, according to Lehman. By tailoring

routines for seniors and carefully observing, they strive to provide the benefits of traditional yoga without the

risks.

YOU SHOULD KNOW

House of Jai Yoga, 1456 First Ave., at E. 76th St. (646) 861-3659. For more information visit HouseOfJai.com.

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