All Bent on Yoga : Retiree, 85, Her Back Pain a Thing of the Past, Serves as a Senior Exercise Guru

Ten years ago, 85-year-old Zara Bigelman said, her chronic back pain flared up so often that simply reaching to turn on the television for early-morning yoga shows “could lay me up for three months.”

Today, not only can the muscular, energetic retired high school teacher do such advance yogic movements as the “lotus” and the “cobra” with ease, but she also teaches them to other senior citizens.

“If you saw all the difficult things they can do, you’d think, ‘They couldn’t be seniors,’ ” Bigelman said of the 15 men and women who each week attend the two-hour yoga class she teaches at the Wachs Multipurpose Senior Center in North Hollywood.

“And the movements are doing all kinds of wonderful things for them, like straightening their bodies, getting rid of double chins, and making them feel graceful and healthy again,” she said.

Bigelman, a former Van Nuys High School teacher who lives in Studio City, believes that this is true in her own case. Although she says X-rays still reveal a serious chronic curvature of her spine, her straight posture today calls to mind a woman walking with an imaginary stack of books on her head.

“I might as well be cured,” she said, “because I have no more pain.”

Standing in front of the leotard-clad students, their towels and mats spread out on the floor, Bigelman begins each class by leading the group through simple warm-up movements that focus on deep breathing.

“Reach up, up, up for that golden rock,” she says to the group, pulling an imaginary stone out of the air. “Now, resist it as you pull it down, and don’t forget to breathe.”

Later, the group does a series of more difficult yogic positions--such as lying on their stomachs and slowly raising their bodies at right angles to the floor--that reveal ample strength and flexibility.

Bigelman volunteers her time at the Wachs center, and the class is free to anyone who wants to attend. Staff members at the center said that, when Bigelman first approached them two years about teaching there, they “jumped at the chance.”

“It’s her enthusiasm that keeps people coming back to the class,” said Morris Golden, a coordinator at the center. “The fact that she’s 85 and has all this energy makes her a role model too. I’ve heard people jokingly say, ‘I want to be like Zara when I grow up.’ ”

Some class members said they decided to start doing yoga after other exercise programs became too strenuous, or they became injured.

A Refugee From Aerobics

Estelle Neffel, a North Hollywood resident whose trim figure and unlined face belie her 61 years, said she tried low-impact aerobics, as well as an aerobics class designed specifically for seniors. Still, she said, “I ended up with a lot of back pain. We kept getting new teachers all the time, and I think they forgot how old we were.”

Other class members started doing yoga in the hope of alleviating various physical problems, such as arthritis or high blood pressure. Many said they came on the advice of their physicians.

Last year, 64-year-old Arthur Jenkins pulled ligaments in his legs and was suffering from stiff knee joints. Since embarking on a daily yoga routine in October, Jenkins says, he now has more flexibility and has been able to reduce the medication he was taking.

Korah Szeto, 61, had high blood pressure.

“I quit my job, started doing yoga and walking briskly at least two miles every morning, and now my blood pressure is normal and I don’t take any more pills,” Szeto said. “My doctor doesn’t know what’s responsible for it, but he says to keep doing what I’m doing.”

Such positive effects of yoga, many physicians say, are not unusual.

“In many ways, yoga is a wonder drug,” said Dr. Gershon Lesser, a Los Angeles-based physician and host of “The Health Connection,” a weekly program heard on KCRW, the National Public Radio station affiliate based in Santa Monica. Lesser said he regularly refers older patients to yoga classes.

“Many seniors find that their flexibility returns, their pain is reduced, and the stiffness in their joints goes away. Better breathing gives them control over stress and tension. And then, as they start to feel better and their muscles get toned, their self-esteem gets elevated. In short,” Lesser added, “it’s one good way of growing younger.”

Yoga teachers are not required to have any special training or license, according to the California Yoga Teachers Assn., a Berkeley-based nonprofit educational corporation that publishes a monthly magazine for yoga enthusiasts. Some yoga institutions, however, such as Sivanda Yoga Vedanta Center in Los Angeles, require teachers to take a one-month course and pass a test that focuses on teaching ability as well as knowledge of yoga philosophy.

“In Sanscrit, yoga means to yoke or unite the individual’s soul with the Supreme, and hatha means the balancing of warm and cool energies,” explained Padmazati, Sivanda Yoga Vidanta Center co-director.

“Unlike aerobics, yoga is not supposed to be stressful because you constantly tune yourself with your body, and you’re not supposed to push beyond your limits. But some teachers, who may not be as tuned into that mental process, are more pushy,” Padmazati said.

Bigelman’s own past physical problems have made her mindful of the realistic precautions seniors need to take during the classes. Head stands, for example, are not advisable for seniors or anyone with high blood pressure since they could cause a stroke.

Still, she says, she believes many seniors have developed self-imposed limitations.

“When people tell me they have a bad this or that, I say, ‘If it’s too much for you, just stop,’ ” she said.

“The great thing about yoga is that it’s non-competitive, and you can take it completely at your own pace.”

Pace Has Quickened

Since beginning yoga 10 years ago, Bigelman’s own pace has quickened considerably. Besides doing yoga on a daily basis, she also changed her eating habits, explaining, “I’m not a fanatic, but I used to live on doughnuts and coffee.” She swims regularly and takes folk dancing classes several times a week.

A teacher in Los Angeles and Van Nuys more than 30 years, Bigelman said she first discovered yoga on television shows while she was caring for her ailing husband, a physician in private practice for many years before going into psychiatry. Bigelman’s husband warned her, apparently incorrectly, that doing yoga could cripple her.

After her husband died in 1977, Bigelman said, she “read every yoga book I could get my hands on” and took yoga classes at such places as Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys. Soon, she said, she felt confident enough to pass her knowledge on to others.

“I’ve always been a teacher and suppose I always will be,” Bigelman said as her yoga students rested on the floor at the end of the class.

“My joy used to come from stretching my students’ imaginations. Now, I guess you could say it comes from just stretching.”