Discovering The Mature Lifestyle
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Health & Wellness
January 15, 2015
January Issue
Fridley yoga instructor: ‘Don’t ever stop moving…’ BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
M
ichael Ledman could be considered the Pied Piper of yoga. He brings his yoga classes to 180 clients a week, from Anoka to Fridley, Columbia Heights, Spring Lake Park and Coon Rapids. His repertoire, geared toward people ages 20-90 and all fitness levels, includes regular yoga, gentle yoga, Tai Chi and T’ai Chi Ch’uan. “I took a class from him and convinced him to teach in Fridley,” said Connie Thompson, Fridley’s Senior Citizen Program supervisor. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever taken. He can adapt exercises to anyone’s ability, at any level. He is fabulous.” Ledman explains that gentle yoga is not exclusively for seniors, but is geared toward them. It also is useful for people who have suffered physical injuries. “It’s safe for everyone,” said Ledman, who has been teaching gentle yoga in Fridley for eight years and regular yoga classes there for 13 years. “I encourage people to move as much as they can,” he said. “Seniors can do yoga from a chair if their movement is limited, but not all of them opt to do that.” His goal is for people to work individually on progressing forward in a healthy
Michael Ledman brings his gentle yoga classes to Fridley each week, as well as to numerous neighboring suburbs. (Submitted photo)
way, he said. For seniors, the exercise helps with spatial and kinesthetic awareness, being more flexible and becoming more sure-footed. It’s even useful for people with memory issues, Ledman said. “Quite a few of my clients have Alzheimer’s,” he said. “The physi-
cal repetition of movement helps the brain stimulate the memory center. And it helps the body relax.” Relaxation is a topic of interest to Ledman. “It’s quite surprising to me to see how people don’t know how to relax,” he said. “They work, work, work, work, work.
When work stops, what do they do?” On his website, Ledman says people “spend a lot of time learning how to work faster and get more done, but they don’t spend enough time learning how to let go and YOGA - TO PAGE 7
“It’s quite surprising to me to see how people don’t know how to relax. They work, work, work, work, work. When work stops, what do they do?” - Michael Ledman