It’s my longstanding habit to spend 20 or 30 minutes every morning right after I get out of bed doing some simple yoga stretching exercises. 

Since volunteering here at the nursing home, I’ve been doing this routine most mornings downstairs in the main entry hall.  It’s the most wide open space in the building and it’s relatively warm there.  Some of the residents are often up pretty early in the morning, and some of them have noticed me doing my little routine there. 

Yesterday I was just getting started when Grandma Holly came bustling over (Grandma Holly is the lady who needed a vigorous back massage a couple of weeks ago).  She flopped down on the floor next to me and started imitating my moves.  I could see she was struggling a little bit to figure out how she should position her legs and arms to match the way I was moving my legs and arms, so I slowed down my pace and simplified things a bit.  We spent 10 or 15 minutes on the floor together and she seemed to enjoy it. And definitely, there were a few other residents watching our antics with some interest!

In the evening after dinner, Grandma Holly came over where I was helping clean up dirty dishes and asked if we could do yoga again together in the morning, and of course I assured her with great enthusiasm that I would be delighted to have her join the fun . . . 

This morning I went downstairs a little bit earlier than usual with a broom and dustpan and gave the entry hall a thorough sweeping before yoga time.  I also brought out my spare mat, so we would both have mats.  Grandma Holly turned up right on time, and we got right down to it. She did fine with the seated poses and the poses on hands and knees.  We also did some poses lying on our stomachs, which I think are particularly nice for the lower back.

Grandma Holly seems to have very stiff calf muscles; she can’t really tuck her toes at all. We’re going to need to work on stretching out those calf muscles before she can take a crack at the “downward dog” pose.  Also, until she’s able to tuck her toes, I don’t think she’s going to be able to get into a squatting pose. If she could come into a squat, I think it would be easier for her to stand up.  Today I had to help her back onto her feet at the end of our routine, because, trying to rise from a kneeling position, she could only use one leg, which wasn’t quite strong enough.

So it seems we need to work on limbering up those calf muscles!  Maybe the best approach will be to start with some basic toe-touching stretches from a standing position.