Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 28, 2012

20

THE GOOD LIFE

11

 Mountain Views News Saturday, April 28, 2012 

SENIOR HAPPENINGS

THE JOY OF YOGA

WHAT IS A YOGA CLASS LIKE? - Part II

April Birthdays

Blanca Martinez, Lillian Snyder, Dorothy 
White, Freda Bernard, Beth Copti, Terri 
Cummings, Marilyn Diaz, Virginia Elliott, Elma 
Flores, Barbara Lampman, Betty Mackie, Elizabeth 
Rasmussen, Maria Reyes, Ann Schryver, 


APRIL ACTIVITIES

Senior Programs have returned to the Hart 
Park House enior Center, 222 W. Sierra 
Madre Blvd. in Memorial Park - Come by and 
see the changes!!

ene
By Rene Quenell, Founder/Owner

Yoga Madre - Sierra Madre 

Meals-On-Wheels


MondayS: City Hall & Lunch Café 

12 noon: Intervale Lunch Café: Come enjoy 
a hot meal with others. Donation for seniors 
(60+) of $2.00; visitors $3.75. Call 355-0256 
to make your daily reservation.

1:00 pm to 1:45 pm: Strength Training with 
Lisa Brandley. FREE class of stretching with 
light hand weights while you sit.

Tuesdays: 

 FREE blood pressure checks by Methodist 
Hospital Nurse; 11 am to 12 noon.

1:30 pm to 3:30 pm: BINGO; cards are only 25 
cents each so stop by & play

5:15 pm to 6:45 pm: Yoga; $6.00 - 50 & over. 
Please call 355-5278 for more information

WednesdayS:

11 –11:45 am: Balance Class with Teryl. FREE 
class designed to improve balance & refresh 
the joints

12 noon: Intervale Lunch Café; daily reservations 
needed 355-0256

2nd Wednesday of the month: FREE Legal 
Consultations: 10-11:30 am. Appointments 
call 355-7394

Wii Wednesday - 1:00 pm or call the senior 
desk at 355-7394 to arrange another time & 
day to learn how to play. No previous experience 
or skills required and it is great exercise.

Thursday:

1:00 to 3:30 pm: Game Day. Join us for Poker 
with Bridge on the 2nd & 4th Thursdays; so 
please call for more information.

Friday: City Hall closed on Dec. 16, 23 & 30 
and Lunch Café closed on Dec. 23

 12 noon: Intervale Lunch Café; daily reservations 
needed 355-0256

Saturday: 11:30 am: Senior Club brown bag 
lunch and BINGO at 12:30 pm. 

Meals are delivered to home-
bound seniors by volunteer drivers 
through the YWCA Intervale 
Lunch Program M-F (with frozen meals for the 
weekend.) 

Meals are delivered to the home-bound seniors 
by drivers through the YWCA Interval Lunch 
Program M-F (with frozen meals for the 
weekend.) 

 Call the YWCA at (626) 214-9460 for more 
information. 

You will probably start with a little meditation or breath exercise and then 
begin moving. There will be a warm up of gentle movements that follow 
your breath – like inhaling your arms up and overhead and some easy 
stretches. The great thing about yoga is that you go at your own pace. Step 
by step we progress over time. Everyone has been a beginner at some point. 
Everyone has challenges of some kind. So our focus is never on what the 
person next to us can do – but always on our own journey. In fact, we are 
there to get to know ourselves better. 

How long are my hamstrings? How far away are my toes? How restless am I? As we progress, we 
notice great things happening to us also. Usually in the warm up, we do what we call ‘sun salutations’. 
This is where we heat up the body. Moving with the breath we inhale the arms up and then 
swan dive over the legs. We lunge back and step to ‘downward facing dog’. This is a pose we do a lot 
in yoga. Just like your dog or cat stretches out in the mornings. It is actually a resting pose, but in the 
beginning we warm up there too. Warning: this pose, just like the whole practice can be addictive. 
When done correctly – it feels wonderful. For folks with wrist issues you may want to try a gentle 
class first where we don’t do much down dog. From there we move our feet forward by the hands 
again. We repeat it several times. It is now time for our warrior poses. These are standing poses 
that are weight bearing, your own weight bearing. They strengthen hips and legs and build stamina. 
Almost everyone can do these.

 Now we are ready to do a little deeper stretching and maybe some twists that tone the internal organs. 
Resting often is very good for you. At the end of each practice we do ‘savasana’ or final relaxation 
pose. You just lay there and rest. You have worked out to your level and are ready to rejuvenate. 
It is lovely. Afterward we all sit up and the teacher says “Namasté”. You then say “Namasté” back to 
the teacher. It means ‘the light in me sees the light in you’. It is time to roll up your mat and leave. But 
you won’t be moving at the same pace as when you came in. You won’t have all that tension in your 
shoulders. You will feel calm, relaxed and energized. What could be better than that? It’s amazing.

Namasté, René 


LUNCH & LEARN 

Join the Senior

Community Commission

at the 

HART PARK HOUSE

 for a FREE presentation. Lunch is 
available for a 

$2 donation 

Call (626) 355-0256 by 

12 noon the day before. 

2012 EXCURSIONS

SAVE THE DATES

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN 

Thursday, April 26TH - Palm Springs Follies. 
Spend the day in sunny PS and see the 
new show Hot! Hot! Hot! celebrating those 
memories of endless summers with music 
and dance. COST per person is $58 (includes 
transportation, tip & show). Lunch will be 
on your own at one of the many restaurants 
next to the theatre. The bus will leave the Senior 
Center at 8:30 am and return at 6 pm. 
The featured guest stars are The Diamonds 
(“Little Darlin’ and Why Do Fools Fall in 
Love”). Space is limited to the first 30 persons 
to register.

Thursday, May 17th - Adamson House in 
Malibu. Join us as we visit this historic 1930s 
home, view the largest display of Malibu titles, 
tour (walking) the Malibu Lagoon Museum 
and end your visit at a local restaurant 
for lunch. The bus will leave the senior center 
at 8 am (L.A .traffic) and return around 3:30 
pm (depending on traffic). COST is $20 per 
person (you will need additional money to 
pay for your own lunch) and the tour is limited 
to the first 20 paid registrations. Please 
note, if it rains the excursion will be canceled 
per the museum staff. City staff will know by 
7 am the morning of May 17th if it is canceled 
& will call all participants at that time.

SAVE THE DATE: Friday, June 8th - 
Nerthercutt Collection & lunch in Sylmar 
area

Registration can be done either in person or online at 
www.cityofsierramadre.com/onlineregistration

Registration can be done either in person or online at:

www.cityofsierramadre.com/onlineregistration

DIAL - A - RIDE TICKETS

Tickets can now be purchased at:

Sierra Madre City Hall

Sierra Madre Recreation Center

Sierra Madre Library


BINGO Tuesday - join us every Tuesday at 
the Hart Park House Senior Center at 1:30 pm 
for this traditional social activity. Bingo cards 
are only 25 cents each.

There will be a special intermission dessert 
& prize at the April 24th game provided by 
Angie Chen of Seniors Helping Seniors - In 
home services for seniors by seniors.

THE OFTEN IGNORED WARNING SIGNS OF A 
MINI-STROKE 

Dear Savvy Senior:

How can a person know if they’ve had a stroke? My 
70-year-old husband had a spell a few weeks ago 
where he suddenly felt dizzy for no apparent reason 
and had trouble talking and walking because his 
left side went numb, but it went away after a few 
minutes and he feels fine now. 

Seem Fine 

Dear Seem:

 It’s very possible that your husband may have had a “mini-stroke” also known as a transient ischemic 
attack (TIA), and if he hasn’t already done so, he needs to see a doctor pronto. 

 Each year, more than a quarter-million Americans have a mini-stroke, but only about half of them 
realize what’s happening. That’s because the symptoms are usually fleeting (lasting only a few minutes, 
up to an hour or two), causing most people to ignore them or brush them off as no big deal. But anyone 
who has had a mini-stroke is 10 times more likely to have a full-blown stroke, which can cause 
long-term paralysis, impaired memory, loss of speech or vision, or even death.

 A mini-stroke is caused by a temporary blockage of blood flow to the brain, and can be a warning 
sign that a major stroke may soon be coming. That’s why mini-strokes need to be treated like 
emergencies. 

Who’s Vulnerable?

 A person is more likely to suffer a TIA or stroke if they are overweight or inactive, have high blood 
pressure, elevated cholesterol or diabetes. Other factors that boost the risks are age (over 60), smoking, 
heart disease, atrial fibrillation and having a family history of stroke. Men also have a greater risk 
for stroke than women, and African Americans and Hispanics are at higher risk than those of other 
races.

Warning Signs

The symptoms of a mini-stroke are the same as those of a full-blown stroke, but can be subtle and 
short-lived, and they don’t leave any permanent damage. They include:

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg on one side of the body.

• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.

• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes. 

• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.

• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause.

Anyone who is having any of these symptoms should call 911 immediately. Or, if you’ve had any of 
them and they went away, ask some one to drive you to the emergency room or nearby stroke center 
as soon as possible and tell them you may have had stroke. 

Take This Quiz

More than one-third of mini-stroke suffers will eventually have a full-blown stroke, unless their underlying 
conditions are treated. If your husband did have a mini-stroke and did not get medical treatment, 
this self-assessment quiz (known as the ABCD2 tool) can estimate his risk of having a major 
stroke in the very near future. 

• Age: If over age 60 – 1 point.

• Blood pressure: If his systolic blood pressure (top number) is higher than 140 mmHg and/or 
diastolic blood pressure (bottom number) is higher than 90 – 1 point.

• Clinical features: If he had weakness on one side of your body during your mini-stroke – 2 
points. If you had a speech disturbance without weakness – 1 point. 

• Duration of symptoms: If his symptoms lasted for 10 minutes to an hour – 1 point. If they 
lasted an hour or longer – 2 points.

• Diabetes: If he has diabetes – 1 point. 

If his score is 3 or less, his risk of having a major stroke within a month of his TIA is 2 percent. A score 
of 4 or 5 indicates about an 8 percent risk for stroke within 30 days and a 10 percent risk within 90 
days. And a score of 6 or 7 estimate a 16 percent chance of stroke in 30 days and around 20 percent 
within 90 days. 

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller 
is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.