Parishes offer fitness opportunities for the health and wellbeing of their members

By Anna Weaver | Hawaii Catholic Herald

A parish is a place of worship, community, learning and service. And now, for some, physical fitness. It’s a natural extension of a parish community’s concern for the health and wellbeing of its members. Here are a few examples of what some parishes are offering.

Moving meditation

During a break in the outdoor Tai Chi Chuan class she was leading at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Pearl City on June 19, Lorraine Takamori explained to a visitor that learning the Chinese martial art form is like making Jello. To make Jello, you add hot water to the mix, stir, and let the result thicken and slowly set. Tai chi practitioners learn the fluid motions gradually, until the centering exercises have solidified in their movements.

“He doesn’t know what color his Jello is yet,” teased one of the eight participants that Thursday evening of her classmate Oscar Ravago, who has taken tai chi for nine months.

“Mine is rainbow Jello,” Ravago joked back, before the group started another set of movements.

The group slowly moves their arms, legs, heads and torsos, with Takamori quietly calling out the different shifts in position.

“It’s not a big calorie-burning exercise but it has other benefits,” Takamori said of the hour-long session. “It’s the calmness, it’s the balance, and it’s making your heart stronger.”

Takamori has been practicing tai chi for 29 years and teaching for 20. She holds classes at Our Lady of Good Counsel every Tuesday and Thursday, 6:30-7:30 p.m., and at her home parish of St. Elizabeth, Aiea, at the same time on Wednesdays.

Most of the participants belong to those parishes, but Eugene Lau learned of the Pearl City class after taking an adult education course Takamori taught in Aiea two years ago.

“It keeps the blood flowing,” Lau said. “It makes you forget about work.”

Takamori calls tai chi a “moving meditation” that can benefit people of all ages. In particular, it can help elderly people improve their balance and prevent falls.

“The idea is that at a particular moment the mind, body and breath are doing one thing,” she said. It’s a concept she believes people can use in their everyday lives, taking a moment away from distractions to stop and center oneself.

A big band and hula

After morning Mass at St. Pius X Parish in Manoa on June 18, a Wednesday, Luci Nelson led a Thera-Band class.

There is some gentle ribbing from participants (“Hey, you guys are cheating over there!”) and encouragement from Nelson (“Good for you!”) as seven men and women use chairs and giant rubber bands to exercise their arms, legs and bodies.

Thera-Band is an elastic resistance band used with various strengthening exercises.

“It actually changes the flexibility in your arms, legs, knees and ankles,” Nelson said. “And we have lots of fun doing it.”

She first learned how to use Thera-Band in 2003 while in therapy after two strokes. “It’s made a big difference in my life,” Nelson said.

She’s been teaching Thera-Band exercises at St. Pius X since January 2007 when her husband Deacon Ron Nelson was assigned there. She has taught it earlier at St. John Apostle and Evangelist Parish in Mililani.

Deacon Nelson joined the June 18 class along with the couple’s two visiting granddaughters. “You look at [the exercises] and it looks like nothing,” he said. “[But] it’s really a good workout.”

Luci Nelson also does exercises with the women in the parish’s Thursday quilting group. As  parish nurse, she and fellow Manoa-Punahou Catholic Community parishioner Deb Lazur also do blood pressure screenings at St. Pius X and Sacred Heart Parish one Sunday a month.

Priscilla “Ku‘ulei” Jeffrey has been taking the Thera-Band class for awhile and recently suggested to Nelson that they could extend the exercise class by adding a half hour of “hula aerobics.”

Jeffrey, a former professional hula dancer, teaches hula at several locations and leads a senior women’s halau. But she said that people who take her hula aerobics don’t need to know hula.

During her recent Wednesday class, Jeffrey combined basic hand and feet movements with explanations of the Hawaiian song lyrics. She gradually worked from slow to fast tempo music.

“These exercises serve both the spiritual and physical aspects,” she said. “And what better place to do them than in your parish community.”

Low-impact, high satisfaction

Every Thursday at 9 a.m., a group of mostly senior women gather at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Ewa Beach to follow a low-impact exercise DVD.

They call themselves the “Golden Agers.”

The group started when parishioner and Campbell High School teacher Marites Barangan had some of her medical biotechnology students come to the church to teach exercises to the seniors during the 2005-2006 school year.

“Students really liked it,” Barangan said. “They didn’t realize how much of an impact they made on seniors.”

When Barangan’s class schedule changed and she could no longer bring the students over, the parishioners decided to keep the group going. They found a stretching and strength exercise DVD designed for seniors. Occasionally, an instructor comes in and teaches dance steps.

After each routine, Our Lady of Perpetual Help pastor Father Scott Bush serves the group healthy snacks and the women sit around and talk story.

Parishioner and exercise participant Vi Recel has been coming to “Golden Agers” for two years. She said the activity allows seniors to “crack our bones and get physically fit,” but is more than that.

“It’s a chance to get out of the house,” said the 66-year-old. “We share stories and news about our personal life. You come to develop friendships.”

Recel said, despite its label, the group is open to all denominations and ages.

St. Jude Parish in Kapolei also has a low-impact exercise class for seniors on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 a.m.

“We have a very loving and caring church,” Recel said. “They try and take care of everybody including us senior citizens.”