Life Stretchers

By Emily Mitchell and Megan Rutherford

BREATH-TAKING EXERCISE

Cheryl Tiegs made her mark posing in swimsuits before the camera. But these days the former supermodel is more likely to be found in a leotard and tights, in an environment in which the word pose takes on a new meaning. Tiegs, 51, along with a multitude of other celebrities, has discovered a magical fountain of youth in the deep breathing and graceful poses of yoga. For the past 18 months she has been attending three classes a week at Yogatopia in Brentwood, Calif.

Yoga was a challenge in the beginning, even for the famously fit Tiegs. "The first six months, my yoga mat was like a swimming pool by the time class was over," she says. "I had never worked so hard in my life." But the hard work has resulted in a sublime sense of well-being. "I no longer feel like a leaf blowing in the wind," she says. "I'm on solid ground, and I've never felt better. I have a feeling of power and strength within myself." Yoga is now "a necessity, not a luxury" for Tiegs. Could that be why she married her teacher, Rod Stryker, last spring?

Not everyone finds true love in yoga class, but there are other enduring benefits, both physical and spiritual, particularly for folks past 50. "Yoga is excellent for purging stress from the mind and the body, but it's also outstanding on a physical level," says Stryker, 41, who plans to make yoga videos with Tiegs. "Few forms of exercise benefit the whole body the way yoga does. It slows down the aging process by increasing breathing capacity and improving the range of motion for muscles and joints." Not only does it increase flexibility, it also improves balance and strengthens muscles--all helpful in preventing falls. That's important, because for brittle-boned seniors, tumbles often result in hip fractures and a subsequent downward spiral of physical and mental deterioration.

Jerry Cross, 68, is a professional photographer in Racine, Wis., whose mother, father and grandmother all lived into their 90s. "If I'm going to live that long, I don't want to be in a wheelchair," says Cross. He's determined to stay active, but a 100-mile bike ride three years ago damaged one of his knees, and a fall during a camping trip last year injured his back. Now he does yoga every day and says it helps him sleep better and feel less stiff when he gets up. "I don't think I'll ever stop."

There are as many different styles of yoga as there are teachers. In its purer forms, however, yoga (which means union in Sanskrit) is a kind of physical meditation, aimed at attaining enlightenment through mastery of the body. This is achieved by regulating the flow of breath while bending, twisting and stretching into postures, called asanas. The combination of mental concentration and physical exertion creates what enthusiasts describe as a blissful sense of oneness between mind and body, self and world.

Zelda Kimball, 75, a retired social worker who danced with Martha Graham when she was younger, practices yoga daily in Piermont, N.Y. "The breath is a connection with the world around you. You take it in and incorporate it, using it to energize yourself. I feel like Samson, breathing this strength into the core of my being," she says. At the same time she feels a deep calm. "In a dance class you're always looking in the mirror, but much of yoga is done with the eyes closed, which relieves you of all those ego needs and has a quieting effect on the mind." It's not the serenity alone that keeps Kimball practicing yoga. She credits it with helping to restore her health after she suffered a heart attack 15 years ago.

"I wish everybody did yoga! We'd be a better country," says Maggie Boepple, 52, chief lobbyist for a law firm, who has taken yoga classes for four years with teacher Ellen Saltonstall in New York City. "It relaxes your body and clears your head. It's a great antidote to lobbying!"

The good news is that just about anybody can do yoga. "People say, 'Oh, I can't do this. I'm too stiff.' But one reason you come to yoga is because you are stiff," says Saltonstall, 50, who uses props such as straps, blocks and cushions to adapt poses to every level of ability. Two-thirds of her students are over 40; half are over 50. "It's never too late to start."

QI IS THE KEY

Most Americans have heard of the Chinese martial art Tai Chi, but fewer are aware that it is an offshoot of a vast system of exercises collectively called Qi Gong, which is an integral part of traditional Chinese medicine. Just as a Western doctor might prescribe a course of antibiotics, so a Chinese doctor might prescribe an herbal broth and a round of Qi Gong (pronounced chee-gong). And just as healthy Americans pop a daily multivitamin, millions of healthy Chinese start the day with Qi Gong to maintain health and promote longevity. Now Americans are joining them, performing the slow, deliberate, trancelike movements of Qi Gong in parks and studios across the U.S.

If breath is the secret to yoga, qi is the key to Qi Gong. According to traditional Chinese thought, qi--or energy--flows through a dozen pathways, or meridians, in the body. Blockages in the meridians cause weakness and disease. Qi Gong, like acupuncture and acupressure, unclogs the meridians and promotes the free flow of qi.

Fred Levine, 62, a retired computer-systems analyst from Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., began doing Qi Gong in September. He takes a weekly class taught by Claire Cunneen at the New York Center of the Integral Way and practices every other day at home. He also plays tennis, poorly, in his estimation, at least until recently. The first time he did a Qi Gong warm-up--gently pummeling his body with his fists--in preparation for his weekly game, he noticed a dramatic change. "About halfway through I suddenly started playing differently. I was using my mind more, and I was much more aggressive," he says. "I don't know if it was a coincidence, but it was striking." In addition to improving his tennis, Qi Gong has had an intriguing physical effect on Levine. "It's like a total body massage. It stirs you up in strange ways. You get this tingling feeling, like something's waking up in there," he says. "They say old men do it, so I'm looking forward to doing it for the rest of my life--once I learn it." He quickly adds, "I've got to learn it before my memory goes, though, because there's a lot to remember!"

Indeed there is. Levine studies a form of Qi Gong called Eight Treasures, composed of 32 linked exercises, with poetic names like "The Unicorn Turns Its Head to Look at the Moon" and "The Weeping Willow Shivers in the Early Morning Dew." There are thousands of other forms, each embracing a complete set of exercises.

Kathleen Moloney, 61, a social worker for the State of New York, got into Qi Gong by accident. Six months ago, she attended what she thought would be a Tai Chi demonstration. It turned out to be Eight Treasures Qi Gong, taught by Cunneen. No matter. Moloney has been doing the form ever since. Not only does she feel less stressed out and more able to concentrate, she also enjoys the excursion into another culture. "It opens you up to a lot of things--Chinese martial arts, medicine and Chinese painting," she says. "There's a whole way of looking at things that is so different from ours." Cunneen suggests sampling the full range to gain the maximum benefit. "Qi Gong is more than just movement," she says. "It's an attitude toward life and a way of eating and taking care of one's health. These balanced ways of living feed one another."

During a trip to China, Roberta Sobel, 64, a retired schoolteacher, saw hundreds of people performing Tai Chi in parks and vowed to try it herself. Since then, her senior-center classes in Miami have made her a convert. "I come from a generation that did the fox trot and the waltz, and Tai Chi is like dancing," she says. "It gives me a general sense of well-being. I'm more relaxed, and I have more energy." It has also made her more flexible. "I can bend and pick up something from the bottom shelf at the grocery store." Now that's food for thought.

TAKING CONTROL

Danny Glover only seems invincible. Best known for all those Lethal Weapon movies with Mel Gibson, he is as vulnerable to physical ailments as any other 51-year-old. Three years ago, he could no longer ignore a misalignment in his left hip he has had since a childhood accident. "I had a muscle dysfunction," he says. "My right leg was weak, and my left leg was strong." Thanks to a rigorous fitness regimen that includes Pilates workouts five times a week, the condition has been corrected.

For years, dancers have benefited from the Pilates program, toning their muscles and building strength while at the same time increasing flexibility. After seven decades, it emerged from the ballet studio and has been hailed as the exercise of the light-and-lean '90s. Younger people kicked off the trend, but middle-aged and older men and women are discovering its distinct advantages. Connecting breathing to movement, stretching the spine and lengthening ligaments and muscles improve balance and correct posture, giving a better sense of well-being and reducing the risk of falls and future injury. "You feel more energized, but your body is more relaxed," says Mari Winsor, who has just opened her second Pilates studio in Los Angeles.

Glover is among Winsor's many celebrity clients, as is Arnold Rifkin, 50, president of the William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills. The flare-up of an old back injury nearly incapacitated the Hollywood power broker two years ago, and he started doing Pilates. "I felt energy moving through my body in a way I'd never experienced before," he says. Now free of pain, he signs up for twice-weekly sessions and has Pilates equipment at home. Says Rifkin: "I'm probably in the best physical shape I've ever been. My stamina is so much greater because my body is rested and toned."

Since the Pilates program is low impact and does not put undue strain on weight-bearing joints, it is a boon for people over 50. As developed by Joseph Pilates, a German physical therapist and athlete who immigrated to the U.S., the exercises were done on a spring contraption he designed. Modern studios use machines with spring mechanisms adapted from his original apparatus. The classes can be expensive; one-on-one sessions are in the $50-to-$60-an-hour range. A less costly technique based on Pilates' methods can be done on the floor using a mat. The multitude of exercise variations focuses on controlling breathing, joining it to movement and developing the power center: the abdomen and lower torso.

Gentle exercises that reprogram muscles are essential as people grow older and lose elasticity. Brent Anderson, who teaches the technique in the Miami studio he co-owns, is working on his doctorate in physical therapy and plans to write his thesis on the effects of Pilates on the spine. His aging boomer clients who grunted their way through the no-pain-no-gain workouts of the '80s are turning to the regimen as welcome therapy. Anderson has observed, for example, that knee muscles out of whack because of a trauma experienced years earlier "can be retrained and the process of degeneration significantly decreased."

Most experts agree that it is never too late to start exercising. Advises Dr. Edward Schneider, dean of the University of Southern California's School of Gerontology: "Not only can exercise add at least two years to your life, it will enrich the quality of those later decades by lowering the risk of heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, hip fractures and arthritis." For older people who have done little exercise, Pilates is an excellent way to begin. More than 500 centers have opened around the country, and health clubs and gyms are adding classes in the technique for people who are eager to slow the clock--or even turn it back.

THE SPLASH OF LIFE

"Kick! Kick! Kick!" commands water-aerobics instructor Noreen Frye. "Keep arms and elbows up! Cross your hands! Lunge to the left!" Her class at the University of Miami's Wellness Center obeys, splashing and bouncing in the water with all the enthusiasm--if not quite the precision--of the Rockettes. Among the young bikini-clad students and middle-aged faculty exercising at the multimillion-dollar center are retired lawyer Fred Piccini, 69, and his wife Celia, 64. "It makes me feel years younger," says Fred, though he needed some persuading before he would so much as dip his toe in the water. Celia, who had been experiencing the aches and pains of growing older, started the class six months ago, and Fred would wait outside."I thought it was all sissy business," he recalls. But when he saw the dramatic difference it was making for Celia, he capitulated. "She's happier, gets around easier and doesn't hurt as much," he observes. Says Celia: "For the first time in years, I was getting muscles."

The Harvard Women's Health Watch calls water "an ideal exercise medium, both gentle and demanding." Physical therapists have known for years about the benefits of exercising in water, which cushions joints while it strengthens muscles by providing 12 times as much resistance as air. Robert Forster, a physical therapist in Santa Monica, Calif., has worked with Olympians Jackie Joyner-Kersee and the late Florence Griffith Joyner and puts famous clients like Billy Crystal through pool workouts. Says he: "Water's buoyance lets you run, walk, leap, stretch and pivot without the injury, strain and reinjury common to other programs." Weight reduction is an added benefit: aquatics can burn up to 500 calories an hour.

Water exercises are popular with people of all ages, and for the 50-plus generation, the spirit of camaraderie and support is a big asset. Notes Miami's Dianne Rose, a fitness trainer who has made an aerobics video for the elderly: "The group atmosphere can be very motivating, and it's a very social thing that keeps people more interested in life." Older people seeking to increase endurance and enhance well-being have recognized the pleasurable benefits of working out in water, and more and more health clubs, gyms and pools around the country are scheduling aquatic sessions. The parks and recreations department of Fairfax County, Va., for example, has some 140 water activities for seniors, ranging from rigorous water walking with the help of flotation belts and buoyant barbells to exercises tailored for people with arthritis or chronic pain.

In their book Successful Aging, Dr. John W. Rowe, president of New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital, and Robert L. Kahn, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Michigan, conclude that the most important factor in sustained health is regular exercise. Ten years ago, Manhattan's Jennifer Rushton, 54, started twice-weekly water exercises. "I was doing a lot of office work and found I was very unfit," she says. "Now I feel better than 10 years ago, more flexible and stronger." Among the programs she can choose from at the Equinox health club in Manhattan are gentle waves, surf's up, new wave aqua, power plunge and yoga water stretch.

"When you sum up the powerful effects of moderate exercise on the health of older people," Rowe and Kaplan observe, "it is hard to imagine why we aren't all out there working up a sweat." Fred Piccini is doing just that--and it's paying off. On a family vacation this summer with children and grandchildren in Georgia, he found himself running and jumping on rocks right alongside the kids. He says, laughing, "I felt so much energy that I forgot I was old."

--With reporting by Michele Aulagnon/ New York, Greg Aunapu/Miami, Roberta Grant/Los Angeles, Erik Gunn/Racine and Anne Moffett/Washington

With reporting by Michele Aulagnon/ New York, Greg Aunapu/Miami, Roberta Grant/Los Angeles, Erik Gunn/Racine and Anne Moffett/Washington