Parkinson’s sufferers says group helps with condition

WITH its emphasis on steady breathing and strengthening muscles, yoga is proving to be a ray of light for Parkinson’s disease sufferers.
Members of the class at Yoga Junction in Finsbury Park have described how the class has given them the chance to talk about the condition for the first time with others.
As people arrive for one of their regular Tuesday meets there is plenty of friendly chat before everyone settles down in a semicircle in the studio in hushed anticipation.
According to teacher Lynda Miller many members, before they started coming, were afraid of meeting people with more advanced Parkinson’s who could reveal how their condition may develop.
Symptoms of Parkinson’s can include shaking, muscle stiffness and difficulty with movement, speech and balance. It is a progressive, neurological disorder that affects one in 500 people. It generally affects the over 40s, but as Lynda said, it is becoming more common in younger people.
Many of the 12 people who attend the Fonthill Road class have been there since it started last March and it includes relatives who give moral support. Steve Evans, who travels from Hertfordshire, has only missed two sessions since September.
He said: “The group provides good peer support and I feel much better after sessions. My wife tells me my speech is better afterwards and it feels like you’re doing something positive for yourself.”
Steve was diagnosed in May 2001. He added: “Like many people with Parkinson’s, the symptoms were there for a good few years before, but it took a time to get diagnosed.” He now practises the postures at home and is a keen runner. Of the many varieties of yoga around, Lynda, 47, said she taught variations of the more gentle Hatha yoga and other exercises that loosen up muscles and joints and cheer people up.
A certified yoga teacher for 10 years, she has not formally trained as a yoga therapist but has mainly taught blind people and cancer patients.
Lynda said: “We avoid Iyengar and Astanga yoga – the ones favoured by young people and body-obsessed celebrities – as they are too fast and it’s more important to encourage slow, controlled movements.”
Roderick Benziger, 67, of Crouch End, diagnosed two years ago, said: “I’m cheered up and more relaxed afterwards. If I’m tense I shake more.”

• For details on the Tuesday drop-in classes at Yoga Junction, in Fonthill Road, N4, call 020 7263 3113.