Activities exactly protected
"When I get to the gate of the house, everyone recognizes me and is happy, already when we get to the lobby I feel their energies - on the part of all the participants. The feeling that I bring them a lot of joy is a lot for me," says Yael Yaakovi, a dance instructor Class at home in the village.
She, and the tenants, miss and wait for them to be able to dance again, as long as the medical guidelines allow.
Maintaining a quality of life and the health of body and mind does not depend on age.
Sheltered housing knows this and attaches great importance to leisure activities for tenants, while maintaining as wide a range as possible, in order to meet everyone's interests as much as possible.
The dance class at home in the village, for example, is one of the tenants 'favorites, and the instructor Yael says that this is evident in the students' reactions.
"The experience is very social," she says, "I know they are very much looking forward to these meetings. There is a group that is active and dancing and there is a group that comes to watch and it does good for them too, it matters to them. They keep saying 'thank you for the joy you bring us' "And for the good mood, it's important to them. Lately it's missing them, because of all the limitations of the corona."
Yael, who has been running the class once a week for the past five years, explains that the activity is based on dances taken from all over the world, circle dances and lines: "I choose tunes and styles and adapt it to the dancers, according to what they like. I adapt the steps to their abilities Succeed in what they do and to avoid a situation where I will present them with impossible challenges. I want the experience to be positive and fun. In addition to the regular classes we participate in all events and parties here. On holidays we prepare a show and it greatly empowers them, for them it is a special experience. The tenants, and for me it is an experience to prepare the performances with them.
"At the time Neta Barzilai's 'Toy' came out, they were very excited about winning the Eurovision and we made it a dance. I try to choose songs that speak to them, that they like. I will not bring them something irrelevant that they do not connect to, it just does not work. The connection between the tenants and "The activity is the recipe for success. I am attentive to them and their desires. Some of the staff also take part in the activities and lectures sometimes, and this cooperation contributes to all parties."
One of the things Yael is careful about is treating the tenants who participate in the class professionally for everything: "For me, there is no difference between teaching dance to young people and teaching dance to the elderly. I bring joy to the hearts of people of all ages. I also specialize in preschool and work all over the world. As a tool to make people happy. The body always responds happily. After all, the instructor should be professional enough so that the movements he teaches are in accordance with who is performing them. Just as I know a child can not take special steps, so I know seniors can not take too fast or "But I refer to the class here entirely as a professional lesson and do not just come to pass the time in social activities."
Fanny Rotem, a resident of the village who participated in the dance class, says: "We have a wide variety of classes and I really like to dance. We learn new dances from all over the world, it does good for the soul, it is physical training for everything and I like to move with music. I am also a teacher. I have danced for yoga and all my life, and the activity is very important to me. Even those who can not really participate and dance - some with a treadmill and the like - enjoy coming and seeing us. When there is a party in the auditorium or parties, we always participate in dance "We are motivated, and we see it in the joy of the residents during the lessons. After an hour of folk dancing, I am filled with energy and we really miss going back to it."
"Feeling good about ourselves"
Another place where the tenants come for physical activity and go out with much more than that, is Michal Harel's sports club in Protea in the village.
Michal, a sports instructor who specializes in physical activity for the elderly, emphasizes that the class continues during the corona period according to the limitations: "I filmed my lessons and we passed them on to tenants on closed circuit because it was important that we maintain continuity. They have classes twice a day. This one.
Activity for old age requires focusing on certain things, for example bone-building exercise.
We strengthen their specific muscles and joints like those of the thigh in order to prevent falls.
We work a lot in the pool on ignoring the water.
When you are young you do what you want, work more on muscle mass, here we work more on strengthening and endurance, flexibility and range of motion - to improve their quality of life and prevent common injuries.
"The added value in these sessions is always a lot of smiles, laughs, good energy. A smile is part of my lesson and I pass it on to them. Before Corona I would always finish the lesson in a hug, now because of the limitations everyone finishes and hugs himself but the intention is the same: To feel good about ourselves, to love what we do, all in a positive way, to make life better and healthier mentally, beyond the physical matter.
"There are tenants who fail to do exactly all the activities according to the instructions, but the fact that they come and participate as much as they can, is very significant and indicates the importance of the lesson for them."
Persistence, Michal emphasizes, is an important component in the students, and there are also those who joined after not believing in themselves.
"Recently, a new tenant, a 90-year-old tenant, came to my activity and told me, 'I do not like to exercise.' I told her to at least try, to get an impression. Since then she has been a regular student of mine, and even came to me and said, 'You do not know what this has done to me.' I have muscles I did not know existed. "Otherwise she said" you, with your smile, that's my reason for getting up in the morning. "There is a lot in that. They come not just for the gym, but for everything that comes with it.
"And above all - they really work hard. We do not make life easy for them. Of course everyone who comes does so with the permission of a doctor, and I make sure to adapt everyone to his department according to his abilities, but they know that they come to work for me. I do not treat them as. "Adults, but as students at eye level, as athletes, as human beings. I really like working with them."
Micha Regev, a protea resident in the village who participates in one of Michal's classes, adds: "I have been involved in sports for more than 50 years, as part of the agenda. When I lived in Herzliya, before moving here, I would go down to the sea early every morning and exercise Showering and going to work. On Fridays we would meet some friends and do more 'tough' sports together to challenge ourselves. Fortunately, I am fit and the sport stays with me as a way of life and as part of the agenda. Training with Michal gives joy of life, it balances me, and I even do perfection In the gym, where I decide on the levels of difficulty that suit me. "
Menucha Avner, a tenant in the heart of Tel Aviv, also takes care of sports on a regular basis.
"I participate in many classes and fill my leisure time with a lot of content," she says. "Among other things, I participate in the gymnastics class here at home. I exercise from a very young age and think that movement at such an age is critical. If you stop moving in old age, you become what I am. Reads 'Potato Sack'. Every morning we have a different exercise - there is yoga, tai chi, Feldenkrais here, and I participate in almost everything. "I participate in every class I can and am interested in filling my soul. I have been here for two and a half years and I am happy to have come here. I felt that if I was not surrounded by society, culture, activity - I would go into depression - and here I find all that."
Shift down and connect
When we talk about diversity in the type of activities, we mean, among other things, the drumming workshops that Nitai Tzelniker conducts in a unique way at Beit Balev in Tel Aviv.
Tzelniker, founder of Taiko Life Israel, specializes in Japanese drumming on taiko drums and says that he sees the process that the tenants go through: "You see someone who has difficulty with a lot of other movements and actions and he comes to class and says 'I love these drums so much'. "They persevere and it's remarkable. They come every time, they get better, and that also created a special commitment and connection with them for me."
He has been teaching the unique "Taiko Life" method in Israel for several years, after training for five years in Japan and Taiwan under special conditions in which meditation, martial arts and drumming are practiced.
"This is a way of life that combines the martial arts movement with a meditative state and drumming in the group," explains Nitai. "In Israel our group has started teaching in kindergartens, also in sheltered housing and there are also courses for those who want to become professional drummers. For this type of activity, in terms of group building. The community issue is very important in this type of music. Also, sometimes the residents of the sheltered housing have some friction and impatience as between neighbors everywhere. We start the lesson with meditation and explain how to be calmer, how Accept ourselves and each other even if we fail to keep up.
"At first the tenants had a bit of a hard time with having to sit quietly with their eyes closed and slowly they allowed themselves to connect and we saw a significant change in each other's attitude within the group. We also practice martial arts exercises like coordination, tai chi, Which actually helps them to strengthen the body and the connection to it. Playing taiko drums is very 'big' playing. We drum standing, in large movements, powerful playing. We teach them the basics, how to stand in front of the drum, how to use sticks. But precisely to reach power. "You have to know how to release, which is one of the elements that is more difficult for people, especially in old age. They learn it at their own pace, and in the end this music, this release, is very suitable for them."
The students and Nitai occasionally appear before the tenants and their families, which further contributes to their sense of connection to the activity.
"When we practice and enter a certain state of mind while playing, in the uniformity of a group, we pay attention to every movement, and it has meaning for both the drummer and the spectator. It puts the viewers into this quality we practice. We got to perform several times with the students. "It was successful and empowered them. For some of the tenants the meditation helps to downshift, to connect with themselves. Everyone improves in terms of coordination, it's amazing to see what level they reach during the lessons. There are those who have this frequency of drums healing, relaxing, balancing - all together."
Always in fashion
Finally, quality and lifestyle communicate not only sports and inner peace but also fashion, which it turns out that in the current generation gets a place of honor even in old age.
"Today's third age is not what it was when we started working in fashion," says Yigal Cherniak, who specializes in the field and runs the Ironline company with his wife Irena.
The two have given several fashion shows at Beit Balev in Tel Aviv, and have extensive experience and knowledge in clothing for the elderly.
"Since 1994, we have been working in the field of producing fashion shows in all kinds of settings - hotels, workers' committees and a lot of sheltered housing," says Yigal. "In this framework we work a lot with seniors. We bring our models, professionals, and attach tenants from the house. "We show the clothes to them, and when they show them in the show you really see the sparkle in their eyes. This activity fills them, gives them meaning because the audience here knows them and they get a lot of applause and whistles. There are a lot of positive emotions in this activity."
Yigal says that contemporary fashion for those over the age of 70 corresponds with their youth in the 60s and 70s.
"They were the younger generation of those years, it was a kicking and revolutionary generation, and that's how they stayed. The fashion of the third age now connects to young fashion, including jeans, Indian fashion, boho-chic fashion - bohemian dresses, wide clothes that are very flattering, covers Where it's needed, and it's all connected to the '60s. Of course people change and the body changes and they wear more dresses and tops, but the spirit is young and I can not always really point to fashion for' older people '.
"Overall, they dress quite similar to how they were in their 30s and 40s. Today, if you walk around Sheinkin Street in Tel Aviv, you will see that young people are returning to the fashion of yesteryear, to the 40s and 50s. Very optimistic and life-loving fashion: colors, models "Unconventional and non-standard. For men at this age, fashion is generally much more conservative. The same button-down shirts, polo, it stays from younger ages. Of course, jeans still catch on today."