DOWNTOWN, SM It is 10:20 a.m. on Friday and the third-floor hallway of Emeritus College’s main building has just erupted in the omnipresent excited chatter heard once the last class has ended before the start of the weekend.
Except the conversations heard outside of this classroom don’t concern fraternity parties or tailgating before a college basketball game.
With yoga mats under their arms, a group of silver-haired students stood outside a classroom after the end of a nearly two-hour long session of Iyengar Yoga. The conversations here have more to do with just how relaxing the style of yoga — known to improve circulation, flexibility, breathing and strength — was.
“This does a profound good for a good number of people,” said Cheri De La Rosa, an Emeritus College student who declined to state her age. “I want to stay strong and fit until I’m 100.”
Staying healthy — mentally and physically — deep into the golden years is a sentiment shared by many students at Emeritus College, a branch school of Santa Monica College that offers courses specifically for senior citizens.
Emeritus was founded in 1975 under the direction of former SMC President Richard Moore and a group of residents that advocated for continuing education tailored to the retired community. Emeritus means, “retired with honor.”
The school opened its doors with 20 instructors that taught 10 classes during the spring of 1975.
Today, the school, whose main campus is located at 1442 Second St., offers more than 150 classes every week, all of which are free, serving more than 2,700 students.
Similar to its parent college, Emeritus College offers courses in art, computers, health, literature, music, business, and political science. But unlike Santa Monica College courses, where the majority of the students take classes with the intent to receive an associate’s degree or transfer to a four-year university, the classes at Emeritus College are not taken for credit and are customized for issues that might be of concern to the elderly population.
For example, this semester, the college is offering a business course on estate plan-ning. The course is designed for women who might be dealing with issues in estate planning, retirement and health care.
Then there are the health classes, many of which are geared to help with senior citizen-specific problems. Some of the subjects this semester cover stress, flexibility, and joint problems.
“The way the classes are offered is different and the goal of the class is different,” said Maggie Hall, SMC associate dean and director of Emeritus College. “The older adult… has a very strong desire to stay healthy mentally and physically. (The classes) have some things to do with aging.”
Some of the health classes offered this semester includes yoga and Far East exercises such as Chi Gong and T’ai Chi. Many of the yoga classes are taught by Gitta Walton who has practiced yoga since 1982 and started teaching in 1994.
The devoted follower of yoga has taught at Emeritus College for nine years, returning year after year because of her love for working with senior citizens. Her students range in age from 60 to 92 years old.
Yoga is particularly beneficial for senior citizens because of its focus on balance and strengthening of the legs.
“I love my students,” Walton said after class on Friday. “They are just wonderful.”
Many of the students who take yoga end up following up with a little bit of T’ai Chi or Chi Gong on the side. The exercises are all considered to be great stress relievers, teaching students a touch of spirituality in the process.
T’ai Chi student Moris Galfond, 85, finds the exercise class to be therapeutic to both his mind and body.
Though he has also taken non-health classes at Emeritus, such as political science, he finds classes like T’ai Chi to be among his favorite.
“It’s enhancing my lifestyle and gives me something to do that I enjoy,” Galfond said before his class started on Friday.
Not all classes are exclusive for senior citizens. Every Friday morning, Venice-based artist Chris Hero teaches a course on advanced and experimental drawing. Though the class is occupied by mainly elderly students, the curriculum would be of interest to students of all ages.
During last Friday’s class, the students worked on creating a formal drawing off a homework assignment in which they were asked to doodle.
In tackling the assignment, students should think outside the box, Hero challenges.
“We’re playing with the subconscious drawing and turning it into the conscious,” Hero said. “It’s not about how to draw, but more of why we’re drawing.”
Though the assignment is difficult, the sunlit studio with expansive views of Second Street is surprisingly tension-free as students exchange ideas with one another. A skeleton sits in the corner of the room wearing a feathered fedora, adding to the light-nature of the class. Hero said he came in early and decided to dress up his bony friend.
Part of what keeps Emeritus College running is the help of volunteers.
Approximately 22 volunteers work in the office while another five to 10 spend their time in the classroom.
For the past few years, husband and wife team Mark and Helen Epstein have volunteered in Emeritus College’s front office, spending several hours a week helping in the administrative field while taking yoga classes on the side.
The couple was referred to Emeritus College by their yoga instructor who was also teaching at the college.
Without volunteers, Emeritus College would not be as sucessful, Helen Epstein said.
“The school brings people together and gives them a way of having a social life,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to socialize, which is very important.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 5, 2007. Read the original PDF.