New yoga class for people with Parkinson's disease aims to fight symptoms, provide peace

A quiet place to build strength and calm tremors.

That's what Tim Hague Sr. says a new, specialized yoga class can offer to people with Parkinson's disease in Winnipeg.

​"Often my tremors will stop, my day stops, everything else that I'm focused on and need to be doing just stop, and it gives me a time of just peace and rest and quiet, where I often don't have that," Hague said.

He's been doing yoga for years and that didn't change when he was diagnosed with the disease six years ago. He said the practice offers gentle strength training that fights the rigidity and stiffness Parkinson's can cause.

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Hague is the founder of U-Turn Parkinson's, an advocacy group for people living with the disease. Later this month, the organization will kick off its first-ever yoga class, Yoga Parkinson's.

He said the program is a natural next step building on Rock Steady Boxing, an international boxing program for people with Parkinson's that U-Turn hosts in Winnipeg.

One of the boxing program volunteers, Samantha Squire, is a yoga instructor and will lead the classes herself.

"Volunteering through the boxing program and being just even a small, small part of that is kind of where I found the passion for helping people with Parkinson's," Squire said.

They're hoping to find volunteers who work in the medical field to help her out, she added.

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Hague said there's already a long list of interested participants for the first class, set for July 27 from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m. at In This Corner Boxing Centre on Chevrier Boulevard.

Hesitant participants shouldn't be scared about trying it out for the first time, he added.

"We're not going to have them doing, you know, handstands," he said. "We're not going to be bending them up in pretzels. They don't have to wear spandex, they can wear their sweats."