Beginning January 4 – February 24, 2021

Mondays and Wednesdays, 5 to 6pm

Instructor:  Lorraine Raimondi

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, strength training helps reduce the symptoms of many chronic diseases and conditions that commonly afflict older adults, including arthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, obesity and back pain. Improved strength will also help you prevent falls, do your daily tasks more easily and just make you feel better.

For this virtual class if you have not been doing any fitness for 2 weeks or more please start with light weights 2 to 3 lbs. You want to be able to have full range of motion with control while doing this class. As your strength increases, you can move onto heavier weights.

As you get stronger, you can use heavier weights. Dyna bands and a ball are also good to have. If you don’t have, the instructor will show you ways to improvise. Whether you have this equipment available to you or not, you will get a good workout strengthening your body!

Call 860-441-6785 to register or visit www.grotonrec.com

Yoga Strength Chair   Mondays 9-10 am  Zoom    Jan 4- Feb 22, 2021  $28/pp

This class starts seated with breath awareness  and warm up, moving into some yoga poses for the first half of class, and the second half of class we do  some strength work using light hand weights 1-2 lb and bands. Class ends with stretching and meditation. If you don’t have hand weights,  water bottles or a small can of veggies will work.

Gentle Yoga Chair I  Wednesdays 9-10 am  Zoom    Jan 6– Feb 24, 2021  $28/pp

Chair Yoga is a an adapted form of Yoga that makes Yoga accessible to everyone!!!  The chair is used in addition or option for poses where participants can modify any pose based on their own mobility and also can be used for balance and support. Class starts with breath awareness, warm up, Yoga poses seated and standing. Class ends with stretching and meditation.

Gentle Yoga Chair flow II  Saturdays 9-10 am  Zoom  Jan 9-Feb 27, 2021  $28/pp

This class is also an adapted form of Yoga using the Chair, making Yoga accessible to all.  Class starts seated in chair or on the mat, focusing on breath awareness and warm up, moving into standing Yoga poses integrating breath and movement, awareness and alignment, and flexibility. Moving onto the mat for floor poses and deep stretching. Class ends with guided relaxation and meditation.

Call 860-441-6785 to register!

Seated and /or Standing; there is no on the floor.  Class is appropriate for all levels.   

Instructor will contact you with Zoom ID    ***Must sign a Release and Waiver  from instructor***

Community First Dinner Program

at Groton Senior Center (curbside pick up)

Thursday, January 7, 2021   4:00-5:00pm

Please join us Thursday, January 7th starting at 4 pm as we hand out meals to anyone who may need them. This is a community wide event for anyone. The January 7th meal will be baked chicken thighs, green beans sautéed in garlic and diced tomatoes served along with roasted baby red potatoes.

Meals are free and open to all residents. Please remember to have your mask on as well as a designated area in the vehicle for the meals to be placed (the trunk is preferable). This allows us to keep this a contactless event.

For up to date information on our programs like this one, please check our Town of Groton Senior Center

Facebook page www.Facebook.com/GrotonSC

Our December 22 Avery Farm South hike with GOSA has been postponed to Thursday, January  7th.

Don’t forget we have a Groton PARKS Are PRESENTS scavenger hunt happening until December 31st.  It may not be a hike but it will get you out of the house and possibly checking out some new sites.  The clues are printed out and available for anyone to pick up outside our front doors.

OATS December 2020 Hikes and Hunts

Outdoor Active Traveling Seniors (55+) OATS is a group with a shared interest of being outdoors and adventure.

• Thursday, Dec. 22 at 10 am at Avery Farm South. Our GOSA friends will lead us again on this approx. 2 mile hike —we will make several small stops to tell stories. Make sure you wear sturdy hiking shoes with good support and traction.
• Also in December. is another fun, outdoors and active scavenger hunt — PARKS ARE PRESENTS  beginning Friday, December 18th. This community scavenger hunt will take place at local Groton parks and trails. Beginning December 18 through Dec31st you and yours can search out carefully placed PRESENTS around GrotonTo get the list of clues please email colsen@groton-ct.gov or you can pick up a printed list at the front door of Groton Senior Center.  GSC is located at 102 Newtown Road, Groton CT 06340One must register to be eligible for prize. A drawing of all those who register for this event AND email in a selfie to colsen@groton-ct.gov while “hunting” will be drawn January 4, 2021Brought to you by Groton Senior Center      860-441-6785 

Be sure to sign up!!  Saturday, December 12^th 12:00 pm-2:00 pm we do hope some of you will join us for a wonderful virtual workshop that we worked hard to get for us all. This year has raised everyone’s anxieties and the holidays seem to be a trigger for some so we thought we all could use a lovely lil workshop on how to best cope with anxiety – whatever the reason may be! This fantastic and relevant workshop is presented by the effervescent and well trained Jewell Jones, LMSW, Therapist Associate & Advisor of Embrace Your Difference, LLC

Coping Strategies for Anxiety Workshop will cover :

• what is anxiety?
• how do you cope now?
• what anxiety does to the brain and body
• coping strategies for anxiety
• helpful resources

We will have “break out rooms” where we will do an icebreaker and there will also be about 1/2 hour for questions included as well.  A generous anonymous donor is sponsoring this so it is NO COST for you! Yes, it is FREE yet registration is needed via 860-441-6785 or www.grotonrec.com

Offered by : Ellis Island Immigration Museum Tuesday December 15, 2020  1:45p.m.-3:00p.m. virtually 

Program Description: Prior to 1890, individual states, rather than the Federal Government, regulated immigration into the United States. Castle Garden (now Castle Clinton), located in the Battery of Manhattan, served as the New York State immigration station from 1855 to 1890. Approximately eight million immigrants passed through its doors, mostly from Northern European countries; this constituted the first large wave of immigrants to settle and populate the U.S.Ellis Island may not appear large on a map, but it is an unparalleled destination in United States history. After welcoming more than 12 million immigrants to our shores, Ellis Island is now a poetic symbol of the American Dream

Please call the front desk for the ID  to Zoom for the program. 441-6785

Senior Learning Presents: An Illustrated History of the Negro Leagues Baseball

Offered by : Yogi Berra Museum and Education Center

Thursday , December 17, 2020 1:45p.m.-3:00p.m.

Program Description: Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Negro Leagues by exploring the Yogi Berra Museum & Learning Center’s newest exhibition, DISCOVER GREATNESS: An Illustrated History of the Negro Leagues Baseball. This program displays the remarkable collection of vintage photographs on loan from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. Highlights will include a slide-show, video clips about the Negro Leagues, and an augmented reality experience that brings the exhibition to vivid life.

Join Senior Learning Virtually on Zoom to register and receive the ID call the front desk at 860-441-6785