Pueblo online exercise classes draw participants from around the world

The Senior Resource Development Agency is putting Pueblo on the global map with its exercise classes, thanks to a teacher who sees his online classes as a gift from the COVID-19 pandemic that just keeps on giving.

Bob Marsh offers Qigong and creative movement exercises classes on the second floor of the agency's building, 230 N. Union, but students tune in via Zoom from all over the world. It all started when Marsh realized he was "doing nothing but sitting around the house" during the pandemic.

Qigong, pronounced (chi gong), is a "creative movement form" developed in China that incorporates meditation, explained Donna Guerrero, recreation coordinator for the SRDA. Marsh said it originated out of Wu Shaman dances that go back 10,000 years.

Marsh said he draws heavily on lessons learned in hundreds of Qigong classes he has taken during the past 30 years. He wraps elements of Qigong and four other exercise disciplines for his creative movement class.

The attraction of the creative movement class is that it allows students to participate while seated in a chair. There are no strict rules, so Marsh will encourage students to "just surprise yourself," and each student adapts the movement to their comfort level.

"Sometimes it's fast, sometimes it's slow. There is no rush to get there — this is the end of a slow dance," he tells students.

"Resting is just as important as movement itself. That is when the neuromuscular benefits take place," Marsh said.

As Marsh wraps the students in his words of encouragement with a soothing voice, Ross Long accompanies on the handpan, a pounded steel drum that emits pure, soothing musical tones.

"I love this," said Geraldine "Jay" Jasper, a southside Pueblo resident who attended class for the first time this past week. "This is fabulous, and the gentleman on the drum (Long) is phenomenal — that adds so much to the session."

"My brain has been freshened," Jasper said.

Marsh likes to keep the class light, telling the students they can do creative movement, "anywhere, anytime ... well, maybe not at a restaurant," he joked.

A gift of the pandemic: Zoom classes

Because Qigong is "well known in other parts of the world," the Pueblo class is picking up participants from Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Ireland and England, Guerrero said. Not only are Pueblo and Colorado residents tuning in for the online classes, so too are people in San Francisco, Chicago and New York.

"Some are doing it after work and some are doing it before work, but they've made the effort to figure out the time difference so they can be there," Guerrero said with a laugh.

Thursday's creative movement class drew six in-person students and five Zoom participants.

"I came to class after an hour of meditation, and I felt like I was flying," said Janet Hariton, an online student.

"I think it is a great help for centering and the mind," another Zoom student added.

"I feel this kind of wholeness. That's one way I describe it," Marsh said.

Marsh, who is 79, said he finds it ironic that he is a Zoom aficionado after learning Qigong, in part, by watching video tapes all those years ago. He's now completely comfortable with teaching students in Pueblo and across the globe.

"I am really used to this now. This was a gift of the pandemic," he said.

Marsh teaches Qigong at 9 a.m. Mondays and noon Wednesdays while creative movement is offered at 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at the SRDA's office building and on Zoom. A 10 a.m. Sunday class is offered at City Park, 800 Goodnight Ave., near the east entrance's "venerable oak tree" and can also be seen on Zoom if the WiFi connection cooperates.

"The class is for people 60 and older, but on Zoom we don't ask your age, so anyone can participate," Guerrero said.

To check out the Qigong class online, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/j/549340499?pwd=ekNPR0lDMlpVZDR6WUZsaFBhWm9Jdz09.

For the creative movement class, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84366523612?pwd=dGJtankrRTNBcVBuekJUL3RoZ1NKQT09.

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Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/tracywumps.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo teacher's online creative movement classes draw global audience