Libraries get moving
Editor’s Note: The following is a story from the Kansas Newspaper Foundation made possible through the Legacy Regional Community Foundation made available to area newspapers.
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Instructor Krista Perkins moves slowly through the Tai Chi class at Winfield Public Library as students follow her lead. (Courtesy photo)
By Judith Zaccaria, Courier-Traveler — For those who love public libraries, their continuing evolution as centers of community life is exhilarating. One of the recent changes in libraries, including both the Winfield and Arkansas City public libraries, is bringing more physical activity into the space in the name of health and learning.
Story walks spearheaded by the libraries — at Island Park in Winfield and the Poplar Walking Train in Ark City — is an example of combining movement with reading. The walk gets everyone moving both their minds and their bodies.
The Ark City library helped sponsor a Family Fun Night in 2022 at the Walking Trail to promote literacy in an active atmosphere. It also held a Read and Stroll event just this week at Lovie Watson Park that included reading stations, games, and activities.
This year, the Winfield Public Library expanded its emphasis on movement by introducing Tai Chi for Better Balance, a class taught by Krista Fox that meets twice weekly in the library’s big public meeting room.
Tai Chi, an ancient Chinese martial art, teaches people to integrate their mind and body through smooth, slow, graceful movements. It offers many benefits physical as well as mental, including improving one’s balance.
Candi Fox, assistant superintendent of the Winfield Recreation Commission, worked with the city’s Council on Aging to get the program up and running.
The class was supposed to be taught to elders at the city’s senior center, but because of the number of individuals wanting to participate, Fox needed to look for another site, and she found the library had a big space that could be used for the program.
Because the program was intended for the senior citizens at the senior center, those taking part in the class did so for free.
Another Tai Chi class, also taught by Perkins but at the recreation center, has a fee attached to it to recoup Rec Center costs.
Perkins was living in Stillwater, Okla., when she trained for a Tai Chi for Balance class offered by the state of Oklahoma. She had practiced Tai Chi for many years and knew it would be important for her and others as they aged.
“Sixty-five percent of injuries to older people come from falling,” she said. Working on one’s balance is critical to avoiding falling. Tai Chi also helps people improve their posture and breathing and teaches them how to be still. “People have a hard time learning to be still,” Perkins said.
Those trained for the program were sent out across communities to teach seniors at no cost to them. Perkins later moved to New Mexico, where she taught the program. When she moved to Winfield, she introduced herself to Fox, who saw the benefit of offering the class specifically for older people as well as one for people of any age.
They were more than glad, she said, to help the rec center fulfill their need, though they still will be working on their own long-term plans.
Marcia Cranberry of Winfield said the library Tai Chi class has been eye-opening for her.
“I love it,” she said. “Tai Chi is so graceful. It’s almost like dancing.”
Granberry said she doesn’t like to exercise, but the feeling of camaraderie among the class (about 15 students) engendered by Perkins’ teaching has made her look forward o every class.
The Ark City Library, which doesn’t have as much space as the Winfield Library, has committed to a free yoga program beginning in late May. Head librarian Mendy Pfannenstiel said they are excited to offer the class.
“Many libraries are doing it,” Pfannenstiel said. “It’s part of a trend. We can do yoga and then think about what else we might do.”
Noah Lenstra, a professor in the department of education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, has been working with libraries and their relationship with the wider communities for years through Let’s Move in Libraries, an organization he started.
He said libraries all over the country are expanding their offerings and are places of deep social change. “You have to understand, the nearly 10,000 public libraries in the U.S. are almost completely autonomous, so they are big sources of change.”
He cited a public library in La Cygne, Kansas, as one of the most progressive because they keep remaking themselves to include more activities, both mental and physical.
The continued expansion of uses for public libraries makes them community hubs and sources of good mental and physical health.
