Teacher marshals an art for seniors: yoga:

JACK WILLIAMS. The San Diego Union - Tribune. San Diego, Calif.: Mar 22, 2004. pg. D.3

For Frank Iszak, the transition from martial arts to yoga was neither a leap nor a stretch. It just meant going to the mat against common opponents -- idleness and decay -- from a different angle. Self defense with a twist.

Today, at 72, he's a certified yoga teacher, 10 years removed from a martial arts specialty, shuriken, in which he achieved a third-degree black belt.

From snowboarding, skiing and ocean swimming to yoga and Pilates, Izsak knows all the right moves to bring aging to a standstill. With a 47-year-old wife, Serpil Gole-Iszak, at his side, he can't afford not to.

"If I don't have health, I don't live," he said. "All other things become meaningless if I lose my health."

The statement is both a message and a mantra.

"There are so many things that can be done to prevent the onset of disease," he said.

Iszak, a Hungarian refugee who settled in the United States in 1958, is taking his exercise ethic to seniors these days in what he calls Silver Age Yoga Community Outreach.

It's his way of reaching the fragile, the infirm and the visually impaired. The target audience: seniors at seven social service agencies throughout San Diego County, including the San Diego Center for the Blind.

Iszak has enlisted 13 experienced teachers who donate their time once a week. To train them specifically for the senior population they serve, he devised a Silver Age Yoga certification program, which includes 24 hours of teaching and 36 hours of workshops.

Based on classical hatha yoga postures, with emphasis on breathing and body alignment, Silver Age Yoga is designed to reach the beginner.

"Some are excited and want to do more," Iszak said. "Others are afraid to move their bodies -- especially the more fragile ones. It takes a special skill to deal with a class of 25 people who are all over the place.

"It's a challenge. And the changes you see are more dramatic than you'll find at health clubs."

Ultimately, Iszak would like to measure the health benefits statistically, adding his findings to data on alternative medicine. He's already introduced what he calls a health-monitoring system, eliciting feedback from participants every four weeks.

"Most of our seniors are accustomed to instant help -- a prescription, a pill," he said. "What I offer is not Celebrex, but it will help align your body, help you breathe, sleep and sit better. It's an education as much as a practice."

Iszak, who has a professional background in chemical engineering, journalism and fitness, approaches Silver Age Yoga with a hint of the same revolutionary fervor he displayed in his youth.

In 1956, he joined six fellow Hungarian refugees in escaping a Communist regime. After two years in West Germany, he began working as a chemical engineer in Berkeley, bonding with Americans who share his commitment to freedom.

"Coming from a totalitarian system, I'm grateful for the gifts this society gave me," Iszak said. "I felt it was time to give something back."

Yoga has become his vehicle. Martial arts, which he practiced for most of 30 years, provided the foundation, imparting a serenity and self-confidence, balance and flexibility that applies to any mind/body discipline.

"There is tremendous reward in teaching seniors," Iszak said. "You see changes in behavior, health, in their moods, the way they walk."

At the Florence Riford Center in La Jolla, where Tuesday classes average 20 participants from their 50s to 89, program manager Joanna Jones welcomes Silver Age yoga as a complement to other activities. "It's an enrichment for their health and improves their balance and mobility," she said.

Iszak can be reached by phone at (866) 751-0011 and (858) 792- 8144 or by e-mail at silverageyoga@adelphia.net.