Media Release

Mangaluru, Aug 12: The Fatima Retreat House in the city hosted a unique programme led by nonagenarian Joe Gonsalves, focused on basic fitness for the elderly.

Teddy Sequeira welcomed the gathering, while Fr Prashanth Madtha inaugurated the event and Fr Ronald Serrao led the group in an opening prayer and thanked Joe Gonsalves for leading the event. Melville Pinto compered the programme.

Gonsalves spoke to the group about the vital importance of basic fitness throughout life and especially as one enters older ages. He drew the attention of the group to the fact that he was offering suggestions and demonstrations not as an expert but as someone who follows these practices himself.

Starting with some basic breathing techniques and poses, Gonsalves went on to demonstrate more specific poses and exercises that help to relieve common ailments such as back pain, neck pain, and vertigo.

Having suffered from these ailments himself, Gonsalves told the group that he learned about these fitness exercises when he was researching practical approaches to treat these common ailments.

He is a living testimony to the fact that basic fitness exercises work. At the age of 94, he walks without a stick, drives everywhere in India and in the US, keeps his mind active through his involvement in social media, and is active as a community advocate, particularly for those in need.

Gonsalves cautioned the group that his suggestions should be taken as just suggestions and practical guidelines and not as a replacement for medical advice which may be necessary in certain cases. Each person, he emphasized, should make his/her own decisions about whether or not to have recourse to fitness exercises. He asserted that neither he nor anyone at Fatima Retreat House should be held responsible for any unlikely injuries or adverse effects one may experience.

He closed the session following a moment of silent reflection, adding that in an increasingly sedentary world, basic fitness should be a part of one's daily routine. This regular practice, he suggested, would help everyone to lead healthy and productive lives.

The audience was very impressed with the programme and some of the participants requested Gonsalves to hold such meetings often to help people live healthy lives particularity as they age.