By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Members of the Walpole Council on Aging (COA) came together at the South Street Center to celebrate Robin Lampert on her 20 years of being their Yoga instructor. The celebration took place right before she gave a presentation on Intro to Foot Fitness: The First Step To Whole Body Health which was a part of the Coffee & Conversations Series.
As over 100 seniors gathered together to celebrate Lampert, it was easy to see just how loved and admired she is within the COA. As Lampert chatted amongst the crowd, Walpole COA Director Kerri McManama kicked off the party with an adoring speech. “Welcome everyone,” McManama exclaimed, “to today’s celebration of Robin. She has so many fans and I don’t think she knew just how many she has. When you give what you give, this is what happens. There is a lot of love in this room for you.”
As McManama continued through her speech, she recalled Lampert’s experience when she first came to the COA. “Somehow it came up recently,” McManama stated, “that we discovered that Robin had been here for two decades of time at the COA. I have not been here for all that time but I asked Robin what had it been like for her when she first started. She said that there was push back, that people really weren’t sure about Yoga. And we are going back not that long ago but people really were fearful even about bringing Yoga to the Senior Center. And I just can’t imagine that world because it feels like this class that you teach is kind of the backbone of this whole place.”
Over the years, Lampert has adapted her program from mats and standing poses to the seated version of “movement nutrition” that it is today. For her first class, she had six people sign up, while today, there is currently a waiting list for all of her classes.
McManama finished her speech by thanking Lampert for all of her hard work and dedication to the COA over these past twenty years. She additionally opened the floor to any seniors who wanted to say a few words about Lampert themselves. An array of seniors took the microphone and gave a magnitude of praise towards her, thanking her for being such a wonderful person and teacher.
Towards the end of this celebration, pieces of cake were handed out to seniors as Lampert went around and mingled some more with everyone. She expressed her deep gratitude for everyone at the Walpole COA and looks forward to her continued years to come.
