Getting on the Stick

The 30 men and women who gather outside the Westminster Senior Center on Thursdays carry solid mahogany sticks, lightweight wooden dowels, even sheared-off pieces of PVC pipe.

With a simple “good morning,” Dau Bac Mai moves to the front of the group and begins leading his pupils through a longevity stick class, a 12-movement exercise regimen that he developed more than 20 years ago in his native Vietnam.

The longevity stick uses techniques that bring the body and the mind into balance, Mai said.

“I know about Oriental medicine, and all these movements help the muscles and get the blood to circulate better,” he said, speaking through an interpreter, student Van H. Le. “The body and the mind have a connection.”

Dressed in loose-fitting, rust-colored clothing and an Indiana Jones-style hat, the 76-year-old Mai slowly and deliberately moves through his exercises, which are designed to increase mobility and work all parts of the body.

Students keep their eyes on the master as they twist, lean and stretch their bodies. Holding their sticks in various positions, they move their limbs and torsos slowly and deliberately.

An advanced student interprets into English Mai’s instructions on the precise movement required for each exercise, reminding them to breathe rhythmically.

Mai, who immigrated to the United States in 1994, has been teaching the longevity stick at the Senior Center for over a year. He has added other locations, including a Garden Grove senior center and Stanton’s St. Polycarp Catholic Church.

“It is my experience that I practice and I feel better,” Mai said. “Before, I wasn’t feeling well.”

After suffering a stroke in a Vietnamese prison camp in 1972, Mai developed the 12-step exercise program in an effort to regain his mobility.

Once paralyzed on his right side, Mai shows no signs of the stroke.

The program is similar to Tai Chi, but uses a stick for balance. Any type of stick can be used, as long as it is as tall as the user, Mai said.

Some students hold solid wood sticks made in Vietnam, while others carry $3 dowels from Home Depot.

Martha Karam, a 74-year-old heart patient, said she felt “pretty good” after working through the exercises during her second class Thursday.

Six months after open-heart surgery, Karam said, her doctor recommended she begin exercising and approved of the longevity stick program.

John McGregor, a 73-year-old sport fisherman, said Mai’s 12 movements have helped heal several of his torn knee ligaments, helped him lose weight and helped the flexibility in his back.

“I don’t think it’s helped, I know it,” McGregor said. “I am more flexible and I have better self-control. It does a lot for your mental and physical attitude.”

Seventy-two-year old Mary Hori is so committed to the regimen that she has traveled to Westminster from Placentia every Thursday for more than a year to participate in Mai’s class.

“One of the girls told me to join,” she said. “I was hesitant at first, but it’s very good exercise. I feel physically fit, and I haven’t gained weight.”

Betty Goyne, senior center director and a gerontologist, said Mai’s class has become extremely popular with Westminster seniors since it was started in January 1995.

It has been particularly helpful for arthritic adults, she said.

“Older adults need to do gentle exercise. The neat thing about this is that it’s a stretching exercise and a very gentle exercise that he has developed,” Goyne said.

Newport Beach physical therapist David Bradley said exercise programs such as the longevity stick help adults improve their range of movement while allowing them to maintain balance and good posture.

Mai estimates that he leads about 200 people through longevity stick movements every week at a variety of locations in Westminster, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach and Stanton.

“After one year of this exercise, I feel better,” said 65-year-old Hoang Tran. “I feel very happy.”