At 80 years old, Helen Westergard had no problem leading a pack of people around the walking path at the Gleason Family YMCA during “Be Well Wareham.”

The event featured a walk and yoga session hosted by a Southcoast Health physician. It’s designed to create more awareness for good health.

“Be Well Wareham” kicked off July 16, and will continue on the third Saturday of every month with locations to be announced.

Along with Westergard was Liisa Palmer, a Wareham resident who’s used to walking three miles a few times a week with her daughter. She’s a patient of Dr. Ashwini Sahni, a new physician at Southcoast Health practicing cardiology in Rosebrook Center.

It was Sahni’s idea to host the walk and, partnering with the Y, a yoga session after.

Approximately 20 people gathered in front of the Y, did a lap around the building on an increasingly humid morning and went inside for a session of chair yoga led by Pam Smith.

The purpose of the program, Sahni said, is to expand awareness for "things we don’t get to discuss" and to include as many people as possible to become healthier.

"Most doctors die ten years earlier than most people," said Sahni half-jokingly. “So healthcare is not just for patients.”

Dr. Robert McGowan, another physician at the center, said the doctors at the center are “trying to get outside of the office more,” to meet more people in the community and expand heart programs in the area.

Southcoast Health physician Dr. Amy Wiegandt, who was a participant at the event, hopes the efforts will help “get back to when everyone used to know the physicians in town.”

The session includes more than just walks. As Sahni said, it opened discussions and touched on topics that are overlooked.

The group participated in chair yoga with Smith, who has instructed yoga at the Y for four years.

During the session, Sahni explained the importance breathing with equal inhalation and exhalation and how stress and anxiety create shortened or unbalanced breathing. Smith encouraged people to take time to themselves and practice “belly breathing,” breathing into the stomach and feeling its expansion and retraction, to re-center themselves.

After the yoga session, participants had their blood pressures checked and received healthful recipes.