Ronnie Arond, the Gracie Allen of Yoga | photo: Celeste Sloman for The New York Times
If you’re having a bad day, read this. Or maybe you just need a good chuckle. Honestly, we don’t know how anyone lives their days without humor, but we do know that not everyone inserts humor into their yoga classes. This is not Ronnie Arond. In fact, she insists on making you smile.
“If I don’t tell a joke, call an ambulance because something’s wrong,” Ronnie told the New York Times who recently did a lovely profile on her.
They describe Ronnie’s teaching style as “a mix of spiritual patter, pragmatic instruction and shtick,” which she offers in healthy doses to her group of a half dozen students she teaches in the basement of her home.
“She runs classes more in the manner of a zany Gracie Allen-type ingénue than some New Age guru affectation. She instructs with folksy patter sprinkled with wisecracking, delivered in a New Yawkese chirp.”
DeLIGHTful. Can we be Ronnie when we grow up? Did we mention she’s a spry 93?
(By the way, if you don’t know Gracie Allen, she was a hilarious actress and comedian legendary for being half of a dynamic duo with her husband George Burns on the radio and TV in the 40s and 50s. If you don’t know George Burns, it’s time to use the Google machine, or Alexa, or whatever the kids use these days to get instant information. For extra credit, watch: Oh, God! You Devil)
Ronnie and her husband of 73 years, Hank, are both WWII vets, and besides offering basement yoga classes, Mrs. Arond also teaches at the local YMCA where her witty teaching style has drawn a dedicated following.
Certainly Ronnie has had a lot of life experience at 93 years young, but she’s quick to remind students about the best teacher in the world: “Which is really yourself.”
Read the full NYT profile here, you won’t be sorry.
Hiii…. YD, I appreciate your view on yoga, and also appreciate your dedication towards yoga at 93, your dedication will surely inspire the youth for keeping their body fit and to keep a distance from diseases.
We so need yogis like Ronnie to keep us inspired!
Amazing! I love to see people still kicking and screaming into their 90’s.
Hi i am yoga trainer in Delhi/NCR it’s awesome, you are so inspiring to me..keep it up.
Wow. Just amazing. What you are doing at 90s is really inspiring. Youth should learn a lesson from you. Here’s another blog on yoga that will defnitely bring the creativity and the fitness out of a person.
Humour is such a lovely thing, isn’t it?