My memories of Geeta Iyengar go back to the 1970s in Pune, before most of today’s practicing yogis were born, and certainly before yoga became mainstream.
Yoga Heroes
And now for today’s reminder that you’re never too old to start something new. We’d like to dedicate this post to the fighting spirit and the young at heart. Centenarian Charlotte Bleistein of Milwaukee, WI passed away over the weekend, but the fearless and passionate way she lived will never die. A lawyer, political activist [...]
She’s been practicing yoga for over 30 years…and she just turned 100! And we heart her. Jean Dawson just celebrated her 100th birthday on February 20th and if you’ve done the math that means she didn’t even start her yoga practice until she was in her late 60s, which means you need to share this [...]
Speaking of defying “yoga body” stereotypes. Meet Phyllis Sues. At 85 she walked into her first yoga class and it changed her life. At 92 she’s got us so inspired we feel like dancing the tango. (More on that later!) Phyllis Sues, born April 4, 1923, got the dance bug early. Before she was 20, [...]
We are straight up inspired by this woman. Tao Porchon-Lynch is the kind of person we wish was our cool auntie Tao who tells inspiring stories of the days she marched with Gandhi, or what it was like in Hollywood in the 50s, or how she just won a ballroom dancing competition at the ripe [...]
And every so often we’re inspired by a story of yoga for good! Sam Chelanga is a distance runner living in New Hampshire, though his roots lead him back to a remote village in Kenya where clean water is scarce and can be cause for disease. But Chelanga wants to change that. So far he’s [...]
We’ve written plenty about Tao Porchon-Lynch, and there’s no dearth of coverage of the 94-year-young yogini dynamo, but we can’t help sharing more when we see it. A practitioner of yoga for 7 decades (70 years of yoga!) having practiced with some of the founders of modern yoga (BKS Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois), and a teacher [...]
These kinds of stories make our little hearts do a hop, skip and a beat. And they say yoga isn’t cardio. Fran Miller is about to turn 91 years old and she will likely celebrate it with her regular routine of teaching three yoga classes a week in the San Fernando Valley, because she’s an [...]
We love Ida! Now this nonagenarian stuff is getting real, and it’s awesome to the 90th degree. First it was Bernice Bates, then it was Tao Porchon-Lynch, then Mabes and Esther and now it’s 96-year-old Ida Herbert declared the oldest yoga teacher by the Guinness World Records.
Ida is a Toronto native who started doing yoga back in the late 1940’s at a health club and has been teaching the practice for almost 30 years. She retired last year from her YMCA gig and focuses now on the spry students of the Bayshore Village area near Orillia, Ont. ranging in age from 50s to their 80s. You may even be lucky enough to spot her doing her own practice in the park decked out in leotard, tights and signature cat-eye glasses.
