Yoga teacher: 91 and stretching



Yogi sculpture (Photo: Deepak)

Bernice Bates is making headlines these days - not because she’s young and firm, but because she’s old and flexible.

Fifty years ago, she was flexible enough to take up the practice of yoga, and she hasn’t stopped since.  In her own words to Today.com:  Yoga gives you flexibility like you’ve never had before, and it  makes you healthy because you’re working on the whole body, inside and out.  

And not just the body, either.  Bates is a Methodist who believes that “her decades of physical activity have only added” to her strong faith.  She explains it this way to Jezebel.com:  It gives you a good outlook.  It involves your mind.  Your mind, your body and your spirit.  They all work together and they’re all coordinated.  

Which is her way of saying that the very word “Yoga” means “yoke” (from the Sanskrit root yug, meaning “to join, to unite, to attach”)…  Although yoga can help to make you feel like you’re half your age, the original goal of this ancient discipline was “the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility…”

Wikipedia reports that this lofty goal necessitated a great deal of self-discipline (i.e. “the ‘yoke’ that one puts upon oneself for the purpose of attaining moksha”).  Some also interpret the original Vedic meaning of yoga to include a harnessing of the lower self to the higher one.  A sense of “exertion, endeavor, zeal, diligence” was later added, as well as a Buddhist emphasis on “the cessation of mental activity.”

Bates, on the other hand (or foot, elbow, knee, etc.), tends to follow a broader yogic philosophy.  She tells Lisa Flam of Today.com that yoga is “for everybody,” and then explains:  There’s thousands of postures.  You can pick and choose.  You do what you can. 

Bates not only practices what she preaches, but also teaches what she preaches.  She currently leads a

weekly class within her retirement community.  Most of her students are in their 60s and 70s, and several 

are in their 80s and 90s. 

Resources

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/oldest-yoga-teacher-91-awarded-guiness-world-records-article-1.995712

http://jezebel.com/bernice-bates/

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45484875/ns/today-today_health/t/-year-old-yoga-teacher-asks-why-should-i-quit/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga

Copyright December 27, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved