New York: At 91, Bernice Bates may not look like a typical yoga instructor but the Florida based great-grandmother has been named the world's oldest yoga teacher by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Bates has been practising yoga for the last 50 years and credits the ancient Indian exercise form for her years of good health.
She was nominated for the Guinness record earlier this year by her daughter.
The great-grandmother teaches yoga once a week at a community center of her retirement village in Florida's Gulf Coast.
Her students, usually a lot younger than her, also include two women in their 80s, a couple in their 90s, and some 70 year olds.
She begins each class with about a dozen 'vinyasas,' or yoga poses and ends with a guided relaxation accompanied by some music.
At a time when sweaty yoga sessions practised in 104 degree rooms are becoming a rage in the US, Bates teaches gentle yoga to her students and is not in favour of strenuous or competitive stretching exercises.
"You may not do it perfect, but there's no perfect person," a report in the Miami Herald daily quoted her as saying.
She says her students "feel great" after the yoga sessions.
"It makes your whole body whole again. It's good for anybody. It's good for chair sitters, it's good for pregnant women. Anybody".
Bates credits yoga for her good health, she says she does not take medication or have any health problems.
Yoga gives her the strength and ability to enjoy things like flower gardening.
The 91-year-old also lifts weights, swims and does tai chi as part of her exercise regimen.
Bates starts her day with some stretching exercises "to get her blood flowing.
"It gives you a good outlook. It involves your mind," she said.
"Your mind, your body and your spirit. They all work together and they're all coordinated. Whereas when you're on a treadmill, that's all you're doing, and you're tired when you're done. We build energy in our body, we don't take it out," she says.
Comments
0 comment