teaching yoga and an inspiration

Last night I taught a yoga class to about 20 people at a fitness club. All of the students were women and 16 of them were the image of what you see on most fitness club ads. They all seemed to be more flexible, had better balance, and were stronger then me. I was there to teach them a class a class based on a flexibility, balance, and strength. 3 of the other students were around my age who and were taking their first yoga class. Then there was 1 woman who was at least as old as my mom, but probably older. It is hard to tell because my mom looks so good for her age. It was a big class filled with a blend of many different expectations and that made me a little nervous. I decided to do what has been working and not change a thing about the way I teach, I was going to do what I do best. It may have been a little too stress reducing for a couple of the people, but most people had that look on their face at the end of class, it was a smile and a look of peace.

Looking back at the class today there is one person who sticks in my mind the most, her name is Jean. You think I might say she was a beautiful young lady, but there must be something wrong with me because the face that stands out most is the one elderly woman. She was an inspiration to me on how she fit right in with all the much younger women, and then after the class she looked at the calendar on the wall to see what silver sneakers classe she could come to this morning with folks her age. Age didn’t seem to matter to Jean, she had a big smile that made it look like she was just having fun in life. If that is not an inspiration, I don’t know what is.