The next time you brush off an invitation to attend a yoga class because you think you’re too old to twist your body into a pretzel, think about Bette Calman. The Australian yoga instructor is 83 years old and is able to contort her body into positions that people more than half her age would have difficulty executing.
London’s Daily Mail recently featured the flexible grandma in a multi-page spread. And boy, can this lady spread her limbs. At an age when most people are retiring to their rocking chairs, Calman is bending over backwards, striking challenging “lotus” poses and extending her arms over her head and around her neck, all in an effort to promote the benefits of the ancient Indian fitness option.
What’s more, she strikes her pretzel-like poses wearing her trademark pink jumpsuit and pearl earrings. The nimble Australian says that despite her age, she doesn’t have chronic aches or pains. Rather, Calman credits her nearly four decades worth of daily yoga classes to keeping her fit and happy.
“I’m proof that if you keep at it, you’ll get there,” Calman told the paper. “I can do more now than I could 50 years ago.”
Doing more includes executing tough balancing maneuvers, such as the extremely tough “peacock” pose where the body is held in a horizontal position using just the arms. Calman has also mastered the tricky raised “lotus” and “bridge” poses and can complete headstands with ease.
The normally reserved Calman says she is speaking out about the benefits of yoga now because she wants people to realize that the age is just a number.
“Forget age,” said Calman, the author of three yoga books including one called Yoga for Arthritis. “Even a basic posture, or just going to a window and breathing deeply, can have big benefits.”
Calman is a fitness legend in Melbourne where she teaches 11 yoga classes a week.
Her motto: “Yoga keeps you young.”
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