98-year-old yoga teacher proves age is just a number

In this world where we find excuses to push away our responsibilities and dreams, Amma Nanammal stands out as a true inspiration.

Amma Nanammal learned yoga from her grandfather when she was ten years old

Amma Nanammal is 98 and still pursues her yoga practices without fail. She was born in a middle-class family in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, and learned yoga from her grandfather when she was ten years old. Since then she has never skipped the practice and is making a statement that age is just a number.

Amma Nanammal is a renowned teacher of yoga and martial arts

Being a regular practitioner and a firm believer of yoga and its potential, Amma Nanammal has never had to consult a doctor for any sort of physical or mental illnesses. Today she is a renowned teacher who teaches nearly 100 students daily.

Her disciples include people from various parts of the world and age groups ranging from 6 – 70. All of them testify unanimously that she is an amazing teacher and all they want is to achieve her fitness level. All of her family have accepted the yoga way of life and strictly follow it.

Wearing a sari, the traditional Indian costume, Amma Nanammal performs the astounding asanas with much ease. She is an expert in Silambattam, an Indian martial art using sticks as weapons, and has won several awards for it. People like her who are true symbols of dedication and passion are the real assets of the yogic heritage.

Watch below as yoga star Jessamyn Stanley talks about what yoga means to her.

Meet Jessamyn Stanley: yoga teacher, writer, body positivity advocate

Jessamyn Stanley is a yoga teacher, body positivity advocate, and writer based in Durham, North Carolina. Jessamyn uses high energy vinyasa flow as a way to move past mental and emotional barriers. Her classes provide a body positive approach to yoga which celebrates students’ bodies and encourages them to ask “How do I feel?” rather than “How do I look?” when practicing yoga.

Jessamyn studied with Kimberley Puryear of Asheville Yoga Center’s 230-hour Teacher Training Program and her eponymous yoga lifestyle blog and Instagram attract thousands of followers daily, offering tips and advice for other yoga practitioners while documenting her home yoga practice. Jessamyn contributes to Mind Body Green, Wanderlust, & Elephant Journal. She’s been featured and profiled by a variety of International and National media outlets including Good Morning America, The Daily Mail, New York Magazine, The Sunday Times, New York Times’ Women In The World, & People, among others.

Watch below as yoga instructor and author of the book "Yoga for Every Body," talks about what yoga really is and isn’t, and how it helps build confidence. Jessamyn Stanley is a yoga sensation.

What is yoga?

Yoga means union. Etymologically, it is connected to the English word, yoke. Yoga means union with God, or, union of the little, ego-self with the divine Self, the infinite Spirit.

The Indian sage Patanjali is believed to have collated the practice of yoga into the Yoga Sutra an estimated 2,000 years ago. The Sutra is a collection of 195 statements that serves as a philosophical guidebook for most of the yoga that is practiced today. It also outlines eight limbs of yoga: the yamas (restraints), niyamas (observances), asana (postures), pranayama (breathing), pratyahara (withdrawal of senses), dharana (concentration), dhyani (meditation), and samadhi (absorption). As we explore these eight limbs, we begin by refining our behavior in the outer world, and then we focus inwardly until we reach samadhi (liberation, enlightenment).

Today most people practicing yoga are engaged in the third limb, asana, which is a program of physical postures designed to purify the body and provide the physical strength and stamina required for long periods of meditation.

Source: yogajournal.com