When my hair first turned white in the front, I was glad. It lightened up my color and made it clear to all that I am older. I was hoping it would give me some street cred and a bit of status: “older and wiser.”

There have been times when my feelings have wavered on this however. For example, the time that a woman who I had met only once before came to visit me and  knocked on my front door. My husband happened to answer the door and she asked him “Is your mother at home?” My husband later, rather too gleefully, told me this story. My husband looks forever youthful though he is a year older than me. Gosh I felt old and hunched.

But here is one of the best secrets of Iyengar yoga. It is a fountain of youth of sorts. It allows us to age with dignity. The work of the poses brings good posture,  strength and flexibility. The inversions and backbends bring much needed circulation and flushing as well as opening the mind to new horizons!

Stay young with yoga. I have heard that you are as young as your spine is flexible. Here is the quote of the day:

“The body soon decays like unbaked earthern pots thrown in water. Strengthen and purify the body by baking it in the fire of yoga.”   G. Heranda