While you may have become interested in yoga because you felt the need to keep your bones strong and muscles in shape, I’ve learned from experience that we miss a lot when we pay attention only to our physical selves. In order to practice the postures of yoga to their fullest effect, we need to be aware of our whole selves—inside and out. So we’re taking a journey inward. Introduction to Chapter four “Lilias! Yoga Gets Better With Age”

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Decked out in her leotard and braids, Lilias Folan brought yoga into living rooms nationwide via her syndicated 1972 PBS television series, Lilias! Yoga and You. Through the course of the show’s 500 episodes and her travel around the world, she introduced millions of people to yoga, yet remains sincere and humble.

Would you call yourself a spiritual seeker? Absolutely. I’ve been a passionate spiritual seeker since I was a little girl. My up-bringing was very difficult. When it got really tough, I would go into the center of my chest, and I would meet with my friend who would soothe and connect me to something that I had no words for. And that’s where I would heal.
That’s yoga from a very young age. That’s how I came to the planet. But as a teenager, I forgot about my friend. Then I had a major crisis and thought, “I can solve this. I’ll go back inside.” When I did, I couldn’t find my friend. Yoga brought me back to this inner friend that’s always been there. Yoga brought me home again.

A smile is a gift that radiates not only through the smiler, but also to the smiled-upon. I recently learned about the powerful benefits of generating a sincere smile, when I was taught an ancient yoga technique for relaxation and healing called the “Inner Smile.” 

• Yoga provides you with survival techniques to handle many aspects of today’s “high-pressured world, while maintaining calm control
• Yoga will soothe and strengthen the back and firm, tone and sculpt the entire body, top to bottom
• Yoga can soften, slow down, even aid in reversing the aging process, helping mature adults feel their best
• Yoga is a superior form of weight-bearing exercise that can help prevent osteoporosis and improve posture in both men and women
• Yoga is a conscious, intelligent, non-mechanical approach to exercise that involves the entire being - body, mind and spirit
• Yoga boosts endurance and sports performance
• Yoga provides useful techniques for breathing and movement that remove tension, restore vitality and delight, strength and stamina, and improve balance coordination
• Yoga movements and poses such as inversion (turning the body upside down through bending forward, placing the head below the heart, or resting the legs up on a wall) help to improve circulation to the internal organs as well as the brain as it rests the heart
• Yoga relaxation helps to remove fatigue, lowers blood pressure and soothes the nervous system
• Yoga can help release emotions that burrow in the muscles of our body, which contributes to greater calmness, fluidity, balance and emotional well being