One of the excuses I hear quite often is, “I’m too old to practice yoga,” or, “I’m not flexible enough to practice yoga.”

Well, for all you naysayers out there, I’ve got a story that will prove you wrong. Check out this article and pictures from the Daily Mail about Bette Calman. She is an 83-year-young yogini from Australia and my new personal role model and hero. She has been teaching yoga for over 40 years and can do poses like peacock pose that I can’t even do. She still teaches 11 classes a week!

What I find interesting about the article is that she claims she is able to do more today than she was able to do 50 years ago. She has become more flexible and grown into poses she couldn’t do. I’m so excited because that means there is hope for me! Maybe someday I will be able to get my feet to the floor in downward dog or master that headstand.

To quote Bette, “You’re never too old. The body is a remarkable instrument. It can stretch and stretch, and get better all the time. Forget age.”

Bette, I’m taking your advice—forgetting about age and working toward getting stronger and more flexible each and every day. I’m going to make my body better with age. I wrote a while back that when I went to the doctor this year for my physical, I had actually grown in height. I believe my practice of yoga has helped me to stretch my spine and grow, instead of shrinking down in height due to the aging process. Not to mention what it has done to relieve my back pain.

I don’t think I’ll ever walk out of yoga class with perfectly set hair and pearls, but my goal is to be walking out of yoga class when I’m in my eighties. Bette says that she always comes out of a yoga class feeling on top of the world, and I feel the same way too. Bette you rock!