Meet The Oldest Yoga Teacher in the World

What’s Inside – 

• The story of the incredible Bette Calman, one of the world’s oldest yoga teacher
• Inspired by Bette? Find the best yoga studio near you to get you started!

The Golden Girl of Yoga 

The discipline of yoga has become one of the most popular forms of exercises across the world. Every day, millions practice yoga at home or go to a yoga studio to chase the balance, strength, flexibility, and mental enhancement through sequences and asanas developed over a thousand years ago. 

One of the best benefits of yoga is that it can be undertaken by people at any level of fitness – indeed, many have found that yoga helps them control their chronic problems and alleviates symptoms of mental and physical problems. The benefits of yoga are also especially helpful to the elderly population. Losing their strength and agility along with an increased vulnerability to chronic problems and injuries means that a lot of older people are unable to engage in western-style exercises, or are scared to do so. With yoga, however, they are able to work on their fitness without fatigue or strain, and even control problems like arthritis, osteoporosis, and backache. 

But while most elderly individuals would go to a more gentle form of yoga, there is the incredible Bette Calman, an Australian who not only practised the most challenging yoga poses – but also taught them! Minor detail, Bette was 87 when she retired, having practised the discipline for over a whopping 61 years!

Even before she became an internet sensation after a series of articles was carried out about her on the internet, Calman had been a well-known personality in her native country of Australia. She had been interested in yoga since the age of 15 and finally had a chance to take it up at the age of 26. She immediately experienced the benefits of yoga, finding her headaches and menstrual problems disappearing soon after. Though she and her husband worked in the hotel business, Bette soon took the position of a yoga teacher. Her popularity soared in Australia, and she held a TV show for twenty-four years and subsequently published three books on yoga and lifestyle too. In 2009, at the age of 83, Bette was still fulfilling her role as a yoga teacher, taking up to 11 classes per week and putting all her young students to shame! At the age of 84, Bette was added into the Guiness Book of World Records as the oldest yoga teacher. 

In the interviews and talks that Bette has given, she comes across as a humble soul, who believes that her age-defying abilities are simply the matter of good living and regular practice of yoga poses, and believes that anybody can do what she does. When asked about the secret to ageing well, Bette responded that it was all about keeping movement in life, something that yoga and yoga poses greatly helped her out with. Her active lifestyle also enabled her to go around, meet new people and be in for adventures, which have helped her keep young at heart, too. 

In 2013, Better’s daughter Sussanne Calman announced on her blog that her mother had decided to retire from yoga at the age of 87. However, Better was still up and moving just as always, having decided to move to Queensland to spend some time with her friend. 

All across the world, Bette’s videos, photos, and inspirational talks inspire people every day, not just to take up yoga and experience the benefits of yoga, but to also remember that getting older doesn’t mean you have to stop doing what you do. Whether it be striking the most challenging yoga poses, running a yoga studio, or just living your best life, you too, like Better, can have it all at 40, 50, 60, 70, and yes, even at 80!

Inspired by Bette? We Can Get You Started!

If Bette’s incredible life and health has inspired you to take up yoga, and you are now looking for yoga classes near me, look for further than Hith Yoga Studio. One of the best-known yoga studio in the Delhi-NCR region. Hith Yoga provides the most qualified and experienced teachers, facilitative ambience, and a knowledgeable, holistic approach to the discipline matched by few. To top it all up, the yoga studio also offers personal classes and regular yoga retreats to help make yoga a part of your life and change the way you experience the practice. So what are you waiting for? Contact Hith Yoga today and get set to live your best life, just like Bette!