V. Nanammal used her love for yoga as a means to connect with people worldwide and introduce them to the lifestyle she believed to be one of the most powerful and healthy.
In this episode,#SeeHer Storyhas chosen to look back at the life of Nanammal and her lifelong dedication to teaching yoga as a way to exercise the body, mind, and soul.
The goal of#SeeHer Story, adigital video series from Katie Couric Media and PEOPLE, is to recognize female trailblazers throughout the past 100 years and celebrate how they’ve helped to shape history and culture.
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Nanammal grew up in a family where yoga was already a tradition.
Born in Coimbatore, India in 1920 to a family of cashew and coconut farmers, she began learning yoga at the age of eight from her father.
Soon after, Nanammal began teaching yoga to her family and friends.
Her practice proved so successful that she opened up her own yoga studio in 1972, despite receiving backlash from those against her — including her mother-in-law.
“[She] said loudly to my husband, ‘Women should wake up early and start pounding the grains, make the rice and cook the food. But instead, your wife is shaking her legs and hands and playing around,” Nanammal shared in the video.
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The naysayers didn’t keep Nanammal from introducing her practice around the world — she and her family have taught thousands of students and trained over a thousand instructors.
“If we do yoga then we don’t have to spend money in hospitals,” she explained.
Nanammal passed in October 2019, and her son Balakrishnan continues to run the yoga center along with 36 members of her family who teach at the facility.
“I’ve seen [Nanammal] do yoga since my childhood. To see her still doing it at 99 years of age is astonishing,” Balakrishnan says in the clip.
source: people.com
