Namaste Miss Liz

The word Namaste is a greeting or salutation that is most often said at the end of a yoga class, one of the translations is "I bow to you".  

That is why the title of this post is "Namaste Miss Liz" who passed away yesterday.  Liz started coming to the studio just a little over a year ago with her care giver/friend/support team, Karen.  Liz was 94 at the time and wanted to join the class even though it wasn't a chair yoga class and of course I said yes, after all yoga is for everyone.  After that she was a Thursday night regular.

In the beginning I would try and somewhat modify the class for her then I decided that wasn't going to work.  She and I talked and she said that she would keep up the best she could  and for me just to go with the flow for the rest of the class and that she was just happy to be here. She interpreted the poses as what was best for her.

She had the most amazing positive attitude and we all quickly fell in love with her.  As I taught I would check on her often and she would give me a wink and a thumbs up to let me know that all was good. And truth be told she did a kick ass boat pose, her core was stronger than students in their 20's.  

She had a stroke and just couldn't come back from it.  Karen told me that even though one side of her body was paralyzed initially after the stroke she would still watch her exercise program on TV and do her best.  Karen also said that Liz had a breath retention practice and often wondered if that was one reason she had such a long live.

Thursday nights will not be the same. Namaste Miss Liz, Namaste.