Granny Yoga with Alana Mitnick Launches

Alana with Elaine and Clella

As we were filming the Granny Yoga show with Alana, Elaine, and Clella, we became so aware of how rarely we see real people in yoga videos. As we get older, it takes a little more time to get up and down off the floor, and in and out of chairs. When we have the opportunity to see this reality, we become a little less convinced that something is wrong with us, and perhaps a little more accepting of our bodies.

Alana’s first yoga class at the age of 15 was a senior’s yoga class. She began working with older yogis as a teacher around 2007, assisting Tucker Adams at the Help of Ojai Yoga Program. Help of Ojai is a wonderful organization in Ojai, California designed to allow our community to grow older in our own homes through providing shuttle service to doctors’ appointments, meals and community activities. Yoga is one of the most popular activities, after bingo of course.

Elaine and Clella are two of the most dedicated students in the classes. We highly recommend meeting them here. You’ll be inspired and receive some excellent wisdom.

We are hoping these practices will be useful to teachers working with older yogis and yogis at home. We called it Granny Yoga because in Alana's Help of Ojai classes at Lulu Bandha’s, the population is mostly women, with an occasional older man with good odds if he is seeking a lady friend. Of course men are welcome to practice along and we’ll probably also make an equivalent show for the fellas.

Meet Alana. Start practicing together. Stay close and let us know how what’s working. These teachings only occur in relationship.