Aging with Grace, Living Fully

What are we really asking as yoga practitioners when we wonder, Why do we age? Are we trying to stop the passage of time, or are we learning to accept the natural process of living?

There is, of course, the physiological side of aging. Over time, our bodies experience changes at the cellular level that can affect our health, energy, and vitality. We know that inflammation and cellular damage can contribute to many of the conditions associated with aging.

In the West, much of our attention goes toward managing the physical changes that come with aging. Yet there is another side to this journey, one that invites us to consider how we want to live as we grow older.

Yoga offers us another way of looking at this process. Through movement, breath, awareness, and a willingness to adapt, our practice can support healthy living and help us remain active and engaged as we grow older.

The gift yoga has given me is the understanding that I can age gracefully and still remain active and energetic. The number of years I have lived does not have to define my health or my possibilities.

Aging is natural. I simply want to continue living as fully as I can, with vitality, curiosity, and a passion for learning. Longevity isn't just about living longer. It's about finding joy in the years we are given, even as we navigate the challenges that life presents.

After all, what's the point of living longer if we can't enjoy it?

Longevity isn't just about living longer. It's about finding joy in the years we are given.

As we stop resisting the changes in our bodies and begin embracing what we can do, we discover a renewed enthusiasm for our practice. We learn to adapt and modify our yoga to meet us where we are, rather than holding on to what we once could do.

Through my own injuries, I have developed a deeper sense of grace and self-love. I have come to appreciate my body's ability to heal and adapt. And perhaps even more importantly, my inner spiritual life has been given a renewed appreciation for the gift of living.

I can continue to sleep better, maintain my balance as I enjoy my long walks, and get down on the floor to play with my sweet great-niece. These may seem like simple things, but they are the moments that make life so precious.

Yes, I can let go of that false self that believes I must remain who I once was. I can embrace the wisdom that comes with aging.

All those years of experiences, challenges, joys, and lessons become something we can reflect upon, digest, and assimilate. They become part of who we are and how we continue to grow.

Life continues to offer new doorways. What a gift to remain healthy enough, curious enough, and open enough to walk through them.

And perhaps that is what aging with grace is really about. Not holding on to the past, but continuing to live fully in the present.

In love and light,
Laura Jane

What has growing older taught you about living more fully?
I'd love to hear your reflections. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Interested in how yoga can support strength, balance, and vitality as we age? Continue the exploration with Jana Sutherland at her Aging Well workshop on November 7.

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When Life Feels Fast, I Return to My Practice

It is that awkward time of year when we witness the shift in seasons and the reality of another year coming to its end. Where did this year go?

Time can feel like a construct of the mind, and yet life seems to be moving faster. I am noticing the need to slow down, even as life demands that we show up and keep the balls in the air. I am losing the space for creativity as the chatter of my ego finds so many ways to distract and confuse me.

Just writing those words asks for an exhale.

I feel overwhelmed.

Chaos abounds, and yet today, as I wake to the beauty of this day, I see the brilliant display of nature. The trees are shimmering in golden light. The reds, oranges, and greens are in their full expression of beauty.

I am once again humbled by the magnificence of Mother Earth. Life keeps changing form. Its essence lives in the mystery, and I am the grateful recipient of this miracle. Nature’s grand finale holds the promise of rebirth come spring.

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What did this year teach me?

I use this time of year for reflection. I love to look back and remember the months that make up the past year. I sit and ask myself the deeper question: Not simply what did I do, but how did I grow?

Can I digest and assimilate the experiences I was blessed to live? In what ways did life present opportunities, whether I liked them or not, to expand and enrich my soul?

Who am I in these times of conflict and uncertainty? Can I bring forward the gifts I have been given and continue to enjoy the beauty and wonder of living today?

I have been reflecting on how difficult it can feel to make room for yoga, especially when the practice invites us to look more deeply into the mind’s habits and patterns. Life has been difficult for many souls. Even the opportunity to sit and simply breathe can feel out of reach.

We are living in shifting times, and reflection is not always an inviting thought. The collective mind feels exhausted.

I notice how easily we can lean into old habits and patterns that preserve the familiar. Comfortable choices may also keep us repeating the same frustrations and fears. Habits can create more inertia. The mind finds ways to avoid the effort of turning inward and turning our light on.

We become busy with our outer roles and commitments. We overdo until we are exhausted. Sometimes that exhaustion is a reminder to pause and consider what needs to change.

P.A.I.N. — Pay Attention Inside NOW.

For me, this is a reminder to listen with compassion to what I am experiencing.

When I see my behaviors and thoughts becoming linked to more fear and doubt, I know I need to go back to my practice and ask for help.

Exhale.

Once again, I am not going to get it right, but I am gently moving in a better direction.

The gift of retreat—and the return

I love to host retreats and bring people out of the familiar rhythms of their lives. I want to offer a safe place to let go of the roles that can keep us caught in our outer identities.

I want to ask the inner question: Who am I without the ways I protect myself and hide my deeper fears?

I recently returned from an amazing retreat in Turkey—a land of vast history, with people whose culture is so different from mine, and yet whose humanity feels so familiar. Human beings living daily lives, sharing in the richness of loving, and carrying individual stories that awaken my curiosity.

Travel always inspires me to keep learning and growing beyond the conditioning of my own upbringing and community. We are all creatures of learned habits.

When we travel, life presents us with circumstances we cannot control. These can become opportunities, gateways into a deeper understanding of ourselves. I get to observe how I respond. In what ways can I allow grace to unfold?

The gift of retreat is also in the return to our daily lives.

Can we continue our inner practices and maintain a greater sense of balance when we come home?

Returning to the small practices

I return to my daily life, living my yoga on and off the mat.

The falling leaves and chilled air remind me that nothing is permanent. I return to gratitude, not because everything is easy, but because there is still beauty here to receive.

I commit to being present for this day and appreciating the humble ways life reminds me that I am not in control of the outcome.

Today, I will water the seeds of loving-kindness in myself and look for ways to offer that kindness to others. I will move my body with respectful awareness that it is my only container, and it needs to be nourished. I will make room for rest.

As this season unfolds, I will welcome the foods of the harvest and tend the warmth of my inner fire. I will light a candle in the morning, offering this special day to something larger than my mind’s need to manage every outcome.

These are small practices. They ask me to return, again and again, to the life I am actually living.

And that is what I hope we make room for together at Yoga Among Friends: time to move, breathe, listen, and meet ourselves with a little more compassion.

If you have been away from your practice, you are always welcome to return. If you are just beginning, you are welcome, too. Perhaps this week, you can give yourself time for one class. You do not need to resolve everything before you arrive.

I will keep practicing alongside you. I will breathe in beauty and exhale a smile. I will leave a little room for adventure and for the mystery of being alive.

Yes, time feels as though it is moving quickly, and yet I am choosing to slow down and be here.

In love and light,
Laura Jane

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We’d Love to Hear From You

Sometimes a small, familiar ritual helps us find our way back to the present.

Tell us in the comments below: What is one small thing that helps you slow down—a walk, a favorite class, lighting a candle, or something else?

Yoga in My Life: Finding Calm, Community & Connection

By Jana Sutherland

I still remember the very first yoga class I attended in my early twenties, when I was living in Germany.

The studio was in Berlin's vibrant Mitte neighborhood—an inviting, relaxed space with a soft-spoken instructor. I listened closely to her words and mimicked her movements because none of the poses were familiar to me yet.

After class, the teacher asked whether I had ever practiced yoga before. Apparently, I had made a capable impression.

Well, I thought to myself, I must have done something right.

Did I have any idea then just how important yoga would become in my life? Most certainly not.

But on that day, my curiosity had been sparked, along with the desire to step onto the mat again.

And again.

Beyond “Doing It Right”

Over time, I began to experience something that went beyond the postures and “doing it right”—a simple joy in moving my body and a deep sense of calm when I left the studio.

I found this deeply enriching. Every other workout I had tried before usually left me feeling mostly sweaty and exhausted. The flow of the asanas offered something different. I felt more in harmony with myself and nourished from within.

I used to call Savasana my favorite part of practice. I think this was because I was discovering an inner peace that otherwise seemed difficult to reach.

Our twenties are not always the most stable years. We are finding our way, often without much perspective and without knowing what life has in store for us.

In those moments, yoga can be an anchor.

For me, it became a steady routine. I made time for practice whenever possible—after work, before university, and in between everything else that filled my young life in the bustling city.

In such moments, yoga can be an anchor.

Finding Community at Yoga Among Friends

A few years later, I discovered another essential part of yoga.

I was newly married and had moved with my husband to the western suburbs of Chicago. He traveled frequently for work while I adjusted to a new life in the United States. Naturally, I felt lonely at times.

I knew I wanted to continue the practice that had always supported me back home, so I began searching for a yoga studio.

To my surprise, I found a place that actually had the word Friends in its name.

I began taking Saturday morning classes at Yoga Among Friends in Downers Grove. After a while, familiar faces began appearing. I enjoyed the chatter and laughter around me.

Perhaps you have experienced something similar: the joy of finding a place where you can unroll your mat and simply be—where a friendly smile from across the room quietly tells you that you belong.

That is the power of community.

Even as life brought its inevitable ups and downs—saying goodbye to loved ones, navigating my own health challenges, and suddenly losing our family home to a fire—I knew where I could go and how I could support myself, both physically and emotionally.

The joy of finding a place where you can unroll your mat and simply be—that is the power of community.

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A Practice That Changes With Us

In 2019, I began teacher training with Yoga Among Friends.

After practicing for several years, I wanted to go deeper and explore the spiritual wisdom of yoga more fully. What I learned from my teachers enriched my understanding of human nature, of life itself, and of what it means to live with greater awareness.

Since then, many regular YAF students have seen me either substitute teaching or practicing alongside them in weekly classes.

Those experiences have shown me firsthand just how different our individual needs can be—and how wonderfully adaptable yoga can be.

Yoga is truly a gift of mindfulness that can be adapted to every body.

As I move through the aging process myself, I appreciate this more and more.

Every time I practice, I feel connected to myself. I know that I have moved in a way that feels sustainable. And I have an opportunity to “lose my mind a little,” as Laura Jane, my teacher, likes to put it.

For me, that is one of yoga's great gifts: quieting some of the mind's constant activity so that something deeper can be felt.

Yoga Beyond the Mat

I am excited to see what the future holds.

I want to keep moving, learning and embracing the changes that inevitably come with the gift of life.

Yoga means so much more to me now.

My practice does not always look like what I attempted on the mat all those years ago in Berlin.

Sometimes yoga is taking a mindful walk.

Sometimes it is breathing more consciously.

Sometimes it is giving myself permission not to squeeze productivity out of every single minute.

My practice has evolved, yet certain things have remained constant.

Yoga continues to be an invitation to get to know myself better, to feel connected, and to share special moments with others.

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How has your own yoga practice changed as your life has changed?

I would love to hear your story. Leave a comment below.

Hope to see you on the mat!

Jana

Practice with Jana and our Yoga Among Friends community.
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