Mother's Of Yoga Part 2 - The Julia Child of Yoga

When someone asks me how long I have been doing yoga, I immediately go back to my 9-year-old self on my living room floor watching Lilias, Yoga & You.  Lilias Folan was my first yoga teacher, and many others through her PBS show starting in 1970.  Lilias came into your living room with her long black braid draped over her shoulder, and her leotard, popular in the day.  She spoke to you as you were having a private conversation with her.  She let you know that moving your body was all that mattered, and it wasn’t about how you looked, but how you felt.  It was so accepting; yoga found me, and I found yoga. Lilias was herself a young mother when she turned to yoga in the mid-60’s. Living in Connecticut with her husband and young sons, she had it all on the outside.  On the inside, she was not sleeping well, suffered back pain, was easily fatigued, and smoking a half a pack of cigarettes a day.  Part of the generation that may have turned to anti-depressants, she luckily found a doctor that prescribed exercise instead of pills. Lilias turned to yoga.

Some of her early teachers included T.K.V. Desikachar, B.K.S. Iyengar, and Angela Farmer. She gained wider knowledge of yoga under the Sivananada Yoga Masters Swami Vishnudevananda and Swami Satchidananda.  In Connecticut, she joined the ashram of the Divine Life Society led by Swami Chidananda.  When her husband’s job took her to Cincinnati, she taught yoga in a school cafeteria.  One of her students was the eye of the wife of a TV executive from the local PBS station.  And as they say, the rest is history. 

Her show went on for 30 years.  She developed her own approach to yoga, teaching to an audience she did not see, but who corresponded with her through letters.  She often shared these letters with her viewers on air.  For most of her viewers, she was the first anyone had seen of yoga.  Many misunderstood her at first, but her gentle and demystifying approach to yoga made it accessible and practical. She was determined to “make it for the young mother who doesn’t sleep well, for the athlete for flexibility-so that it would be Americanized and still keep its heart”.

Few have done for yoga what Lilias has done.  Her friend, and producer Jack Dominic, puts her in the company of Children’s TV host Fred Rogers and legendary newsman Walter Cronkite.  Dominic went on to produce her follow-up series, Lilias! Yoga Gets Better with Age during the 80’s and 90’s. Lilas was on the air for 30 years and 500 episodes. She has published 4 books and countless VHS tapes, which I personally watched.  She continued to teach in her local town through her 70’s.  Her message is summed up here in one of her quotes “Don’t omit - adapt, until you can softly smile while in a pose.  As you work your physical body, become aware of your witness self: that ever present inner friend.  You feel more and think less.  We eventually come to a still, quiet place that is still and quite joyful.”

As of this writing, Lilias can still be seen occasionally at wellness conferences.

Share your reflections below; your yoga journey is a story worth sharing!

Namaste,

Lesa