Aging Gracefully with Yoga
Interview with Janine Agoglia on the wisdom within the 8-limbs of yoga
What a fun few weeks it has been interviewing some inspiring women! This week is the final interview in this 3-part series. We started with the healing power of writing with Cheryl Cantafio, then explored the power of building community through book clubs and more with Stephanie Olenik, and this week we are digging into the ancient wisdom of yoga and how we can use it today to heal. I am thrilled to interview this thoughtful woman who runs the Purple Room Yoga IRL and writes Yoga Living 50 and Beyond here on Substack,
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I met Janine around the Substack Campfire and we quickly realized we had similar missions to help share our knowledge and wisdom with others to empower them to heal. I’m so grateful Janine was willing to share her thoughts with us in the Write to Heal community and I hope you find her insights as inspiring as I do!
Your Substack, Yoga Living 50 and Beyond, is all about aging gracefully with yoga and that's part of the intention behind my practice as well. I always say, I'm not practicing asana to do handstands, I'm practicing asana so I can pick up something I drop when I'm 80. Why is aging gracefully with yoga important to you?
I started practicing yoga when I was 23. Aging gracefully was the furthest thing from my mind at that time. Back then I was an actively practicing perfectionist and my competitive nature was in full force. If someone else was putting their foot behind their head, then so was I. I learned to balance on my head and my hands and do all sorts of nonsense with my body.
This kind of practice, however, comes with some consequences.
I injured myself a lot back then, but through each injury, I learned something about myself. I came to understand how my mind works, and what my body is capable of, both positively and negatively. Because of those learned lessons, I now have a practice that is more about the body that I have today. I still like to go upside down when I practice by myself, but for me, yoga has evolved into something I want to practice for the rest of my life.
Yoga brings me back to myself.
Aging gracefully, like you, means being able to stand up from the toilet unassisted when I’m 80. It means feeling confident in my balance when going up and down stairs. It means being able to reach my feet and put on my socks as I age.
My practice has become more functional and less “trick” oriented because I want to use my time on the mat wisely. I work to build strength, challenge my balance, and maintain my mobility for all of those reasons.
I want to feel comfortable in my body for years to come. To me, that is aging gracefully. I embrace my age, the crinkles by my eyes and mouth, the “wisdom sparkles” in my hair. I am not trying to defy the passage of time, but also do not let it take me down either.
I embrace the fact that I am 52, and when I am 62, 72, 82, and older, my goal is to accept what is and do the best I can with it. The more I maintain my strength, balance, and mobility now, the more I will have access to it in the future.
Beautifully said, Janine, and I agree with every word.
This topic means so much to me, I created a free guide called Over 50 Body/Mind Handbook made for anyone who wants to learn more about how to take care of the body and mind as we age.
I’m hearing you share many aspects of traditional yoga wisdom so for our readers who haven’t practiced yoga with this level of understanding, can you share more about how you incorporate the ancient wisdom of yoga into your work?
Yoga is so much more than poses on the mat. There are eight limbs of yoga, and the asana or physical postures on the mat make up just one of the eight limbs.
I am currently writing a book about the Yamas and Niyamas, the first two limbs of yoga. These include ten principles about how to live with more ease in your mind and heart. Practices such as:
Ahimsa/Non-Harming
Aparigraha/Non-Attachment
Santosha/Contentment
These, and more, are what I infuse into my online classes, courses, and retreats. I use them as the basis of pretty much everything I teach.
I spent so many years, decades, feeling shame for not being perfect, and being mean and critical to myself. When I was able to finally set down perfectionism about twelve years ago, I felt physically lighter and emotionally free from the anxiety that had plagued me my whole life. I want all of my students to know that freedom in their own bodies.
I can’t wait to read your upcoming book on this! I’m so glad to know people have you as a teacher because not all teachers teach from this perspective. Many start and end with teaching physical cues for the body making yoga a physical workout and nothing more. But I’ve learned, and it seems you teach, that yoga is more of a spiritual practice and a mental workout, alongside the physical stuff.
Many of my students are like me, Type A, and either active or recovering perfectionists, so the message of “try less” needs to be repeated over and over. My regular online classes are infused with messages such as “listen to your body” and “be kind and gentle with yourself.”
It’s a process, but hearing messages of kindness, gratitude, and ease helps.
Forcing a pose never helps, you want to find the balance between strength and ease. “Find more ease and less effort” is a typical phrase that I use in my classes, courses, and retreats.
So not just classes, you also host retreats, run courses, and provide mindfulness coaching. You have so much to offer! I was curious about your Intentional Eating 6-week series. Can you tell me more about that offering?
I have had a lifelong struggle with emotional eating and diet in general. Like many other people, especially women, we get bombarded by messages telling us “Don’t eat that,” or “Eat less.” These messages help you hate yourself and your body for not living up to some unreasonable standard that has nothing to do with being healthy.
My Intentional Eating Program uses the wisdom of yoga to help you understand this type of internalized messaging and the stories that you tell yourself about food. This is not a diet plan. It’s a mindset reset so that you feel less shame when it comes to food.
In this program, there are no “good foods” or “bad foods,” there is only how any particular food makes you feel. There are no one-size-fits-all humans, so there is no one “right” way to eat. I help you figure out what foods feel good in your body and help you go from there.
The idea is to help you eat on purpose, with intention.
If you’ve ever eaten a box of cookies or a pint of ice cream without actually tasting it, then you know what it’s like to eat emotionally. Shame keeps you stuck and isolated, and usually leads to more emotional eating.
I can relate to emotional eating! I just posted about it in Food to Soothe recently and talking openly about it helped me process it a bit.
The isolation, and the secrets related to food, like you said, keep that shame cycle going. This coaching series sounds like it allows people to be honest with themselves and make connections to their feelings around food to find healing.
Yes! My goal for anyone in this program is to help you be kinder to yourself, learn to self-regulate before you eat, and feel more confident with your ability to feed yourself foods that nourish and satisfy you, without feeling deprived. Mindset is everything.
No amount of food will feed that emotional hunger, and no amount of dieting will get you to where you want to be. If you use food to numb your feelings, like I did for decades, this program will help you shift out of that habit.
I offer strategies and skills to help you manage your eating so that you feel more in control and better in your skin.
When your mindset is right, you will choose foods that nourish your body and mind, supply you with energy, and help you let go of shame and regret. I want to empower you to have choice, confidence, and actual control by letting go of shame and embracing love and kindness toward yourself.
Okay, I’m convinced! I need to join that group. Traditional yoga has helped me heal in many other aspects of my life, it’s time I try to use those concepts with my eating. Yoga practices, alongside writing and vulnerable sharing in community, are my go-to healing tools. What are the tools you find helpful for your healing?
Asana (poses on the mat), meditation, and journaling are my go-to’s.
Practicing poses helps me get into my body and out of my head. For years, I numbed myself with “busy” so I didn’t have to feel my feelings. Asana and meditation force me not only to slow down but to truly stop and pay attention to my feelings, including the not-so-fun feelings. I’ve learned that I would much rather feel sad, angry, or scared than feel nothing because we can’t selectively numb. Numbing away the bad stuff also numbs the good stuff, like joy and love.
Disconnection and dissociation were common in my childhood; feeling connected to my mind and body now feels so much better and showcases how far I’ve come in my healing journey.
Once I stop to feel my feelings, journaling helps me process those emotions so that I can understand myself better. Feelings are always true, but the stories behind them usually aren’t.
Understanding my stories has helped me understand myself better, and learn that I am not a burden, that I am worthy of love and belonging, and that I have something of value to share with the world.
It’s been a journey, but journaling has been an important tool to help me get there. That and lots of ugly crying!
I can relate to that too - we have so much in common, Janine! Writing helps me understand myself and it is what helps me feel comfortable sharing my experiences with others. It’s as if the writing creates space between me and the feelings so I can open up more easily.
For sure, connecting with others in community is another key strategy for my healing and another part of what I offer in the Purple Room Yoga.
In the fall, I am starting a monthly program called Sangha Sundays. We’ll be discussing topics related to practicing yoga off the mat, and integrating yoga into our daily lives, beyond practicing poses.
My goal is to cultivate a safe space for sharing, asking questions, and learning from each other. There is power in having a like-minded community. Feeling a sense of safety and belonging settles the nervous system, and lets you feel seen and heard. Connection, truth-telling, journaling, and sharing, are what I hope to cultivate with this monthly program.
Community is crucial. That sounds amazing, Janine. Your Sangha sounds like the Satsangs I run. We are on such similar paths and I am so glad I met you here on Substack! There is magic in connecting with others. How can my subscribers find you and connect with you?
I offer a free Yoga Journey Consultation to help people get started on their yoga journey, as a beginner or someone who has practiced for years. I offer group classes, private sessions, online courses, retreats, community groups, and more. Check out my website or reach out by email to set up a free Zoom session.
Readers get a 10-Day All Access Free Trial to all of the live and on-demand classes at Purple Room Yoga ~
Follow The Purple Room Yoga on Facebook, sign up for the retreat list to stay up to date on all future retreats, and sign up for the weekly newsletter to learn about upcoming classes and more - including Sangha Sundays, a community to explore yoga off the mat.
There are so many amazing opportunities to get involved and learn alongside Janine. You can also subscribe to Janine’s Substack below - you won’t regret it!
Thank you, Janine, for sharing your wisdom about the healing power of yoga.
Journal Prompts:
Have you ever met someone and discovered similarities in life stories and commonalities in core understandings that made you feel a deep sense of connection - like how I felt when meeting Janine? Write about those people in your life, how you met them, and what ties you together.
What is your experience with yoga? How familiar are you with the 8-limbs of yoga? Write about your understanding, then check out Janine’s website to learn more, and then write about some new things you learned. What limbs are you interested in learning more about?
What are the changes you are experiencing within your body, mind, and spirit as you age? Thinking of your next “big” birthday (or your most recent one), how are you feeling as you make your way to that age? What are the goals you have for the way you hope to feel - in your mind, body, and soul - by the time you hit your next birthday?
Thank you for reading Write to Heal. Please hit that heart button❤️if you made it this far. I’d love to hear your thoughts about yoga, spiritual practices, and understanding ourselves as we age.
Write to Heal will always be free. If you’d like to donate to the cause, feel free to buy me a chai! Your support is much appreciated.
Fragile Thoughts: A Healing Memoir is available anywhere books are sold.
This article is quite relevant and timely in my world. I am a swimmer, love me a pool! Last week I decided to try yoga and sadly we did not jive :(. The instructor explained to me that as we "Mature" we loose our balance. After holding myself back from hitting him in the shin I realized, if this is true I must do something about it. He also explained that while I was flexible [ amen for that ] I needed to concentrate on my core. This is goal for the next few months and then, I take on this Yoga Challenge. Great article. Thanks @Katie Bean:)
Great interview!