96-year-old Ida Herbert makes the record books as world’s oldest yoga instructor

It's been suggested that yoga keeps you young, and Ida Herbert is pretty much the living embodiment of that statement.

The 96-year-old recently made this year's Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most senior yoga instructor ("oldest" just doesn't seem like the right descriptor in this case).

The irrepressible Herbert has been perfecting her sun salutations since the 1960s, or roughly three decades before yoga became the exercise of choice for the latte set.

"I don't think I talked about it to anyone. If I did, I would just say 'I'm going to the health club,'" she told the Canadian Press of her early days.

She's been a certified yoga instructor for the last 20 years, where she continues to teach at studios around Orillia, Ontario.

Herbert credits the practice with her extraordinary health and youthful appearance. She still wakes up at 5:30 each morning to start her day with a few good sequences.

"That's what yoga can do for you," she told the Toronto Star. "Your limbs are working but your inside is very peaceful and quiet. It quieted my mind, my body, my senses, my emotions. I realized this one day when I was touching my toes."

Extraordinary achievement aside, the image of Herbert, just four years shy of a century, grabbing her toes in mid-air, is a far more inspirational fitness motivator than any poster involving bikinis, oily muscles or flexed biceps.

There's just one thing she refuses to do.

"I love all the poses, but have never done headstands. And never will," she quipped.

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