Patricia Gottlieb Shapiro

I think the key to staying positive amid so many losses is to cultivate gratitude. Maybe you can’t dance like you used to, but what can you do? Could you teach dancing to pass on your many years of experience?  Or could you offer a class for older women that modifies some of the positions and moves but would still allow them to feel like they’re dancing? 

I teach yoga classes for women at midlife and beyond and they’re very different from classes that I’d teach for younger women. The older women love being in a class with their contemporaries where they all understand that everybody has “something” as they age, whether they’re overweight, a breast cancer survivor or have arthritis. They accept each other as they are. If they’re tired, they rest. If they confuse their right arm with their left, they laugh. They are simply thrilled to have an opportunity to move and stretch and breathe together.

Once you figure out what you have to offer, and I know you’ll find many ways to contribute, then I hope that you’ll celebrate the fact that you have so much wisdom to share at this stage of your life.