Anita Duvall is 83. She doesn’t want to curl up and go away. She wants to be the best she can.
“I love this hypothesis that the reason we lose height is because we lose the strength to hold ourselves up," she said at the Towanda Library. "Well, let's hold ourselves up. Let's keep that height.”
Duvall discovered yoga in the 1980s in Africa. Since then, she has taken the practice with her wherever she goes. A teacher by trade, Duvall helped create a yoga community around Towanda in Bradford County.
She was an elementary school teacher for 50 years. Duvall and her husband, Andrew, have taught all over the world.
"When it was coming close to the end, I was thinking 'hmm, what else is there?'," she said. "And I'd been doing yoga. So I pursued that.”
She got her yoga teacher certification in her 60s, then studied yoga in India along the Ganges River.
“Our bodies need yoga," she said. "We need to be moving and it's just a good way to age gracefully.”
Her husband’s roots brought them back to Bradford County after years of global trotting and teaching.
Throughout the more than 20 years yoga has been in the Towanda community, they’ve held classes in athletic buildings, churches and even on the floor of Mary Beth Voda’s classroom at Wyalusing High School.
They practiced in dance studies and the cafeteria in a middle school.
"The worst one was in the wrestling room," said Duvall. "Because the mats are so thick. It was very difficult to do yoga.”
Voda has been doing yoga for 40 years, most of that time has been with Anita.
"I can't imagine living without doing yoga," she said.
Voda was hospitalized about a year and a half ago. The hospital staff called her the yoga lady. She practiced breathing or Pranayama — it’s one of the eight limbs of yoga.
"People have said to me, ever since then, or at various times after my illness, that yoga is what got me better," said Voda.
Duvall said most people are interested in the movement aspect of the practice.
"And that was attractive to me in the beginning. But your breathing is just so amazing," she said.
She teaches Hatha Yoga three to four times a week at an Ashram in Towanda.
"That means we just take our time, we're not in a rush," she said.
Duvall said yoga is a supportive community.
"We are very supportive of one another. You always feel comfortable," she said. "You don't pay attention to anybody else when you're practicing. But the reason for coming together is just the positive energy and just breathing with other people. It's just a wonderful experience, it enriches anyone."
