Photos by Leah Runyon
GLORIOUS PROFESSION: Visionary. Teacher. Healer.
GLORIOUS PERSONA: A Revolutionary Glorious Broad
GLORIOUS QUALITIES: Ferocious, Funny, Sexy, Irreverent, Rebel
GLORIOUS PHILOSOPHY:
“The bottom line is — if you’re stupid in your body — you can be smart as you want in your mind — but if you are stupid in your body and just can’t be bothered with it — you’re pretty stupid. ”
GB: Though Yamuna and I had not actually met, our paths crossed plenty in that New York City way. I’d pass her studio on Perry Street after getting my body fairly plummeted at my local gym. Yeah, I was a gym rat — but I’d think — I gotta visit this place and get worked out and stretched by that goddess.
Well, I blew that opportunity. Yamuna moved on and is spreading her gospel globally: body sustainability. I now know I was the prototype for one of her dumb baby boomers — killing myself daily the way I did at age 30 — not listening to my aching bones …
I date these women. I see what they are like and if, in fact, they meet with my criteria of “Glorious.” Yamuna blew me away. Yes, she’s a unique beauty — but it was the carriage, the way she held herself that differentiated her from the rest of the schleps on the street — including me. We were “instant” girlfriends as she explained her body revolution in her funny, irreverent, kick ass way at her spectacular west village apartment…a Revolutionary Glorious Broad…
THE GLORIOUS BODY AND THE REVOLUTIONARY: 10 questions
DID YOU DREAM AT 20 THAT YOU WOULD BE THE WOMAN YOU ARE TODAY?
I dreamed it at 11. I used to say to my father: “I don’t know what it is yet — but I’m gonna do something radical for the world. And I’ll be doing this at 80. I’ll be going “oh yeah, so when you are 80, these are the things that happen in the body — these are the things you need to watch out for.”
CAN AN AGING BODY BE A WISER BODY — EVEN A GLORIOUS BODY?
Hell YEAH. It has to be. Otherwise it’s no fun. The bottom line is — if you’re stupid in your body — you can be smart as you want in your mind — but if you are stupid in your body and just can’t be bothered with it — you’re pretty stupid. The body needs more care every decade you get over 50. And you have to ignore the self-medicated society we live in…
PREACH...
We have drugs for menopause. Drugs for thyroids, cholesterol, blood pressure … you name it. We’re a medicated culture. Take control of your own body
“Women keep secrets ... like ... we don’t talk enough about perimenopause or menopause. It’s a bitch! Women should be preparing for menopause when they turn 40.”
SO TELL ME YOUR PHILOSOPHY IN A NUTSHELL
Your body speaks to you. Your hip, your knee, your hands, your shoulder, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. I call myself “the intelligent, alternative, knowledgeable” source to body sustainability. I can tell you that I can be wrong about almost anything in life — but not when it comes to the structure of the body — that’s where my expertise is. Body logic — hands on work.
BODY LOGIC? MORE PLEASE …
When my daughter was born, I was injured and had destabilized my left hip. It was impossible to find adequate treatment so I experimented with yoga to heal myself. I thought of my body as a laboratory — using practical knowledge once you understand the anatomy. I perfected that first body of work and began to teach it. That built my reputation. And then I moved to Spain and there was nobody giving me a body logic session. I bought a cheap little ball and started giving myself sessions so the ball and my body weight against the wall became my hands. I went wild. I did this for months and then realized — this is the birth of a new work. We’re gonna teach people how to be able to literally work on every part of their body and be able to problem solve, self-heal and maintain. This will be revolutionary. So…that’s how it started…
WHO ARE YOUR MENTORS…YOUR HEROINES WHO INSPIRED THIS PASSION?
If I look at the women in my life, Edith Harper was a huge influence. Older, wiser, a life therapist I had the good fortune to meet and be nurtured by. Her motto was: “Get wise sooner.” And Therese Bertherat who wrote “The Body Has Its Reasons” in France. She was the first one who revolutionized “soft gym” – you don’t have to kill yourself.
BUT HOW DO YOU GET YOUR MESSAGE “TO THE PEOPLE”? YOU HAVE SEMINARS IN FABULOUS EXOTIC PLACES ALL OVER THE WORLD BUT … ARE YOU AN ELITIST?
No! I do a daily blog! I have 5,000 followers and give practical stuff they can really do. Try this, how about this — but I always do it first. And this is on my Facebook page each day. Free!
DO YOU HAVE A MESSAGE FOR YOUNGER WOMEN — HOW TO KEEP THEIR BODIES HEALTHY THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES?
Oh yeah! Do not listen to what the fitness world has ever told you — because it’s wrong. You can't work out at 50 like you did when you were 30, having a 22-year old hulk beating up your body. It's a moronic thought. There are more joint replacements than ever before and aging without your own body parts fully intact is not the best choice for aging gracefully. And start thinking out of the box. You don’t have to kill yourself.
YOU'RE GIVIN’ OUT SEXINESS — DID THAT JUST GET BETTER WITH THE YEARS?
I walk into a room now and feel sexier, fitter and totally in touch with what I own — so different from my younger self. The last thing I want is my body at 30 because, you know what, my body is smarter today. I never thought about how I walked down the street and use my feet, my knees and my hips when I was 30. I do it today. Because I am connected to it. I feel like we need to be examples. We can’t tell people: Wake up, be smarter, younger if WE don’t. You can’t talk it and not live it.
YOU'VE COMPLETELY REVOLUTIONIZED HOW WE FEEL ABOUT LONGEVITY – BUT HOW ABOUT YOU? YOU WANT TO HIT 100 YEARS OLD? DO YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT THE INEVITABLE END?
Oh yeah – I can’t wait! I am so bored by people who want to live to 100. That’s a gross out. I’ve lived a super full life already. I could die now. There’s enough of what I have created to keep going for generations. So I don’t want to live to 100. BORING.
This Glorious Broad is a powerhouse. Check her out her daily tutorial on www.facebook.com/YamunaBody.