The Class That Taught Me What 65 Really Means
A birthday wish, a room full of teachers, and the sequence that moved us all
I have taught thousands of classes in my life. But I will remember this one for the rest of it.
For my 65th birthday, I did not want a party. I wanted a practice. So I asked my community to come celebrate with me the way we know best, on our mats, breathing together. I called it my Yoga Wish Class, and the theme I chose was longevity.
What showed up that day was more beautiful than anything I could have planned.
A Room Full of Every Season of Life
We had a student who is ninety seven years young. She took her very first class with me when she was the age I am turning now, sixty five. More than three decades later, she is still choosing to show up, still choosing to breathe.
We had a triple gold Olympic medalist in swimming, working her way back from injury with more patience and humility than most world class athletes ever have to learn.
We had a college student who studies with me in my advanced yoga philosophy courses, proving that wisdom and youth are not opposites. They are dance partners.
And we had first time students beside longtime students, every body different, every story different, every one of them belonging exactly where they were.
The QL LSD Series
Because it was my birthday, I got to teach the sequence I have been asked about more than almost anything else. My QL LSD series.
QL stands for the quadratus lumborum, that deep, often forgotten muscle running along your low back that quietly holds so much of our stress, our posture, and our unspoken tension. LSD is my nickname for what this sequence does. It loosens, stretches, and decompresses the QL through a slow, spiraling series of movements that free the low back, the neck, and the shoulders all at once.
I will be honest with you. It is a little trippy. When you finally release a muscle that has been gripping for years, prana has a way of moving through you in ways that feel almost otherworldly. We are inviting energy to travel more freely through the sushumna nadi, the central channel that runs along the spine.
What This Birthday Taught Me
I have spent sixty five years learning that we do not get to choose most of what life hands us. Injuries happen. Bodies change. Seasons shift. What we do get to choose is how we meet all of it.
That ninety seven year old woman chose to keep coming back. That athlete chose patience over frustration. That young student chose to study wisdom before she was told she needed it. And every person who walked onto their mat for the very first time that day chose courage.
None of them are waiting to be ready. They are simply showing up, again and again. That, to me, is the real secret to a long, vital, joyful life.
What This Birthday Taught Me
You do not have to be ninety seven or an Olympian or brand new or a decade into your practice for this to be your moment. You just have to be willing to breathe.
Find five minutes today to sit quietly and notice your breath moving along your spine. Ask your low back what it has been holding. Then, when you are ready, come practice this series with me.
Come Celebrate Longevity With Me
With love and breath, Stacy
Eat • Move • Think.
My three pillars of sustainable wellness and resilient movement.
