''Lilias, Yoga and You'' (later shortened to ''Lilias!'') is a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

television show hosted by Lilias Folan, a

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

-based practitioner of

yoga as exercise Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of asana, postures, often connected by vinyasa, flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by pranayama, breathing exercises, and frequently ending with savasana, relaxation lying down or ...

. The show first aired on October 5, 1970 on Cincinnati

member station WCET and three years later was carried on PBS across the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, where it ran until 1999.

Yoga presenter

Lilias Folan (born 1936) began to practice

in 1964, and was soon teaching at the YWCA in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, outside of New York City. It is the sixth-most populous city in New England. Stamford is also the largest city in the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Weste ...

. She studied

asana An āsana (Sanskrit: आसन) is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and late ...

s under the yoga masters

T. K. V. Desikachar Tirumalai Krishnamacharya Venkata Desikachar (21 June 1938 – 8 August 2016), better known as T. K. V. Desikachar, was a yoga teacher, son of the pioneer of modern yoga as exercise, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. The style that he taught was initi ...

B. K. S. Iyengar Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (14 December 1918 – 20 August 2014) was an Indian teacher of yoga and author. He is the founder of the style of yoga as exercise, known as " Iyengar Yoga", and was considered one of the foremost yoga ...

, and

Angela Farmer Angela Farmer (born c. 1939) is a teacher of modern yoga as exercise. She uses a post-lineage yoga, non-lineage style that emphasizes the feminine, free-flowing aspect. She is known also as the creator of the first yoga mat. Farmer was trained by ...

, and gained wider knowledge of

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

under the Sivananda Yoga masters

Swami Vishnudevananda Vishnudevananda Saraswati (31 December 1927 – 9 November 1993, birth name Kuttan Nair) was an Indian yoga guru known for his teaching of asanas, a disciple of Sivananda Saraswati, and founder of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centr ...

and

Swami Satchidananda Satchidananda Saraswati (; 22 December 1914 – 19 August 2002), born C. K. Ramaswamy Gounder and known as Swami Satchidananda, was an Indian yoga guru and religious teacher, who gained following in the West. He founded his own brand of Integra ...

. She joined the Connecticut

ashram An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< Divine Life Society The Divine Life Society (DLS) is a Hinduism, Hindu spiritual organization and an ashram, founded by Swami Sivananda Saraswati in 1936, at Muni Ki Reti, Rishikesh, India. The Society has branches around the world, with its headquarters in Rishi ...

led by

Swami Chidananda Chidananda Saraswati (24 September 1916 – 28 August 2008) was president of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh, India. He is well known in India as a yogi and spiritual leader. He succeeded as president of the Divine Life Society in 1963, af ...

. In the 1980s she met

Swami Muktananda Muktananda (16 May 1908 – 2 October 1982), born Krishna Rai, was a yoga guru and the founder of Siddha Yoga. He was a disciple of Bhagavan Nityananda. He wrote books on the subjects of Kundalini Shakti, Vedanta, and Kashmir Shaivism, ...

, creator of

Siddha Yoga Siddha Yoga is a spiritual path founded by Swami Muktananda (1908–1982). According to its literature, the Siddha Yoga tradition is "based mainly on eastern philosophies" and "draws many of its teachings from the Indian yogic texts of Vedanta a ...

, who told her to teach

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

. Through her show she became known to Americans as the "First Lady of Yoga". She is married with two sons and seven grandchildren.

''Lilias! Yoga Gets Better With Age''

WCET premiered ''Lilias! Yoga Gets Better With Age'' in March 2006, highlighting Folan's career and exploring the impact yoga has on the mind, body and spirit.Lilias! page
CETconnect.org; accessed July 26, 2017.

Books and other media

Folan has published four books: ''Lilias, Yoga and You'' (1972), ''Lilias, Yoga and Your Life'' (1981), ''Lilias! Yoga Gets Better With Age'' (2005), and ''Lilias! Yoga: Your Guide to Enhancing Body, Mind, and Spirit in Midlife and Beyond'' (November 1, 2011) Several VHS and DVD recordings of her yoga routines have been released, plus an audio-only book, ''Lilias Yoga Complete'' (1987), and one meditation CD, ''The Inner Smile'' (1998).

Music

The music playing during the show's opening credits was "The Valley of the Bells" from

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

's ''

Miroirs file:Ravel Pierre Petit.jpg, upRavel in 1907 ''Miroirs'' (, ) is a five-movement suite (music), suite for solo piano written by French composer Maurice Ravel between 1904 and 1905."Miroirs". Maurice Ravel Frontispice. First performed by Ricardo V ...

''.

Commentary

References

Sources

* *

External links

*
LILIAS FOLAN: First Lady of Yoga Cincinnati Fifty Plus! August 2003 By Kirstin Taylor
* {{Modern Yoginis Yoga mass media Exercise television shows PBS original programming 1972 American television series debuts 1999 American television series endings Mass media in Cincinnati 1980s American television series