Sara, 90, still bends it like a youngster
Yoga teacher Sara Wykes is as supple as a favourite pair of slippers and at 90 years of age, that's no idle boast.
Yoga teacher Sara Wykes is as supple as a favourite pair of slippers and at 90 years of age, that's no idle boast.
A dodgy knee prevents her from getting into the lotus position these days but otherwise, the remarkable great-great-grandmother from Wolverhampton can master most yoga challenges. Around 50 students attend her Monday night classes at St Michael's Church hall in Penn, one of the biggest yoga groups in the region. It could be a nice little earner, except that Sara gives all her fees – about £2,500 a year – to charitable causes.
Her yoga skills are so revered that staff at the MS Therapy Centre in Newbridge, which treats Multiple Sclerosis sufferers, refer patients to her.
For Sara, that is better than any financial reward. "I have a lovely Asian lady with MS who comes to me and I'll never forget her daughter telling me after a class 'Mummy isn't dropping cups any more'," she said.
"That was so wonderful to hear, that I'm doing things for them that, dare I say it, the doctors or medication can't do."
Sara came to the city from her native Ireland as a 17-year-old to train as a nurse at Wolverhampton Women's Hospital, then in Park Road West.
Marriage and motherhood prevented her from taking up yoga until she was in her 50s but the attraction was instant.
"I didn't even know what yoga was when I went along with a friend to a class but I was immediately hooked," said Sara.
She started teaching yoga 18 months later when her church, St Michael's in Coalway Road, needed to raise money for a particular project.
That was 32 years ago and she has never looked back.
"It keeps people fit and looking good and it raises lots of money for charity – it's wonderful," she said.
Sara still drives a car after doctors "confiscated" her motorcycle and enjoys a bottle of beer most days.
Yoga has not only given her the energy of a woman half her age, she says it has also helped her to cope with personal tragedy, including the death of her youngest son, at 51, from a heart attack and her own treatment for cancer.