Yoga teacher Ella Russell has taught thousands of students in a career spanning five decades, and the 76-year-old says she has no plans to hang up her mat just yet.
The Pictou County, N.S. woman started practising yoga as a teenager in Great Britain and kept it up when she and her family moved to Canada in 1969.
“Oh, it was just how I felt afterwards, you know, and after I had my children and I had gained some weight, I started practising on a regular basis, and it didn’t do much for weight, but it certainly made me feel better,” says Russell.
Shortly after settling in Canada, a new friend asked Russell if she could teach her some yoga movements. She agreed, and the small favour would launch her long career of yoga instruction.
“Long story short, it was supposed to be in her dining room, but by the time I got there, we had it at the church hall, and we had about 20 or 25 people in it.”
Russell has maintained her national and provincial certifications over the years and now holds 12 classes a week in a church basement in New Glasgow, N.S.
Her students say she’s very attentive, always checking on them to ensure they’re doing the movements correctly.
“We don’t end up in positions that we shouldn’t be in because she knows our limitations, each and every one of us,” says student Florence Higgins. “There are people here that have knee problems, neck problems, carpal tunnel issues, bad neck issues and things, and she just knows what’s wrong and she knows how to accommodate for that.”
“Sometimes we’re groaning and complaining when it’s something that we don’t like to do, like a sit-up, and Ella usually says, ‘If you want sympathy, look under S in the dictionary,’” says student Audrey MacLaughlin.
Russell also holds a smaller class four days a week at the Northern Pulp mill in nearby Abercrombie, N.S. It’s a lunchtime break for whoever wants to take part, and participants say it helps them deal with office tension and stress.
“To see her at the age that she is, and what she offers to us here at the Northern and the community … there’s no words,” says mill employee Kathy Cloutier. “She’s just so, so impressive and a spectacular woman to be around.”
Russell says she wouldn’t change a thing about her life and she will only stop doing yoga when her body tells her it’s time.
“It’s who I am, it’s what I do. It’s my recreation. It’s my socialization,” she says. “I don’t feel old, and I’m not old. I’m not old in my head.”
With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh