competitive yoga

parking rules are in effect today citywide. mary, over to you. jill, thanks. nearly 36 million people tried yoga last year alone. many say it kick starts their day and is fitness magic. since i've never taken a class,

i thought i'd give it a try, but not with just any instructor. stretch, and back to center. reporter: for my first yoga class, i wanted an instructor who had flexibility. bring your knees right up towards your chest.

reporter: endurance. i'm exhausted already. and years of experience. i was born august 13th, 1918. reporter: tau poreshan lynch is 97. she holds the guinness book world record for oldest yoga

what does she think about that? i hadn't realized i was so old. reporter: for her -- stretch. reporter: there is no such thing as can't. ♪ ♪ reporter: and she's living

it. at age 90 she began competitive ball room dancing and wrote an award-winning book. this is going to be the best day of my life. never put anything negative in my mind, so i start off by smiling at life.

reporter: for her students -- press down. reporter: her near century of insight is inspiring. when she started yoga, girls didn't do yoga in 1926, and so it's unusual to have a female master at her level.

i'm trying to keep up with her. it's not easy. reporter: age has not minimized her flexibility or her memories. i marched when i was 12-year- olds, joined the war with the general and i helped people escape from the germans.

reporter: years later she marched with martin luther king, jr. at the washington monument, an as a model, she spent time with hollywood's elite. mar lien dietrich, we were very good friends. push it right up to the

ceiling. reporter: her secret to such a long life? you just take the breath of life inside of you and feel the joy of living and like in the tree, the sap flows throughout your body and nothing is impossible.

reporter: easier said than done for me. how long do i hole this for? her energy and -- how long do i hold this for? her energy are unsurpassed as well as her motivational words. don't put it off until tomorrow.

tomorrow never comes. reporter: so there went my first yoga class with an instructor for the ages. she's done so much and she's not done yet. she teaches eight yoga classes a week wow!

in westchester. you just walk in and take one. and guess what, she's headed to france next week to compete in a world ball room dancing competition. incredible. i'll tell you, even if you were not a yoga fan, just to sit in

the room an hear her stories. she is a walking history book. just to be with her an talk with her and she had -- and talk with her, and she had so much to say. just a joy. are you hooked now? i was terrible.

you notice where i put myself in that class? the back row.