We’re so excited about the 19th annual National Women’s Health Week (May 13-19) and the millions of women who take steps to improve their health!

Sometimes all we need is a bit of inspiration to get started – or keep going – on a healthy path.

Find your health hero.

We encourage you to find a role model that inspires you to be your best self.   We want to share 3 of our favorite heroines who inspire us to integrate healthy habits into daily life.

(1) Tao Porchon-Lynch, World’s Oldest Yoga Instructor (99 years-old) 

Tao Porchon-Lynch is a yoga-master and award winning author.   Tao teaches six to eight classes a week in New York, and leads programs across the globe.  She is the author of two books, including her award-winning autobiography Dancing Light: The Spiritual Side of Being Through the Eyes of a Modern Yoga Master.

Tao Porchon-Lynch sits as a reminder that you are never too old to practice health.  Or to learn something new. Tao herself started learning ballroom dancing when she was 87-years old.  

(2) Ernestine Shepherd, World’s Fittest Grandma (82 years-old)

Ernestine is having the time of her life as the World’s Oldest Performing Female BodyBuilder (Guinness World Records).  But it hasn’t always been this way. At 56-years-old, Ernestine suddenly lost her sister, Velvet, who died of a brain aneurysm.  This was shortly after they have both joined a gym and started working out together. In processing the loss of her sister, Ernestine dedicated herself to continue the healthy path she and her sister had started.

Slowly but surely, Ernestine transformed, not just her body, but her life.   She’s up at 4 A.M. to make time for 10-mile runs.   She strength trains four or more days a week. At age 71, she started to train to compete as a bodybuilder.  Seven months later, she entered her first bodybuilding competition.  The rest is history.  Today, she is an embodiment of her mantra “Determined — Dedicated — Disciplined To Be Fit” serving as an inspiration to both women and men around the world. 

(3) Diana Nyad, first person to swim from Cuba to Florida (68 years-old)

On September 2, 2013, at the age of sixty-four, Diana Nyad became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark cage, swimming 111 miles in fifty-three hours from Havana to Key West.   Throughout her book, Find a Way, Diana promotes three poignant messages:

1. Never, ever give up.
2. You’re never too old to chase your dreams.
3. It looks like a solitary sport, but it’s a Team.

Diana named her book after her personal mantra: find a way.

Diana also regularly shares her experience and inspiring perspective on her blog and through guest post on new sites like The Huffington Post.

You’re one too.  

Did you know that you are the hero of your own story? Deepen your commitment. Find your motivation. Be the creator of your own life.

One of the best ways inspire yourself and others is through a vibrant, long term relationship with health.  This feature provides you with some role models. Now it’s your turn.

To gauge your health knowledge, take the National Women’s Health Week Quiz.  Each question provides insight into an aspect of health, making it easy to find ways you can adjust your lifestyle to improve health.

To become socially active in Women’s Health Week, take part in any one of their wonderful social campaigns, including the #WhatIWishIdKnown conversation. To deepen your passion and accelerate your transformation, join us for an upcoming retreat at Skylonda Lodge.