An Unlikely Later-In-Life Career, Or The Perfect One? By Louise Applebome

By Louise Applebome

It was twenty years ago that I stepped outside the conventional box of security, comfort, routine, and the familiar, and into the realm of the unknown.

My employer at the time was looking to reduce its “force” (RIF) and was offering early retirement packages to volunteers who stepped forward.

My hand shot up. Twenty-two good years there was enough. 

I knew I was ready for a change, but I had no inkling as to what the next phase of my life might look like. All I had known for the prior thirty years was the grind of a full-time job.

I also knew that I would have short-term financial stability based on the fairly generous buyout from my company, and figured I’d have the luxury of taking some time to explore my options.

Also at that time, two decades ago, I had fallen in love with yoga. I’m sure it had been on my radar at various times earlier in my life, but it never stuck. That latest foray into the art, beauty, and science of yoga gave me an outlet for moving and stretching that I’d eschewed since I was twenty years old. 

Now I was 52. 

Being immersed in yoga brought me back to my adolescent years as a dancer. It reminded me that ballet and later modern dance had nourished and sustained me during my teen years and early twenties. 

Dance was a source of pleasure.

It was responsible for my survival during tumultuous personal times.

It was something at which I was gifted (although my fragile self-image back then prevented me from celebrating and exploiting my talent). 

My self-doubts steered me to give up on a career in dance and to go into the more traditional business world. 

I jilted my passion. 

And I came to realize, after a thirty-year detour through a maze of various careers and professions, that it was essential to get back to an ongoing mind/body practice. 

Yoga filled that niche.

And although the efficacy of an ongoing yoga practice has nothing to do with inherited gifts or talent, being reminded of the outcome, and the revival of all I had gained from my early years of dance training, was a buoy for me. I can’t deny that it gave me confidence to explore the potential and possibilities. I was seduced.   

And it just so happened that as I left the workplace in 2006, the yoga studio where I practiced announced its inaugural teacher-training course. It was to meet evenings and weekends. It was to be time-consuming and labor-intensive, but suddenly the coast was clear for me to tackle a new and challenging project. I had no intention of becoming a yoga teacher, but I relished the opportunity of increasing my hours of practice and of gaining new knowledge. And I received invitations and encouragement from the teachers who were to be leading the course. 

Plus, as the training progressed, I received validation and confirmation that I could and should, indeed, become a yoga teacher. I stuck with the classes and earned my 200-hour teaching certification credentials. It seemed quite whacky for a fifty-something-year-old woman to launch a career as a yoga teacher. The paradigm was more of a young, fit instructor. So I remained reticent.

But what I learned was that my “maturity,” business and marketing experience, and savvy worked to my advantage. People of all ages trusted me. I even filled a certain maternal role for some because I was dedicated to being a caring and compassionate guide. And of course, the more one teaches, the more accomplished they become. So I dove in, taught anywhere and everywhere they would have me to find my footing (no pun intended). And here it is, twenty years hence, that the final chapter in my chronology of careers and professions has been recorded. I don’t suspect I’ll develop new certifications, skills, and/or licenses in another field. 

But the addition of yoga and meditation to my life at the already-ripe old age of 50-something was about much more than making a living. It’s about so much more than a job or work. The focus on cultivating a spiritual practice and entering into the world of Zen or The Tao is supreme. The ascension into a space that is form-less and unknowable opens the heart and mind to harmony, flow, and the unexpected. 

Words don’t really suffice.

The expansiveness of the infinite and the eternal opens up whole new worlds and possibilities. The absorptive, inward-focused aspect of yoga has surely changed my life, along with the countless and essential physical benefits. 

And as much as the movement, stretching, and asana practices were the biggest draw for me when I got serious about yoga twenty years ago, I’ve come to learn that they go hand-in-glove with the meditative (pratyahara)  and spiritual endeavors. 

Plus, at age seventy-two, I can still teach and still practice. And the practice will continue to morph and to adapt and to cede to my capabilities, range of motion, strength, flexibility, etc., etc. 

From the tips of the fingers, down to the tips of the toes, out through the crown of the head, and along the front, back, and side bodies, a smart, conscious yogic approach can stimulate it all. 

The brain also gets invigorated, and it gets to enjoy much-needed rest. 

Plus, the blood, and breath, and lymphatic fluids are coaxed to flow freely so that every cell and molecule is fortified. Nerves, organs, muscles, connective tissue, ligaments, tendons, cartilage, bones, and the spine are all recipients of the healing powers of yoga … and more…at all ages and all levels. 

Twenty years ago, my life might have gone in any number of directions. I figured I’d either launch my own marketing and public relations company back then, when it was time to start earning money again, or perhaps I might have worked for a large PR agency. 

Project management was my area of expertise. Instead, the universe led me to just where I needed to be for all the right reasons. And I often send “thanks” to the transcendent, unknowable, un-nameable eternal cosmic expanse amid which all sentient beings live.

In yoga, it is said that each pose has 10,000 edges to explore. 

So much possibility. So much to consider and to be open to. 

Untold sensory echoes and kinesthetic reverberations.

Grounded on the earth and soaring into spaciousness at once. 

So many surprises and serendipity. 

It can probably be said that life is like that, too. 

Namasté

Louise Applebome, 72, is a Certified Yoga Instructor in Dallas. After “retiring” from a vibrant and varied professional career, she became a yoga teacher. She teaches all her classes on Zoom right now and accepts students, young or older, from wherever they are, both geographically and in their pursuit of a yoga practice. Louise will help you stay fit and flexible, and release tension, aches & pains from the body…and the mind. Her yoga studio in Dallas is del norte yoga. You can reach out to her at [email protected].