New Delhi: If you’re a power yoga enthusiast or a hot yoga buff with the ability to pull off 100 surya namaskaras (sun salutations) in one go, India’s oldest yoga teacher V. Nanammal wants you to know you’re doing it all wrong.

V Nanammal is the 99-year-old yoga expert from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, believes that, in its true form, yoga isn’t about rigorous activity or getting all sweaty and breathless; it’s about peace and relaxation, and this is what she’s been practicing every day for nearly a century.

Despite her age, Nanammal can effortlessly curl into any yoga asana you name and for this ability she earned many awards. To this day, she’s never stepped into a hospital and seems healthier for all their dieting and exercise. She’s now become a celebrity in the yoga, and wellness world and videos of her performing complicated aasanas have gone viral, attracting millions of views.

When it comes to yoga, Nanammal and her family, which includes her children, grandchildren, and even great-grand children, follow the traditions passed on from generation to generation. At the Ozone Yoga centre in Coimbatore, which they established in 1972, they teach their traditional style of yoga, which focuses on pranayama (breath control).

Her lifestyle is so similar to us like breakfast, green and rice for lunch and milk and fruits for dinner. She also asks her student to avoid meat, cigarettes and alcohol. Nanammal has five children, 12 grand children and 11 great grand children. She is a silambattam expert too.

Her objective is to create awareness among women, mainly girl students, about yoga techniques by going to various educational institutions to solve several health-related problems and she had rejected offers from many federations from the world because she does not know the English.