Lilias Folan

Note: March is Women’s History month. What better way to mark the contribution of women than a tribute to the wonderful soul whose spark went back to the big fire March 9, 2026, at the age of 90?

Lilias Folan

In the middle Sixties, Lilias Folan seemingly had it all: loving husband, two healthy little boys, the big house in the chi-chi suburbs of the Big Apple. But she felt lousy, logy, and bored, smoked too much, and was overweight. Her PCP ordered her to take up an exercise program. Because golf and tennis didn’t excite her, she took a yoga class,

This decision was influenced by Jess Stearn’s 1965 book Yoga, Youth, and Reincarnation. This is still worth reading if you like memoirs by seekers. He’s skeptical, funny and not afraid of telling stories on himself. It’s also a tribute to his teacher Marcia Moore, whose story is terribly sad. Stearn testified that though he started as a skeptic, after practicing yoga and mindfulness meditation, his mental health improved and he was able to deal with demons from the past. For Lilias, this rang a bell, because like many seekers, she was an unloved child, a casualty of an upper crust family that were uninvolved in the lives of their children.

She loved yoga from the get-go. It made her feel wonderful. She quit smoking. She slept better. She also became more mindful, making friends with the observer self within that judges not. She loved the spiritual side of life. Reminding us of Grazia in Death Takes a Holiday, she visited Italy and visited all the churches she could find.

Lilias learned about watching the mind and getting a grip on the inner chatter. Focus on the body and breath. Quiet the mind down and deepen attention with breathing and asanas and observation. Become spacious. Be present, here, right now. This breath. And another. Who you are becomes deeper and deeper, more happy and serene, more fair, kind, compassionate (if a bit detached).

Lilias, Yoga and You ran on PBS from 1972 until 1999 with 500 episodes in all. She never saw it as a show starring Lilias Folan, but a class in which she was a teacher doing what she was put on earth to do:  share with people how they can get on the yoga bus. She was encouraged by the cards and letters grateful viewers sent her in thanks. The show covered its costs and made a little money for WCET Cincinnati so it got renewed numerous times.

Lilias played an influential role in bringing yoga into everyday American life long before wellness culture, social media, or streaming made the practice easy to find. Through Lilias, Yoga and You, she introduced yoga to millions of viewers by meeting them where they already were: in their living rooms. At the time, yoga was often seen as strange or fringe, associated with bodybuilding, vegan diets, and nudist communes. Folan challenged those narrow assumptions.

Her teaching style was warm, welcoming, practical, and relatable. She showed viewers that yoga was not a religion, did not require special clothes or gear, and was not restricted to the young or flexible. Anyone could try it. Her message was simple and radical for its time: yoga was for ordinary people, at any age, with any body shape, size or appearance.

Lilias offered more than postures. She included breathing, relaxation, reflection, and mindfulness, helping viewers understand yoga as something that could support their existing beliefs and daily lives, not replace them. Deeply influenced by her studies with Indian teachers and traditions such as Vedanta philosophy, Lilias translated complex ideas into plain language. She offered the benefits of yoga without asking anyone to retreat to an ashram or radically change their lifestyle.

Despite her national recognition, Lilias showed little interest in celebrity. She continued teaching classes and workshops well into later life, even when doctors advised her to slow down and not travel so much. Some modern yoga teachers have dismissed her work as outdated,* and her passing in March 2026 received little public acknowledgment (even PBS had de nada in the way of an obit on their website). Yet through decades on public television, along with books and instructional videos, Lilias helped normalize yoga as a gentle, life-enhancing practice rooted in kindness and love. Her influence shaped how yoga is taught and practiced in the United States today.

At the heart of Lilias’ philosophy was the idea that yoga is a personal, lifelong path toward emotional balance and self-understanding. She spoke of yoga as something that helped her “grow up,” not stay young, an important distinction in a culture that often equates all things healthy with youth. She modeled an approach to aging grounded in focus, observation, and presence.

For Lilias, yoga was inseparable from daily life. She saw it as a way to work honestly with emotions, develop patience, and cultivate compassion. When she underwent chemotherapy for breast cancer in 2013, she shared how breathing and relaxation techniques helped her cope with chemo.

Teaching yoga, for Lilias, was both a service and a continuation of her own learning. She believed yoga helped people face stress, dissatisfaction, and temptation with greater steadiness. Her lasting legacy is not just that she popularized yoga, but that she made it accessible and deeply humane on and off the mat.

* Twenty years ago, when a yoga teacher asked where I had got that, I answered "Lilias" and she rolled her eyes.