"I remember sitting on a bench with my aunt at a yoga studio," she said, "and having a moment of clarity right then and there: Yoga is saving my life."

Although at first all I did was grab the spoon and perform for my grandparents and aunts and uncles, I enjoyed it very much.

I don't know what makes up this smell, which I recognize from grandmothers and elderly aunts, and which hangs in the rooms and halls of old-age homes like a curse.