The Oprah Winfrey Show
Remembering Your Spirit

The Beauty Within

Cheryl Tiegs "I think I know what beauty is all about."
Cheryl Tiegs, the highest-paid supermodel in the '70s, is now 51 years old. "I love my life now more than I ever have—it keeps getting better and better."

Cheryl feels she is in better shape than she was when she was 20. She attributes her flexibility, strength, and "depth of happiness" to practicing yoga and meditating regularly.

"When I first started yoga 3 1/2 years ago it wasn't a pretty sight and I was not graceful! But I got out of yoga and I felt elated, I felt euphoric."

Cheryl and yoga "What my goal really was in yoga and meditation was to remain who I wanted to be. To be true to myself instead of being buffeted about by the turbulent lives that we all lead."

Cheryl is willing to talk about plastic surgery with her girlfriends, but she says it will never go beyond talk. "To have this spirit which is within, to nurture it, to pay attention to it rather than ignoring it and buying a bunch of new clothes and getting face lifts... That's all exterior stuff which is fun to do, but it's not going to make you beautiful without working on what's going on inside."

As Cheryl practices yoga and meditates, she is taking care of her spirit. "I think at a certain time I just took it for granted. I don't think it went away but I didn't nurture it. Today I am taking care of it."

"That's the only way to grow old gracefully—it's the only way to grow old."


From the show Age Defying Women