8 June 2015
A while ago,
just before I was walking into the room for an interview with a panel of judges
who interviewed women on the value of their work in the Community and Country,
one of the make-up artists turned to me and said, ‘Your face is a bit thin. Let me try and widen your jaw’.
For a moment
it threw me! If I was twenty or even thirty, I might have run to the mirror and
helped her to CHANGE my face! But luckily, with age comes confidence and
calmness. With age, we also become more effective and at peace with ourselves,
in a quieter way.
I mentioned
in previous blogs that I’m going to refer to experts on Ageing Well and
this morning, once again, I was enthralled with Doctor Oz. AMERICA… do you KNOW who you have there!? I am
learning so much from him and his team and bit by bit I will share – just
enough at a time, so that you and I can embrace it and make it a part of our
life!
Since April
this year, I have added Yoga exercises to my fitness program. I got started by my friend, Yolanda and was inspired by her dedication and focus. So I got the
textbook with explanations, the pictures, and watched a number of You Tubes to
help me. Slowly but surely I am beginning to feel more supple. It is helping me
with my breathing too, which is a KEY to good health as well. My daily
programs with training and presentations don’t allow me to attend regular
classes at a specific place – but believe me, the dvd’s are excellent and the
instructor/s explain very well as they do the exercises with you. Just get the
mat, beginners’ dvd’s, put on some comfortable clothing, and begin your
stretches! Part of the excitement is that you will be able to measure your
suppleness. You will walk more confidently and certainly more steadily.
Any exercise
program has to do with your BODY and your MIND. So for today, I would like to
add some wisdom about the ageing body from Doctor Eric Braverman. He refers to
us as being ‘as YOUNG as our OLDEST
part’. Now we can never deny the reality that as we age, our bodies somehow
deteriorate. We used to think that this weakening was due to illness, but now
Science believes that it is just a factor of age. Yet the outcome is the same:
Any illness that is caused by aged, weakened organs and systems in the body,
subtracts from overall health and eventually leads to death. Think of the
‘times’ when you don’t feel good because something, somewhere in your body
aches, as ‘times’ when the failing organ, becomes older than the rest of your
body. However, because we are so wonderfully and magnificently created, this
organ’s associated hormone levels drop, and send a signal to the rest of the
body, whose purpose is, (YES!) to broadcast to the whole body that the system
is failing. I still think we are marvelously created. There is a message here!
All this
sounds very negative. But in the journey of growing older in MOTION it serves no purpose if I never enlighten you with some
truths that can assist you in staying young for longer!
Although
this signal that is being sent to the whole body is not a good one, it is a way
of telling you that something must be done! Your body’s signal of a weak,
damaged or sick organ, may in essence be a signal to the mind whereby the whole
body can begin to shut down.
I injured my
left knee in 2005 during a 42 km race, which I couldn’t complete. At the
28 km mark, my knee was swollen and highly inflamed. I was taken to the end of
the race by ambulance. For me, it was a sign and a warning: my knee has been
damaged – but my mind started to help me and said, ‘Have a rest. Use the right medication. Do the necessary Bio- Kinetics
Exercises and STAY positive’. And so I did.
My knee
never needed an operation. However – I stopped doing the long races and go
slower down steep hills, simply because that’s the way I keep my knee in good
condition to last longer!
Think of a
consistent way whereby you can keep your body in a supple and flexible
condition and try to discover what YOUR body loves doing – this may be walking,
dancing or aerobics, or playing sport. Make it your duty to discover something
about YOUR body and what may be the ideal for you – TODAY.
Golf with my girlfriends, Hazel and Sandy at Kimiad. I have discovered that my body and mind love playing golf.
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