Aging is a Chronic Condition!

As I prepare for my talk for the MS society, it occurred to me that aging is a chronic condition, much like MS, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis..... None of these conditions will go away and all of them require thoughtful management to slow down the deterioation process.

Like all chronic conditions, acceptance is the key if we were to live a fulfilling life despite our limitations, and there are a lot of not-for-the-better changes we have to accept. We have less energy, we lose muscle mass, we have more wrinkles, we lose bone mass, our memory gets worse, our hair turns white, it takes longer to recover, we become invisible, we become less essential to others......

Accepting these changes doesn't mean we don't do what we can to ameliorate them. What acceptance does mean is that we take these changes into consideration in how we live our lives, without bitterness, negativity, shame or self-pity. Acceptance means an attitude adjustment so we can see the glass as half full rather than half empty. After all, waking up with all these changes still beats not waking up at all!

So what might acceptance look like?? Here are some ways if might look: We no longer try to look like a teenager. We choose a gentler form of exercise. We give ourselves longer time to recover from illnesses or surgeries. At some point we give up considering face lifts and dying our hair. We give up bright red lipsticks and stilletto heels. We give ourselves more time in between tasks. We learn to be very patient. We rest more. In a yoga class, we accept a prop rather than fight against it. We eat more healthily. We go to bed earlier. We stop sweating about the small stuff. We are less demanding of ourselves and as a result, we are easier on others as well. We follow our interests more and do less out of a sense of obligation......The list goes on, but you get the idea.

Breath and Vitality

Central to yoga and Ayurveda is the concept of "prana," translated to mean a vital life energy. It is what distinguishes the living from the dead. This life force is also acknowledged by Chinese medicine, qigong and Tai-Chi as "qi" or "chi," and by other Asian systems with their own nomenclatures.

We have all experienced this life energy as it shifts in us. There are days when we feel on top of the world, full of energy and a gusto for life. Then there are days, such as when we are ill, when it takes all we have just to get out of bed. We also recognize this life energy in others. We might describe someone as being "full of life," even as we wonder what ills might have befallen others.

This life energy can be cultivated, and the primary vehicle is our breath. This cultivation is particularly important. As we age, we not only lose physical capacity for strenuous exercises, but a lifetime of poor posture has led to hunched over shoulders and tightened fascia that hinder us from using our full lung capacity.

Fortunately, this can be corrected. In my Breathe Better classes, for example, we do a variety of exercises that bring more mobility and openness into the rib cage and chest area before engaging in breathing exercises. This combination increases our breathing capacity and therefore the amount of life energy we can cultivate. Not only will life energy help us feel more vital, but it will also help with longevity.