What is your greatest fear?
For many people, it is death. For even more people, it is living WITHOUT our capacities -- our wonderful, creative, unique minds and our amazing bodies that we have spent our lifetime inhabiting. Losing balance and stability and the ability to move about our magnificent planet really hurts.
So what to do? How do we keep our minds sharp and functional and our bodies mobile, free and capable? To me, this is in our power and it is not with crossword puzzles (or even computer programs for stimulating memory) or praying for mercy. There ARE things we can actively do to enhance (and even deepen our cognition) while keeping our bodies supple and moving.
The whole medical research world is hungry for the magic pill to prevent and reverse dementia and the key to staying strong. However, the answer will NOT come in a pill (no matter how hard we search or how much $ we pour into the investigation).
The answer is in how we live. Our daily lifestyle. It is what we eat (fruits and vegetables, etc) but much more importantly how we use our minds and bodies. Exercise (in any form) has already been shown to be a great therapeutic maneuver when engaged in regularly. But, there are other positive things we can do for ourselves and they are also being shown with research to be effective in maintaining memory and balance. Meditation, Tai Chi, XiGong, and yoga have all been demonstrated to be potent preserving activities. Social connection similarly also helps maintain the mind and body.
The questions are how and why? What does it even mean to be socially connected? What about Tai Chi, XiGong and meditation -- what is their mechanism of action? This scientific support is coming. Calming of the sympathetic nervous system while enhancing its opposition, the parasympathetic system is part of the answer. The exact mechanism of quality social connection is less clear to me but every bit as effective. If I say "hi, how are you?" to people as we pass on the street, does that connect us? If two people discuss the weather or a book they both read does that lead to connection? Does playing bridge or bingo result in a feeling of or state of connection?
I would say no to all these activities. They are all pleasant, good passers of time and even stimulating but mind enhancing, I vote no. I believe people have to drop into a more engaged, meaningful and heart-felt place in order to be truly connected. I think we all know this deep down but we Americans shy away from this style of interaction because it makes us vulnerable and that is scary. However, I believe that those who face this fear and cross it with an open heart, reap benefits to themselves and the world around them that create health and heal our planet simultaneously. It does not have to be scary. It can just be real.
Our Memory and Balance class approaches these vital issues in just this way with practical exercises (Tai Chi, XiGong and yoga introductions) as well as a path to open-hearted connection.
Tomorrow, I will post a resource list supporting my claims here so you the reader does not think I am just spouting opinions. There is research behind all this -- studies done here in the U.S. but also case studies of other cultures who do not manifest the deteriorations associated with aging at nearly the rate that we do here in America.
This is a golden age for enhancing personal power in the form of maintaining our memory and balance (and health and longevity) and the beautiful thing is that the ball is in our court. Join us at Pando to harness this power.
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