let's grow old together
"Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art."
-- Garson Kanin
Once upon a time, I had 3 female clients in their 80s. They didn't know one another. It was pure grace that I had them all at the same time.
They told me about their bodies and why they came to see me.
Their bodies told me about their relationship and history of movement.
One was fearful and anxious about her body. She identified as clumsy.
Another alternated between resigned and determined. She saw her body as an often forgotten friend.
The last was eager and ambitious. Her body was a vehicle. And she wanted to go places.
With these clients, practice was never about poses. It was about freedom. The freedom to keep doing what they loved. Hiking, traveling, cooking. To get up and down off the floor when playing with the grand babies. To shut the hatch of their SUV without injury.
The tricky thing about practicing with an able-body is that you can get caught in the performance and miss the connection. Achievement is actually easier than transformation.
Because transformation is when something irrevocably changes. When stories are re-written. Patterns of moving, breathing or being are reprogrammed. And you are significantly and undeniably more free.
Is that how you’re practicing?
Years after working with these clients, a study came out that the greatest predictor of longevity was being able to get up off the floor without using your hands. (Sit-to-Rise Test) That’s a very interesting metric. Because you can’t get it through flexibility or strength only. It’s a unique combination of both. Especially in your joints.
It’s this unique combination of strength and stretch that we’ll work with at Padma next weekend. During the Hips and Hamstrings Workshop you’ll strengthen muscles required for a stable pelvis (your lower back will love this). Then you’ll stretch and release and allow new neuro-networking to imprint.
The Daylong Retreat is a reset for body, mind, and spirit. Expect breathing in the morning, slow profound asana practice focused on functional movement, and teachings on the nervous system that will carry you through the holiday season.
May your practice be a story of transformation,
Alison
