Movement and Aging

---

Old age doesn’t begin at 60 or 70.  It doesn’t necessarily start when you retire.

It begins slowly, when your world shrinks to the walls of your home. It starts when curiosity fades — when you stop wanting to learn, explore, listen, or grow. When you choose isolation over connection. When “I don’t want to” replaces dreams and plans.

There is no fixed number that defines old age. Some people are eighty and radiant with life. Others are forty and already weary.

In the end, old age isn’t counted in years — it’s measured in how well your body supports you in your daily life, in how well your mind stays curious and open, in the simple joy of being to take a slow walk in Nature unaided and unimpeded.

I struggled with my body all my life – never really loving it or honouring it.  Never feeling gratitude for the body I was given.  There were so many things I didn’t like about my body and spent a lot of time hiding it – by my hair (CLICK here if you want to read my Musing on Hair and Identity), by wearing really baggy clothes.

At age 73, and after several surgeries in the last 5 years, I had to redefine my idea of what movement and being “old” means.  

My body changed drastically “overnight”.  Suddenly all my clothes didn’t fit

anymore.  Suddenly I couldn’t use my body at all.  I was confined to the couch and my bed as I recovered from each surgery. I felt “old”, my body was stiff and I was in pain and uncomfortable for months.  Exercise was the last thing on my mind.

I didn’t like the way my body looked and the way my body felt.  I put on a lot of weight and didn’t even look like myself physically.  But I knew I had to do something and that movement would make a difference to how I felt and how my body performed.   

What is movement really for? For me now, movement is not “no pain no gain”.  I had to meet my body where it was and silence the voice in my head that was judging me for not being able to do handstands or headstands, to do advanced yoga poses, to walk around the block without my heart pounding.  

I began with one round of Sun Salutes every day.  That took only 1 minute.  And as the days and weeks progressed, I was able to increase those rounds, feel more fluid, empowered and so very grateful to my body for 7 plus decades of non-stop support even without any love or acknowledgment from me.

Movement allows my body to withstand long travel days - I fly between Hong Kong and Toronto frequently. It’s for being able to stay balanced across cobblestone sidewalks and uneven pavements and steps. It’s for navigating through busy city streets. It’s about taking for granted my ability to perform simple daily tasks with ease.

For me, this is aging gracefully and in a healthy way. It’s about feeling good in my daily life.  Due to my decades of practicing yoga, when I was hospitalized twice, one of the things I was grateful for was being able to squat down to pick something up since I couldn’t bend forward. 

 Of course, we are all different, we all have different abilities and lives. My wish for you is that you can move in ways that support you – no matter your age. Because the point to building a practice of daily acts of kindness toward yourself, whether that is a simple shoulder stretch for every hour you are in front of the screen, a 5-minute meditation to unwind or to start your day on the right foot, or a longer weekly movement practice - it’s for you to feel good physically.  

Start a short and simple practice and build from there.    

Was it easy?  No.

Was I raring to go each day? No.

Were there days I just didn’t want to do them?  Yes!

Did I do them anyway? Yes!

That’s what a committed practice gives you – motivation, support, empowerment.

Build this habit for your current self and more importantly, for your future self.

Are you worth the effort?