“It’s just my age…”

As I find myself saying so often these days……I have been listening to a really interesting podcast. I love listening to podcasts about health and holistic therapies, it keeps me engaged and interested, but I also find that I cant stop my mind from wondering to the other people I know, the treatments I offer and the aftercare advice I give following my treatments, and how the podcast or casts I have listened to relate to them and could be of help. Over the weekend I was listening to a podcast on Dr Chaterjee’s channel, it was a collection of excerpts from past interviews which all related to aging. I’m not tech savvy enough to pop a link on here for you, but if you would like to listen then it was podcast number 240 on the “feel better, live more” podcast which can be found on most podcast apps. I gain nothing from any podcasts I recommend, I’m just passing this on because I am a fan of his work and I feel many people would gain benefit from listening to his books and interviews.

This particular cast was about aging well, which is often a subject I find myself discussing with clients…While of course, aging is a process that happens to us all, systems in our bodies wind down and don’t work as efficiently, but I have long felt it is too easy to let things slide with the excuse of “its my age”. We need to take more responsibility for our own health and wellbeing, the effort put in to maintaining good health and mobility is an investment in better quality of life as we age.

The first time the attitude of “oh its just my age” really left me speechless, was years ago, I was working on a lady’s back, she was experiencing lower back pain, I was asking a few questions to try to get to the root of the issue and she responded “oh, I’m just getting old, I guess I just have to put up with stuff like that now”. The lady was face down, and I doubted myself for a moment, had I done so many treatments that day that I had already forgotten what this lady looked like? I asked how old she was…she was 29!!

Another similar time I was treating a man who also had back pain, he was so stiff and restricted in his movement that I began to discuss integrating some movement or stretching in to his routine, he said “no, you reach an age don’t you, where there is just no point in starting new habits, its too late for all that”, this man was 40!

In both cases, If these people had been twice their ages, I still would have disagreed with their assessment! I don’t think there is an age that we should ever put up with pain and restriction, even if we cant get rid of these things, we can make a choice to try to maintain movement as much as we can, we can seek treatments and ways of managing pain. There is not an age we can reach where there is no point in developing new healthy habits and positive changes.

I have seen many people in their 60s and 70s who are more active and mobile than those in their 30s and 40s, while there are of course factors beyond our control, we can always choose to work on maintaining wellness and mobility or we can just give in to aging. In fact I used to regularly provide treatments for a couple in their 70’s who were always off travelling, hiking in the alps, never still for a moment and they would comment that “we probably shouldn’t at our age” but they were enjoying themselves so much and were so fit, healthy and mobile, I really admire them and aspire to have a similar zest for life when I reach that age!

Age is not as important as how you feel, don’t hide behind that number, do what you can to keep your body moving, in whatever way works for you, even small movements will help in getting things moving. Make small changes and build slowly. Keep your brain engaged and challenged, learning new things is exercise for your mind. Keep at it and aim for the joy in those moments when people don’t believe you are as old as you say you are!

How do holistic therapies come in to this? The principle behind most oriental treatments is that all pain and illness come from stagnation. I feel that we can add to that, the stiffness, pain, restriction and general decline we associate with age is often a build up of stagnation. I’m not saying that a regular treatment will magically make you younger (although facial rejuvenation treatments can leave you looking brighter and more youthful) But I am saying that holistic therapies focus on reducing or where possible, eliminating stagnation, encouraging good flow in all body systems and good movement/ mobility in the body. This can lead us to conclude that regular treatments can really help in keep us feeling good and moving well as we age. Holistic therapies are your “NCT” and regular service, how many people take better care of their car than their body?

We all need to take more responsibility for our own health and wellbeing, why not outsource some of that to your friendly local holistic therapist? If that’s not your thing, take up a new activity, sit on the floor more often, expand your mind, push your body and mind, invest in future well-being by taking positive actions now.