Exercise and Beauty
What do you think about exercise?
Would your opinion of exercise change if you knew it would keep you looking young and feeling limber?
During my time in college, I took a leave to study Japanese in Japan. During my second semester, I met an elderly gentleman. From the moment we first met, there was a spark. We spent every day we could in each other’s company. One day, I met him at his campus office. He was finishing up his class work. From his shelves of books, he pulled out a thin blue, paperback book and handed it to me. It was titled, The Fountain of Youth by Peter Kelder. I was a little baffled until the concept turned a light on in my brain. Then he replied, “Give this to your mother.” I thought to myself, “My mother?! Maybe when I return home in three months. But for now, I am going to use.”
So I brought it home with me to my host family’s house that night and started the exercises that night in the tiny room that was mine.
I would be its human guinea pig. I was very interested in reducing the effects of aging. Starting young would allow me to see my aging process in relation to my siblings.
The program consisted of a 10 week process of beginning with 3 repetitions and adding 2 until I reach the full set of 21. Before I left Japan, I was doing the full set. A full set only takes 10 minutes to complete.
The instructions stated to do these exercise whether you were sick or well. It also stated in my copy, that if one did these exercises every day, one would not need to do any other exercise. I was excited about that. I liked the idea of addressing youth while staying fit. Over the years, I estimate I have missed 60 days of doing the exercises due to shoulder injuries and severe fatigue related to being sick. I firmly believe that the exercises helped me keep my physical strength when I was in acupuncture college doing nothing more than studying. I could lift objects that the rest of the women in the group could not. Many years later, I attended a shopping convention in which one of the booths was selling a piece of exercise equipment. To determine what your individual workout program would be, the sales person had the group of us take a fitness test. Where my friends ranked around 5 out of a possible 10, I ranked 9 out of 10. Not bad for someone who only did the Fountain of Youth exercises daily.
The first year of my acupuncture practice, I held a 10 week program on the Fountain of Youth movements. On day 1, I asked everyone to write down how they felt physically, emotionally and mentally. I collected the letters and stored them away for the last day of the program so they could compare their results.
Ten weeks later, six participants completed the program. The age range went from 35 years to 85 years of age. This was some of the results from the group:
* The 85 year old woman had more energy. She was even more spunkier than when she started. When she started, she carried herself like an old woman. When she left, she stood a little taller and had a stronger presence.
* The 60+ year old man came to the class with a cane and instability in his walk and stiffness in his movements. At the end of the program, he was more stable on his legs and he ceased to appear like the Tin man from the Wizard of Oz. Both his wife and him were very happy about the changes.
* The 50+ year old woman believed nothing had changed. What she did not observe that the staff observed was that her extreme pessimism had become more optimistic. She was smiling more and her tone of voice had softened.
What about you?
These exercises, also known as the “Tibetan Rites” or “Five Rituals” take only 10 minutes of your time a day. They work by allowing the energy in your body to move in the proper direction and speed to keep you healthy and maintain vitality your body. Remember, it only takes 10 minutes a day.
Give yourself a challenge. Get the Fountain of Youth and start your own experiment. Log how you feel at this moment in time – physically, mentally, and emotionally. Add in how you feel about your job, your family, your body. Put as much as you want about your opinion of yourself. Then file it in a drawer and get busy with the Tibetan Rites.
I recommend that you start your day with the Tibetan Rites. Jump out of bed and do them. If you wait until after you have showered and had a cup of coffee, you probably will find something better to do. The point is not to give yourself an excuse to not do them. Then go on with the rest of your morning and enjoy your day knowing that you have done something to keep your body strong, limber and youthful.
When I have been compelled out of bed by an emergency long before my usual wake-up time, I would throw on some clothes and get on my way. When the task was completed and I found myself home later that morning, I would start my day as if I had just gotten up: begin with the Tibetan Rites, shower and dress. I would feel like a new woman. At one time, I thought it was the shower that made me feel so energized but during one of those made dashes, I only had time to get home, do the Rites and fly out of the house again. I realized then that it was the Rites that made me feel alive, not the shower.
I recommend that you do the Tibetan Rites early in the day because of the revitalizing affect they have on the body; some of my patients noticed sleep issues when they did it before bedtime.
Some of you may say that you do not have enough time in the morning. I say, just get up 10 minutes earlier. The Tibetan Rites will change your day. Let your body feel beautiful again.