3 ways to age well, so life gets better as we grow older

It doesn’t happen by accident

Last week I shared insights on some of the unhelpful 'norms' in our culture around aging, and how wellbeing, emotional stability, and life satisfication can often increase with age, if we choose to live wisely. Read that blog here.

Based an insightful article I recently read by Thomas Blake and the evidence he cites, as well as on my own experience of working with many inspiring people who seem to be glowing as they grow older, this week I have outlined 3 key wisdom based ways to stay healthy young and fully alive.

It is true that the passing of time makes everyone older. However the passing of time does but not necessarily make people wiser, healthy, and more fully alive.

You don’t suddenly wake up at 75 and you’ve become a wise sage. If you don’t make physically and mentally healthy choices about where you are going to spend your focus and energy now, you’ll be severely limiting your options later on. This may be a challenge, but think of yourself at 70 years old and how you would like to be living. Would you like to be independent, active, fit and mentally sharp? Or would you prefer the opposite.

If we prefer the healthy option we need to build an intention for it.

Our wellbeing, emotional stability and life satisfaction can increase with age if we choose – today - to live wisely. The key word here is choice.

It’s about how you

  • choose to think,

  • choose to relate,

  • choose to let go.

Based an insightful article I recently read by Thomas Blake and the evidence he cites, as well as on my own experience of working with many inspiring people who seem to be glowing as they grow older, I have outlined 3 key wisdom based ways to stay healthy young and fully alive.

1.      Mastering editing - emotional boundaries are better than anti-aging creams and potions.

  • Saying no without apology - When we say no to one thing, we say yes to another. Time and energy are finite biological resources.

  • Removing unhelpful and draining people from your social circle - Notice who brings the most drama into your life. Consider the fact that not entertaining that drama is an option. Smartening up, to protect your energy, such as learning cultivated phrases to have up your sleeve such as ‘Ill get back to you’, and ‘let me think about that’  give you space to decide what’s best for you.

  • Become less impressed by social ‘noise’ – going with whats popular no longer floats your boat. The ‘herd  mentality’ fuelled by trends, outrage and comparison seems like child’s play to you. Emotional junk food becomes replaced with a sound mental diet to feed your soul, and shape your biological age.

  • Seek meaning over stimulation - Instead of chasing the next feel good high, which inevitable results in an exhausting low,  you start valuing stability, consistency, and meaning. If we are driven by deeper values that align to our life purpose, life feels more meaningful, and our brain ages better.

2. Mastering exercise and sleep – switch moving your body as a ‘punishment’ to a pleasure, because you’re made for it’

  • Building walking, stretching, strengthen and mobility into our daily life isn’t about punishing ourselves, but more about moving for longevity. Movement tells our body “keep going, we need you.”  

  • Treat sleep as seriously as being awake - deep sleep is not just about rest. Its about repair of cells, our brain has a clearing of waste. It’s nightly biological renewal. Try relaxation techniques like Yoga Nidra meditation, and restorative yoga to learn to switch off.

3. Mastering ‘making peace with yourself’

  • Master the art of compassion - We stop identifying our sense of self based on our worst days. “One bad day becomes ‘weather’, not climate. People who are more self-compassionate are living less in flight or flight, and more in rest in recovery. Our physiology, our hormones and general state of health improves when we learn to embrace imperfection, and our humanity

  • Simplicity - more is not the answer to our feelings of unfulfillment. Overcommitment and chaos age the brain, simplicity restores clarity and calm.

  • Acceptance that aging is not the enemy - Resistance to aging is. We get wrinkles, and we change…this is biology. Suffering comes from fighting reality. Accepting ourselves for where we are at, lowers stress and we feel free to just be. Lighter, and younger.

“Most people don’t age quickly because time passed. They age because:

-   Stress never stops

-   Relationships drain them

-   Their nervous system never resets

-   They live in constant physiological threat

Aging gracefully is less about adding more  - and more about removing whats exhausting you.
 – Thomas Blake

Finally. The hidden key to aging well…

Youth is not about being a particular age, but more a psychological state. The trend in our culture tends to be: become less open minded, less resilient, less capable of handling change with ease and flexibility as the years roll on.

What if it were possible to grow in the opposite direction?

If we close our eyes for moment, and connect inwardly, what we might realise is deep within each of us, is a wise sage and trusted elder our destiny for the future?

Here is an excerpt from the poem "Youth" by Samuel Ullman, a Jewish poet

"Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigour of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust. Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what's next, and the joy of the game of living."

BOOK A SESSION WITH JO

jo@heartandmindyoga.co.nz, 022 125 3011.

Jo Jarden is a personal trainer, yoga teacher, and the founder of Heart and Mind Yoga studio 54 Holmwood Road, Merivale, Christchurch. She has 12 year's experience as personal trainer, yoga teacher, and workshop facilitator including working with:

  • Business executives

  • Gyms, group yoga & fitness classes

  • Farmers and rural settings

  • Workplace retreats, events, and conferences

Her approach combines both body and mind practices to help people boost their health and general feelings of positivity. She utilises the combination of ancient yoga wisdom and wellbeing science techniques to help people release tension and grow their inner strengths.

Qualifications include:

Certified Yoga Teacher Santosha Yoga Institute, Registered Australian Yoga Alliance 2017
Certificate in Advanced Personal Training, Fit College New Zealand, 2016
Bachelor of Science with Honours Public Health. University of Canterbury, New Zealand 2006
Bachelor of Arts Mass Communication and Psychology. University of Canterbury, New Zealand 2005

Jo JardenHeart and Mind Yoga