It takes physical energy to do much of anything and enjoy a healthy and fulfilling quality of life. One of the critical components to physical energy is movement. It’s particularly important for Seniors.
I like a passage from Awaken the Giant Within, by Tony Robbins. He says,
“Can you think of an old person, someone who doesn’t ‘get around much anymore’? Getting old is not a matter of age, it’s a lack of movement. And the ultimate lack of movement is death”.
— Tony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within, p. 158-159.
“Stagnation comes from lack of movement.” —Ibid.
Robbins, the personal development legend, says that one of the most important keys to success in any endeavor, is the Physical Energy that you put into it. He says that the main component of that physical energy is the physical movement of your body.
Ido Portal is an ardent promoter of a brand of movement that most of us can only watch with wonder. Go to his YouTube.com and search for Ido Portal. You’ll see what I mean. While that kind of movement is beyond most of us, his thoughts on human movement are worth noting.
Interestingly, Ido Portal suggests that while all movement disciplines including Yoga, Pilates, Gymnastics, Dance, Bodyweight exercise and all the other popular forms of movement are valuable within themselves, they are each but a tool to keep the body in motion. He says that they should not be practiced as stand alone disciplines, but should be part of a toolbox from which we draw different tools for an overall movement practice. Portal says: ”Movement is Life” and “Movement helps reawaken us to who we are.”
Erwan LeCorre is the founder of MovNat, a discipline which uses Natural Bodyweight Movement and Nature as it’s vehicle. I had the opportunity to spend a week in the wilds of West Virginia with Erwan LeCorre and several other participants nine years ago in a week long fitness training camp with an emphasis on Natural Movement (See energy Bite 256). That’s where I reawakened my own Fountain of Youth at age 69, and started on the path to reclaim my own health and fitness. I gained a better understanding of the importance of physical movement to a healthy life — and putting it into practice.
I agree with Tony Robbins when he says that once you feel the kind of energy and vitality that physical exercise and movement brings, you will never want to go back to your old, stagnant way of being.
The point of this article is simple. If we want to age with energy and enthusiasm and enjoy a long healthy and fulfilling life, we must — always be moving.
Thank you for reading.