Honest Goals for Real Health

Model: Jim Newman

So, lets be honest. I'd LOVE to look like a fitness model who has spent his life eating right, exercising for 2+ hours a day, and makes kids 20 years younger than him turn their heads in awe. I'd LOVE that... if I could have it without having to work out 2+ hours a day, and have to calculate every nutritional value of anything going into my mouth, and not have to have a full time job that in no way supports the fitness lifestyle in order to keep a roof over my head. I like physical activity, I enjoy hiking and walking and bike riding and swimming and yoga. I don't like prolonged, intense, repetitive physical activity which serves no purpose beyond "shaping me to look good". I don't enjoy having to plan the other 22 hours of my day around the "gym".

Also, I'm not 29 anymore. I'm not even 39 anymore. I'm 49. The last gasp before I complete my first half-century. Though one can be healthy, strong, and happy at 50 (or 90 for that matter) it is delusional to think you can look, feel and be the same kind of healthy, strong and happy at age 50 that you had the ability to be at age 25. An extra 25 years of wear and tear and stress and LIFE will change body, mind and soul. This is not a BAD thing, it is "a thing". We can minimize the negative impacts of age and stay healthy, strong and happy for our entire lives... but even the fittest person of 50 would never claim they could look or feel the same as a fit person of 25. So why do we seem to think we can "go back to..." when the laws of biology, psychology and physics all claim otherwise?

What I NEED is to be healthy for my age... without excessive mass, with cardiovascular strength and endurance, with flexibility and muscular strength, with good bone density, with skin that doesn't tear or bruise from casual impacts. What I WANT is all of that, to be comfortable in my body and to look good too. But what that "looks like", what is a reasonable goal for a lifestyle that does not orbit my time at the gym and protein shakes? That is where a healthy outlook, honest goals, real achievable health, is important.

For me, I believe I can achieve something close to the physical appearance of actor/models like Jim Newman. Looking great, obviously healthy and fit, but also obviously doesn't spend his whole life involved in workouts and eating steamed chicken breasts. His hair is thinning, his skin has appropriate life marks, and his very appealing musculature shows that gravity does impact your body over time, and his core is solid without looking like he's starved himself. That is real. And, frankly, that is a physicality that is both incredibly attractive and approachable... even, dare I say it, Cuddly.

So, there it is... a visual representation of what I've striving to become. I think it is reasonable... save that I can't grow a full beard, never could... so goatee will have to do ;)

Yoga tells you the truths you try to ignore.

There is nothing like having your body announce, "Yo! Dude! You've got some serious shit you've been ignoring!"

That is what my body's been saying for the past two days as I've returned to the yoga mat. I am bound up from head to toe, which is not surprising considering the level of stress and lack of exercise I've lived with for the past couple years. What I hadn't realized was just how constricted, inflexible, and uncomfortable my pelvis has become.

So, what does that mean? Time for laxatives? In a sense, yes, but more of mental/emotional/spiritual flexibility exercises more than a need for a bowel movement. I've tightened up so badly that it is clear that it is a miracle I can still "manifest" ANYTHING in my life. From personal power, to creativity, to community, my ability to bring about change in the world has been pinched down to near nil.

The rule "as above, so below" applies here, in that the body reflects what is happening on a spiritual level. Fortunately, with mindful practice, yoga can invert that rule and influence what is above by working with what is below... i.e. if I work mindfully to open the physical areas of the chakras, the chakras will be positively influenced.

In truth, I probably need some help with this... an energy practitioner who can work on my chakras and meridians from "above" while I work on them from "below". I am always cautious about doing such things for a couple reasons... first, trust... not only trust of the intentions of the other (allowing myself to open to them) but also trust in the actual skill/ability/experience/wisdom of the other practitioner -- I find the average energy worker to be flakey mc snowflake. UGH! Second, determination... I've dealt with too many people who have used energy work/healing as an excuse not to do the physical work to solve their problems. I don't want to be one of those people who cast spells to lose weight while chowing down on box after box of krispy kremes. I MUST do the work, and I don't want to be lulled into complacency by the euphoria which can accompany powerful energy work.

So, my goal for the next 6 weeks for physical fitness? YOGA! I'm just going to do it morning and night, increasing the intensity and duration as my body/mind recovers/returns to health.