What Are You Weighting For? February 26, 2013
Posted by nrhatch in Books & Movies, Exercise & Fitness, Health & Wellness.trackback
Even if we can’t literally turn back the hands of time, might we erase the ravages of age by the thoughts we think?
In Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, Deepak Chopra summarizes a growing body of evidence which supports the conclusion that we can reverse aging through mindful awareness.
One experiment involved a sort of “inner time travel” with elderly participants. This landmark study established that so-called irreversible signs of aging could be reversed using psychological intervention.
To read more . . . Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, pp. 92-94.
In another “anti-aging” experiment, geriatric nursing home patients started a weight-lifting program with remarkable results.
Gerontologists from Tufts University visited a nursing home, where they put a group of the frailest residents on a weight-training regimen. Rather than exhausting or killing them, the increased exercise caused them to thrive.
Within eight weeks, wasted muscles came back by 300 percent, coordination and balance improved, and overall a sense of active life returned.
“Subjects who had not been able to walk unaided could now get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night by themselves, an act of reclaimed dignity that is by no means trivial.”
The youngest subject in the group was 87 and the oldest 96!
These results were always within reach of the residents; nothing new was added to the inherent capacity of the human body to reverse the effects of aging.
No . . . Lance Armstrong did NOT stop by to distribute steroids.
What changed? Their beliefs. When beliefs change, aging changes. Once the residents believed that weight-training, even at age 96, would do the body good, they changed their daily habits and choices to accommodate those new beliefs and manifest the desired change.
Source: Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, p. 58
For more on the mind-body connection . . . tune in tomorrow.
In the meantime . . . stop waiting and start weighting!
Conceive it.
Believe It.
Achieve It.
Aah . . . that’s better!
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Suzicate has pressed PUBLISH on her book ~ Stepping Into The Wilderness. It’s available from Amazon in Paperback or Kindle.
Or you can take your chances and enter to WIN a FREE copy!
Leave a comment on her most recent post, Here’s A Piece For Inquiring Minds, and you’ll be entered into Wednesday’s drawing.
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Col is running a Caption Competition! Think of a winning caption for his FUN and FUNNY photo and post it in the comment thread on his Blog.
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Spirit Lights The Way 
Weight training strengthens bones and stimulates all kinds of new cell growth throughout the body.
Yes! It is the elixir of youth! If you haven’t yet, you might want to swing by Col’s blog and toss a caption into the competition. 😀
Our minds are powerful instruments.
My goal for 2013 . . . to unlock its potent and powerful potential by the thoughts I think and the avenues I explore. 😀
This is the second time I’ve read a post regarding this book, Nancy… it must be a sign!
And if you swing by tomorrow . . . you be hit over the head with “the sign” for a 3rd time!
There’s just so much fascinating stuff in the book. Far to much for me to cover in a single post.
Thanks for the heads-up on Col’s competition! Off to investigate, Nancy.
The photo he’s using is wonderful . . . a real crowd pleaser.
I love your title. My philosophy for healthy maturity is: Keep moving. Stand straight. Check the ground in front of you frequently while walking (avoid falling at all costs).
Excellent advice, NC. Especially the standing straight part . . . and the watching where you walk part . . . and the keep moving part. All good!
I think it’s wonderful what the mind can do. Once we understand it (and that’s not easy!) we can do anything 😀
Yes! I have decided to focus on matters of the mind this year . . . to see if I can tap into some untapped potential. 😉
“When beliefs change, aging changes.”
This is so interesting Nancy. Its late and I must get to bed but I’ll come back tomorrow and follow the links.
What we tell ourselves has a powerful influence on our physical and emotional well-being. In essence, our positive and negative affirmations become self-fulfilling prophecies.
If we think, “I’m too old,” that statement becomes our reality, and we speed up the aging process. If we say, “why not? let’s do it!” that enthusiastic mindset keeps us young.
It’s a choice we make every day by the thoughts we think.
Laughter and finding something positive in everything I do, is my way of staying young at heart.
That is an AWESOME plan! 😀
Ooh, another mind/body post. I like that the study used older folks who might be more set in their ways, or resigned to the fact the best has already passed. Three hundred percent? That’s huge!
Part of the problem when we get older is that it’s easier to be less active – and if we don’t use it, we lose it.
Especially if we believe that the trudge UPHILL will take longer than we have left . . . but these results were obtained in only 8 weeks! That’s a pretty impressive return on their investment.