Getting Older

Recently I saw a yoga video produced by a friend I met many years ago at a yoga retreat. He took his first yoga class at age 50, to deal with back pain sustained after months in the hospital following an aviation accident. By the time he retired from his "regular job" he was so hooked on yoga that he decided to teach it. On the video he is talking students through the Salutation to the Sun, a yoga warm-up exercise, talking as he bends backward from a standing position. he says, "Stretch up, stretch back, and now look for the floor, look for the floor". What?? "Look for the floor"?! He is bending so far backward he is halfway down to the floor with his hands, from a standing position! It is totally amazing - I've been doing yoga nearly 30 years and I cannot do that. What is even more phenomenal is that he is 78 years old!!!
Obviously, he thinks quite differently about what is possible at age 78 than the average person his age. He hasn't bought into the typical beliefs about physical decline that come with age. Imagine what his quality of life is like compared with his peers. He moves and feels and looks like someone decades younger!
TV, movies, radio, magazines, books, and our own observations typically present us with a reality that does not include 78 year olds bending and stretching in every conceivable direction! We then begin to conform to the attitudes and beliefs about what it means to get older. However, when we see one person doing something out of the ordinary, it gives us the inspiration and freedom to be extraordinary too.
We all could make more powerful choices in our thinking processes. We could think the highest thoughts about ourselves and look for our best qualities. We could appreciate the strengths and positive qualities we already have, and focus on qualities we wish to develop. Retraining the mind to think about what is possible rather than being limited to what is apparent is a powerful technique that will bring forth the best from yourself. You will create the person you want to become physically, mentally, and spiritually.
I loved the movie Calendar Girls, a true story about a group of older women in England who posed nude (tastefully & carefully) to raise money for leukemia research. One inspiring man in the movie state that each woman is like a flower that becomes more beautiful with time. What an empowering attitude!
As we get older yoga can become a valued companion on our journey - a method to keep healthy, fit, vital and alive: a way to help our flower continue to bloom!