Your Future Self

My partner was in the grocery store recently when a man stopped him and said, “I wish I could move as quickly as you.” The man was holding onto a cart for stability, slightly stooped, and when he walked, he shuffled his feet. They compared ages and the shuffling man was 5 years younger than my partner! When asked why he thought he was having difficulty moving more quickly, the man responded, “When I was in my 50’s I started to have pain, but I didn’t do anything about it. Look it me now: I can barely move and it takes a long time to pick out my groceries.”

This cautionary tale has an important lesson for us all: Whatever you do now to care for yourself (or what you choose not to do), your future self receives the results. Just think of yourself 10 years in the future. What do you want your physical health to be? This includes flexibility and strength as well as injury and illness. The choices you make today can tell you a lot about whether or not you’re on target to manifest that reality.

The beauty of yoga is that it addresses all the aspects that affect us most as we age:
Yoga brings flexibility, strength and balance to the body
Yoga helps us manage the effects of illness and injury
Yoga gives us a path for working with our thoughts in mindfulness and expressing our emotions in a healthy manner
Yoga even provides a spiritual path for those who want it through affirmations, meditation, chanting mantra and service to others

May you strive to live today so that your future self says, “Thank you!”