Youthification

It would be too much to say that we worship youth, but industries that support making us feel and look younger are growing in proportion to a growing aged population. Much time, energy and money is spent on the many ways of youth-ifiying ourselves. Hair removal, hair implants. Creams and exfoliating peels. Botox and liposuction. Whitening teeth and tanning skin. I don’t have a lot of experience with these treatments, but I have done just one recently. I had my eyebrows tattooed. I’m very happy to have my eyebrows back from their gradual retreat. It felt something I needed and wanted, even if a little vain.

Waning Energy

From my vantage point, it seems that one of the joys of youth is having great energy, mentally and physically. So much can be accomplished! One can still multi-task, although the effectiveness of that ‘skill’ has been disputed. There’s the expression: Youth is wasted on the young. 

I know now that I was unappreciative in my youth regarding how much I could cram into my life. In my forties, Just starting out as a yoga teacher and studio director, I awoke to the alarm, commuted to the city to teach a 6am two-hour yoga class, worked at a busy medical centre as receptionist 9 to 5, taught the 6pm class, and headed home to scratch together a dinner. Thank goodness, when I was finally able to give up my daytime job and teach yoga full time.

Even after having moved to Mitchells Island in 2009, I had enough juice to teach. I taught a few regular classes in the Yoga Shed, presented workshops, traveled to Byron Bay to teach in a yoga therapy course, did annual ‘intensives’, and formed a group of yoga teachers who gather once a month for practice.

Go With the Slow Flow

This year, though, in my 82nd year, I am slowing down a little. I dropped one class. That felt huge, as that group of students had been regular on Tuesday mornings for years. I do miss them.

My chair yoga class has expanded, though. And, I still teach a long-standing weekly live video class. I hope to continue our annual yoga intensives as I collaborate with a younger teacher. This year might even involve another “Ascending the Mountain” workshop, that is, if Libbie, my 80 plus partner, and I summon the necessary energy. Gosh, when I write all this, it doesn’t sound like going slow.

Silver Lining

I don’t think that slowing down is something that I’m doing. It seems more like something that is being done to me. Like an undoing. An organic process. I could resist this. I might try to go on seeking that elusive fountain of youth. 

But rather, at this time in my life, and because I am relatively unbothered by illness and injury, I am watching the changes that are occurring with some curiosity. When a woman is pregnant, she can observe her body changing each day. Old age is an amplification and acceleration of a process that has been going on since birth, body, mind, emotions changing. In a way, I am ‘forced’ to pay more attention, as I submit to more check-ups, imaging, jabs and ‘watches’ on medical/dental conditions.

One golden nugget that I’ve discovered regarding being old, owing to reduced energy and my brain slowing, is that I have more time to think. Going more slowly means I can arrive at solutions that resonate with what I feel or believe. I can be less reactionary. I don’t have to have answers, and I can just listen, without forming ready responses.

My dear friend and colleague, Donna Cavanough, has written and performs this beautiful song called ‘Going Slow’. It is a gentle reminder and encouragement to do just that.