The Keys to Longevity

Categories: Blog May 02, 2022

Longevity is a consequence of engaging in our movement design. If we participate in our neural programming, our nervous system will more than likely run optimally and we will move well, feel well, and be well throughout the length of our days. Don’t get me wrong, because of modern medicine and technology, we can exist well into our 80s and beyond. But notice I said exist. Existing is not thriving, it’s not LIVING. So while most of us want to occupy Earth as long as we can, I think what we really want to do is live well with health and vigor as long as we can. And that is our design. 

Your body is amazing. It can retain its strength, mobility, and energy no matter how many trips you get to take around the sun. Whether it be 35 or 97 trips, health and wellbeing are your birthrights. 

But they are not accidents. 

Health and wellbeing are the effects of living and moving in your body’s design. And no matter when you engage in that design, you begin restoring your health and wellbeing. It’s not complicated and it’s really not hard. You don’t even have to do too much. It’s a wonderful forgiving design. It’s almost as if your body is always willing to give you the vitality you want to have. 

And it is. 

Your body wants to feel well. It wants you to feel well. You know many of your thoughts stem from how your body feels, so this can’t be too much of a stretch for you to imagine. Regardless, our bodies give us what we ask of them. If we don’t ask for anything, we don’t get too much and what we have actually gets taken away. But if we ask of it, we receive. What does this mean? If we use our bodies, if we “ask” of them through use and challenge, our bodies adapt to meet our “demands.” In truth, all we have to do is use our bodies and our bodies will work to ensure that we can use them. 

But we also need to “ask” our bodies correctly. That is, we all have a movement design, the way we were intended to move. When we move in this design, we are asking our bodies for our utmost health and wellbeing. In return, our body optimizes our living performance. 

The “asks” are simple. These are the few “key” movements we are designed to do every day. These are the movements that give us an optimal ability to engage in life and not just exist through life. 

1. Keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth. When you’re not using it, put it where it belongs. It belongs on the roof of your mouth. This is the one bit of information that adds to and completes all the other information your nervous system is looking for. It matters a lot. 
2. Breathe through your nose. That’s your design. It filters out bad air, kills germs in the air you breathe, helps the heart, and keeps the brain healthy. Oh yeah, it also keeps your body ridiculously strong. 
3. Move your eyes and head often AND put them on the horizon often. Your vestibular system, the most amazing system ever, is designed to keep your body upright, coordinated, and balanced. It is also designed to be held level with the horizon often, especially when our spines are vertical. Basically, whenever we are not sleeping, our heads are made to be on the horizon. 
4. Change positions often (MOVE your body often). Let gravity’s pull keep your body strong. That’s the design. Your body is literally made for gravity, to resist it and defy it. It is in this, moving often, that we continually flood our brains with information to get the best output (expressions) possible.  
5. Gait up, buttercup. The one movement (other than 1 - 4)  that is designed to keep your body healthy, throughout all time, is your gait pattern. Rolling, Rocking, Crawling, Walking, Marching, Skipping, even Running - these are the movements that the body is made to do, begging to do. When we engage in our gait pattern, we ask the body for health, strength, creativity, peace, and ease. Want a healthy brain as you age? Gait. Want a strong body as you age? Gait. Want to live to your fullest potential? Gait. 

This is your design for health and wellbeing. It is that simple. It is that wonderful. It is that powerful. These are the ways we “ask” our bodies for vitality. These are the things the body wants to be asked for. Test this out for yourself. It’s such an easy experiment. Show up every day for 30 days. Do these 5 things throughout those 30 days. Ask your body for youth and vitality. It wants to give these things to you. It’s designed to. 

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