Health Matters
If all deaths with pre-existing underlying health conditions are ruled out, then the recent virus pandemic, would have had virtually no impact. Those who invariably died, were those who were dying already -- in long term care centers, nursing homes, 55+ complexes, etc. That's where they go to die as comfortably as possible -- and it is miraculous when they do recover from their latest health crisis. It will be one thing or another until that fatal time.
Obviously, it makes greater sense than ever, not to get into that condition of ill-health and the unrelenting downward spiral -- that offers no hope for recovery -- only to keep one alive at the lowest level of functioning for as long as possible. I think most people would prefer not to live their lives in that prolonged declining state -- especially if that is purchased at the cost of all the vibrant and viable lives being sacrificed -- for the dying.
So it is not surprising when a nation that has the most people living longer with essentially terminal conditions and prognoses, has the highest mortalities of such people. They would have long perished under more subsistence cultures and societies -- as part of the normal life expectancy. So it should come as no surprise, that those who are healthier, have a much greater prognosis for continuing vibrancy and robustness -- which is the possibility and inevitability of health in the 21st century -- and not simply living longer lives in continuing and accelerating deterioration.
Those outcomes are not automatic -- nor random, but what each individual does to make themselves better and more fit to take on anything they may have to face in life. Of course, the great advantage goes to those who remain and attain greater health -- and not simply more comprehensive health care coverage. That won't offset the increasingly poor underlying health -- because that is not the doctor's job. Their province is just to treat one's sickness -- and not to achieve optimal health, which is a possibility just now stirring in people's minds as an actual possibility for the future.
Especially for us 70 or older, who really have nothing to lose by diverging from those norms -- in which people continue to get worse with age, as the age-related diseases, including death. I think it would be preferable to live 30 healthy, vibrant, robust years, and then die suddenly by not waking up one day, than to die slowly and obviously over the whole 30 years -- and dragging everybody else into the grave with them -- but that's just me, and I don't presume to speak for others, and how they think they have a right to everybody else's life as well.
I spent the first half of my life around world-class athletes and performers, and then my second half around the senior, disabled and dying -- and wondered if there could be an Olympics just for being as healthy as one can be at 100 -- as the finish line, and that was all that was required to achieve the title of First Citizen (to reach 100 without looking like 100). That to me, is the milestone we have to achieve before it is meaningful to speak of increasing life spans any further -- as a few astute in other arenas of life also recognize.
That achievement would not be simply a random event, but a very deliberate one -- and after initially breached, would then become the template for everyone else -- as what we have to do to live a healthy life, as long as possible. That should make uncommon good sense to everybody -- and not just the people peddling panaceas for every conceivable condition.
Usually, if one thing improves one health, it works for many other symptoms as well. That is one's underlying health condition -- which can be favorable, as well as unfavorable, and eventually hopeless and terminal -- if not reversed. Unlike time, health can go either way -- to get better, or only to get worse -- depending on the health model and paradigm. It's not too early in the 21st century, to note a trend to improving health -- with age, rather than just the familiar deterioration from here on out.
Obviously, the problem has been the invariable accumulation of toxins and waste products, rather than a healthy life's rejuvenation and renewal processes -- in eliminating and even recycling those resources. Such people seem to have a fountain of youth within them -- so that when one day they pass, there are no regrets for a life not fully lived. They always did their best -- for however long that was to be. But eventually, even they too will pass -- because that is the nature and reality of life. Unfortunately, many have not come to grips with those realities -- but demand that they should live forever -- even in an induced coma until a cure for whatever ails them, can be found.
However, more often than not, they could have cured themselves -- by mastering their understanding of the factors that have gone into their condition, and entertaining the alternatives -- diet, exercise, and lifestyle, and not just the ones that don't work, and don't make a difference -- but are highly marketed, and repeated. Mere repetition, is not proof of any truth. It needs to be proved in the actuality of each life. That is not the anecdotal, but the real -- the actual individual experience, and outcome.
That those outcomes are not equal -- should tell us something, and not that we can just mandate that all races should finish in a tie -- no matter how much we have to handicap all participants to ensure that result. Much effort and all the resources can be diverted to approximate that effect -- or one can examine more closely, why each experienced a different result, and what they could have done differently -- for a different result. That is the real world most of us live in -- and not the bureaucratic one of one-size-fits-all, no matter how badly.
That is the world of greater discrimination -- and not less, or none. The ability to tell those differences, is our highest achievement, and not simply repeating what one is instructed to do unvaryingly -- despite none of the desired results and favorable outcomes. If that doesn't change, then everybody just gets wiped out -- indiscriminately. However, when 99% of the people do survive, then one wants to be among that majority, rather than the dying -- though at that point, it seldom matters, and makes a huge difference. One percent of the population can always be expected to die -- with or without any complicating factors.
The reality is that nobody lives forever -- but most people live long enough to achieve whatever they set out in life to accomplish. Far fewer still, can reinvent their lives to sustain themselves longer -- for another generation. If they can, then they rightfully should live forever. They've certainly earned it. That means relearning everything at least every generation -- because what limited previous generations, was not that they had perfect knowledge -- but an imperfect one. That is no reason to quit and give up -- and resolve never to change again, because that has dire consequences.
Many have not changed -- for the last 50 years, but continue to think they are at the forefront of the consciousness revolution. All they think they need is one more reunion and revival -- to keep their lives going. But life is not like that -- endlessly repeating itself. It moves on -- with or without you. Each can simply do their best -- if they are so disposed, or their worst, if they are so disposed. But in any case, the outcomes will not be the same -- but differ according to merit. Good ideas are rewarded, while bad ideas are punished -- and extinguished. They don't work no matter how lavishly funded. That which works, takes on a life of its own, no longer requiring our nurturance, but carrying us towards a great future -- if we simply let it.
That is the familiar rise and fall of civilizations -- which have a life of its own -- greater than the sum of its parts. Underneath it all, is the unifying theme that there is a reason things happen -- or don't. Finding that out, is what science is -- and not just what authorities say is the truth that should never be questioned, even if they have to censor and suppress all the alternatives themselves. There have always been people like that.
They Don't Know What They Don't Know
Almost everybody recognizes that the person who claims to know all the "right" answers, usually hasn't even begun to ask the right questions -- or they would not be the foremost "expert" on why things go wrong. In fact, if they really knew what they were talking about, there wouldn't be a problem -- and getting worse because of what they "know." The Buddhists would call that the "right understanding," from which the "right effort" naturally flows -- because with the truly right understanding, it would be impossible to do anything else.
That is like experiencing a hot stove the first time -- which ensures that there won't be a second, or subsequent efforts to remind oneself not to touch a hot stove. But it is another matter entirely, to find out whether a stove is hot or not -- and not assume that it is -- or not, because of what they "thought" they knew. In such cases, they have to actually find out -- and it is not enough just to know that one should, or should not have left it on. One's entire life and future may depend on it.
It doesn't matter what the experts say you should have done -- or not done, because the only thing that matters, is what one did. This metaphor is a lot like what we encounter every day -- and hope to learn to get it right -- unfailingly, as early as possible in life, because not to, has disastrous and deadly consequences. That may be driving the wrong way on a one-way street for the first time, but hopefully, not the last time.
Life has many such lessons -- of which we hope to know better -- before it is too late. But that is what life is mostly about -- this learning from day one -- to do one thing, rather than another -- but even in the best of circumstances and precautions, bad things can happen, and that possibility exists, as long as we're alive. Ultimately, everyone runs out of chances -- and nobody lives forever. One just hopes before then, to make the best of all one's chances -- before one simply runs out of chances.
In a life of one hundred years, that might be doing and experiencing many things -- or just one thing, repeated every day. The end result will be the same, so it is largely up to every individual to decide which of those lifestyles one adopts -- with their varying consequences. The same outcomes, will not be guaranteed for everyone -- but a fair and enlightened society, will attempt to see that everyone starts as equally as possible -- but after that, there surely will be a different outcome for each. That is life -- in every shape and form of it.
All do not fare equally well from that beginning -- while a few, will even manage to begin many times over -- and get very good at it -- because they practice, and do not settle for only one start, and one race -- and no second chances. Thus the skilled practitioner of anything, is usually one who has practiced more than all the others -- even to the point that it is no longer practice for such individuals but simply what they do -- until it is so automatic, that it would be impossible to imagine them not doing it unfailingly.
That can be a sport -- but that is just one game among many others one hopes to master in their lifetime -- at least well enough for them to feel comfortable moving on to the next level of challenge and growth. That entails starting all over again -- learning as though one recognizes they do not know rather than being stunted in their feeling, that they already know all there is to know -- and everyone who does not know what they do, is an idiot. Usually it is true, that those who know less than they do, are idiots -- but that doesn't make them smart.
Such people think that because everyone else does not know what they know -- that they must be fools, and seldom realize, others may actually know a lot more, and that is the reason that they don't know what one does. That is the presumption of people who fail to master the right understanding -- and are mystified as to why everybody else does not do the same things they do -- with such catastrophic results. Of course, we call such people, "dysfunctional" because they fail to understand that one thing is related to every other -- and life does not happen in a test tube free of such variables -- most of which are unrecognized, as well as unmeasured.
But just because they aren't, doesn't mean it may not be even more significant to the outcomes -- so intent was the experimenter, in proving what he wanted to prove, and would not accept any other. Unfortunately, much of what we know, is predetermined in that way. That is not science -- but merely authority -- like the Pharisees and Scribes of every time and epoch. What they say, is what they say, and there should be no other -- by law or custom. Those who disagree, should be thrown into prison, or very publicly be crucified -- so nobody else is tempted to follow in those footsteps.
Who those will be, is usually taken upon themselves -- to be the exclusive judge, jury and executioners -- although the latter they will usually cede to others, to make it seem more legitimate, and the will of the people -- whom they should tell what to think. Even better if they can convince the people that they thought of it themselves.
But not everybody can think for themselves -- although all will flatter themselves that they do. They will say that is what the science or evidence says -- but never speak of any particulars, so one can determine if that is true or not. The science simply says, or the evidence is overwhelming, but what that is specifically, is never forthcoming -- presumably because it would be too difficult for anybody less qualified to understand. But that is what real science is -- that even a perfect fool could understand, and not just self-proclaimed and anointed geniuses of our times.
Long before that authority is challenged and questioned, a better understanding is being suppressed -- usually because it is not as profitable -- though it may have greater benefits in the long run, and the bigger picture. What is actually more desired, is infinitely greater health, and not simply, more and more expensive health care -- to make the vested interests richer. The greater benefit, is actually to have healthier populations who minimally need acute expensive care -- for those with multiple chronic conditions that plague them all their lives -- and are never cured.
The obviously better answer is that everyone takes better care of their own health -- rather than a few specialists who take care of all. That is not an efficient way of achieving those objectives -- just like old academia, where a few pioneer the knowledge for all. That was the old model -- prior to the 21st century, when now everybody has all the tools for research -- as well as publication. That's a hard one to give up -- for the entrenched status quo. It's not likely to be discovered by committee, either. More often than not, the great discoveries come by serendipity -- and merely paying attention. In such a state of mind, one sees more than what they are trained to see -- which are not simply aspects of reality, but the whole of reality.
But if we only go about it the same way that hasn't worked before, any advances will be merely illusory. It is only when the mind is totally silent, without the limits of its prior knowledge, that something new comes into being. And that may be exactly what we want -- and not the failed prototype in one more manifestation. So when we have a disease that only kills off the unhealthy, one should ask, is anything wrong with that? -- or is that even a problem? That is the way life works.
The greater question is, how do we get healthier? -- because that is the solution -- and that works for everything else in life. We need to drastically improve health -- and not just prevent the sick from dying. That is a real solution.
The Freedom To Be
Before we discuss sickness, one should inquire into what is health -- and not merely presume that everything one does is right -- or wrong, without first considering, what is health? For many, especially in the health care professions, that means enabling sickness and dysfunction -- which makes them vulnerable to all kinds of catastrophic events and challenges. The presumption is, that the way we already are -- is normal, or healthy -- when the truth of most lives, is that it is mostly a deteriorating condition, beginning with as soon as they reach their full maturity -- and then it is all downhill from there.
Seldom does one heed the information that they might simply be doing things wrong -- or badly, while even thinking they are living optimal lives -- when for many, if not most, that is obviously not true -- if one thing after another, seems to go wrong, and eventually, nothing seems to work right -- forevermore. Even most exercise -- thought to be healthy unequivocally, is often what causes that damage and injury, and if not recovered, leads to permanent dysfunction and disability.
As often as not, ceasing one's normal activities, results and allows a full recovery from injurious efforts. That phenomenon is experienced by nearly everyone in hard training -- who make most of their gains in a brief experiment that is not sustainable for longer periods of time. That is the familiar boom and bust cycles of training -- particularly notable in competitive bodybuilding activities -- in which those short term gains are achieved by fanatical obsession for short periods of time, doing everything possible and even dangerous, and after 6 weeks, experiencing a breakdown of some sort. A natural break from those activities becomes imperative and inevitable -- but the more desirable model, is to be able to do something and be capable daily, when one needs to.
Thus like in achieving wealth, one progresses slowly, steadily and relentlessly -- rather than the boom and bust cycles requiring frequent breaks and timeouts for "recovery" -- which then seems to be most of the time, and eventually, all the time. Frequently it is noted, that one cannot even do -- what they formerly were the best in the world at doing. Many end up prematurely dead or disabled by their practice -- and for some, it is inevitable, and they would have it no other way. It is said of such people, that they died doing what they loved to do -- which in the minds of many, is the perfect scenario.
However, even better, is knowing when that threshold and margin for error is not breached, and one can safely live out a long life enjoying all those things they like to do -- without an overly premature end. That is the frontier that needs to be explored, expressed, manifested -- and not simply living in fear of doing anything, and taking any chances. That would not be healthy -- and the difference in outright dysfunction and disability, is difficult to determine.
Thus individuals, as well as societies, often swing a pendulum from one extreme to the other, trying to fine-tune the balance -- but never presuming what those ultimate limits are -- until they actually find out. That is largely what life is about -- and not simply repeating a pattern or protocol mapped out by the so-called "experts," claiming to have perfect knowledge of such things. Most only know what they know, but the far more valuable thing to know, is what they don't know, and are eager to find out. That is the real miracle of life.
Unfortunately, most of those claiming to know it all, are more intent on profiting off of that claim -- rather than finding out whether what they know, is truly worth knowing. That is often compounded by another's attempts to claim that knowledge or any other, as their own invention and authorship -- which is the root of authority and authoritarianism. The latter, is the claim to know everything that can be known -- and all others must be brutally suppressed, censored, intimidated. That observation, should be the premise in the study of every subject -- as the limits of the known, and what is essential to explore.
We always live in such times -- and so the greatest books ever written -- is invariably about that timeless story. The best one can know, is what they don't know -- and will then embark to find out, otherwise, one is too full of their own knowledge, and never bothers anymore to even question that what they know, is worth knowing. Far more can be known, than can be applied practically and productively. The rest is sound and fury -- signifying nothing of importance. In this, "many are called, but few are chosen." One mistakes what they know, for all that can be known -- which is the greatest catastrophe of all -- in every field and endeavor.
One doesn't want to be "that guy" -- so full of their own knowledge -- that destroys civilizations and societies because they cannot allow that they do not know everything -- as though that alone, is their exclusive jurisdiction, and all others must be eliminated. That is the only way they can assure their own victories -- and are interested in no other. Such people are endlessly engaged in turf wars -- as the only thing they know what to do -- and it does not matter how many others have to be "sacrificed" to prove their point.
That is the perpetually self-aggrandizing ego -- devoid of any humor and perspective -- who thinks that only their way, is the only way -- and there is no room for any discussion about that. That is always the danger to a civil society -- that a few coerce the others into believing only their way. That is also a deranged mind -- who thinks others exist only for their own self-aggrandizement.
So real health is also this relationship with everybody and all else -- not to be employed ruthlessly only for the benefit of the one -- even if all the others must be sacrificed. It is not the most good for the greatest number -- but for only the one, at all costs. Such costs are regarded and justified as a necessary means to the end -- and morphs quickly into the necessary evils to those ends -- which they will be the exclusive judge of that.
Such absolute power corrupts absolutely -- and doesn't matter what their station in life is. In fact, it is invariably an inverse relationship -- of the least, feeling fully justified and entitled to their delusions. They think life is only about winning and losing -- and never about just being -- as fully as each individual is capable of doing. That is a mind that is always comparing and competing with everyone else -- and can never recognize that life is not that brutal, relentless and endless struggle against everything and everybody else.
That outlook destroys everything in its path. It builds nothing -- for any future; it argues only with the past -- as though that can change anything.
People in Good Health Live Longer and Better Lives
Do everything possible to be in one's best health. It seems so simple and obvious -- yet escapes so many. Many hope to be the exception to the rule -- or just don't know any better, or care to. Usually they come from a conditioning in which they've never questioned the information they were spoonfed from their earliest years not to question -- even using sugar as the primary reward for inducing and reinforcing behaviors. That's where it all begins -- and unfortunately, never ends for those who age and die way before their time.
The number to be concerned about is all causes of mortality -- rather than just the one particular certain industries are promoting -- even if it is "heart health." All death is characterized by the stoppage of the heart -- unless of course, the heart continues to live on beyond the point which all other functioning has ceased -- particularly vexing if one is responsible for that continued maintenance. Thus, the more meaningful functioning is more likely to be neuromuscular and cognitive functioning -- by which which we recognize the individual responding and reacting to its supporting environment.
It is far more appropriate to think in terms of neuro-muscular functioning rather than nervous and muscular apart from each other -- because they are so codependent on each other. As such, ancient thinkers recognized the advanced integration as the highest intelligence -- which is the reason for the establishment of the gymnasiums and the monasteries for the exercise and practice of highest actualization and attainment.
So now in these times, to actually outlaw such institutions of civilization, is particularly disturbing -- because what replaces it? The mass media would like it if they do -- because the opportunities for control is that much greater, when there is no checks and balances of others present. Control then can be absolute.
We call that relatively new development -- "self-isolating activity." One has the illusion that they are engaged with others and their environment, while it is wholly contrived and exists only in their brain -- with no corresponding external reality. That was what was called in earliest times -- "delusions of grandeur"" -- where one simply retreated more and more into the inner realms in preference to a shared reality.
Nowadays, in many cases, it is called any number of diseases and conditions -- but the result is still the same -- the deterioration of one's abilities to respond to the exigencies of the realities of their time and place. Some merely call it "age," and insist there is nothing further one can do about it. But many insist that begins at graduation from high school -- or even kindergarten, at which point they stopped learning anything else, and further. A few even pride themselves on such an achievement -- as enlightenment. To them, it is a return to the womb -- where one no longer has any responsibility for one's own nurturance and actions.
So independence and self-reliance is further discouraged -- as the cultural imperative to be the mass rather than the individual. Individual means not apart, but the whole, and indivisible -- contrary to the popular meaning of that word, while mass, is really to be only a part, or a small part of something much larger than themselves -- and only to play that part. As such, it was invariably a fragmented perception of the totality -- as though reality existed in that way.
That misunderstanding, is the reason things do not go as we expect them to -- often with disastrous results -- one still maintains, proves the futility of any understanding on their part. Yet it is seldom the case that one knows "too much," than it is likely that they know too much of what is not valid and true -- which is always worse than knowing nothing at all, because what they know, is likely to be the opposite of things as they actually are, and work -- while those beginning with an acknowledged complete ignorance, are likely to find out what is true and valid -- without the presumption that they know better.
In this way, knowledge can become a handicap -- as the separation between their knowledge and things as they are -- grows wider. If that is the case, then how does one begin integrating that knowledge from the actuality? That is the very reason for the value of exercise and practice -- as it is the integration of mind and body, and its highest attainment -- health. In colloquial terms, that would be "firing on all cylinders" -- from which all else merely flows. They get it right first, and not just hope that it will all come together at the end. It doesn't happen that way. That is merely wishful-thinking -- the belief that simply persisting at all the wrong things, will somehow be miraculously transformed into some kind of utopia -- in another time and galaxy. The universe just doesn't work that way.
Obviously, healthier individuals do their best -- including and especially at surviving. Not all life is equal in that way. Some may pull ahead for a short while, but only a very exceptional few, will continue to improve with time -- mainly because of what they are doing. There are always exceptions -- but that is the generally well established rule. So, far more important than extraordinary life support, are the things one does to provide extraordinary support for themselves -- and that is validated and actualized by their health. All that matters is what one can do for themselves -- and then the rest may be helpful, but never in place of.
Try as they might, there will never be equal outcomes -- no matter what one does. There will be differences of outcomes -- depending on what one actually does. That should be no secret -- or worse, forbidden and suppressed knowledge. That will do no one any favors -- and make all the dysfunctions of the present time inevitable for those following that advice. So the question is not how to enable such people with greater dysfunctions, but how do they not get there in the first place -- by developing good (healthy) habits?
At that juncture is where contemporary society has fallen off the tracks. Good outcomes don't just happen. That is the selection process. Yet somehow, we have been brainwashed that only the opposite is right -- no matter how disastrous. Why should so many be in poor health -- from their own doing? But that doesn't mean that healthy people will live forever. They will simply continue to live better -- for as long as they do, and that is good enough for even the most highly intelligent person to do.
That is simply making the best and the most out of their lives -- and they can be very happy with that. That is as good as life gets -- and they are at peace with the universe, and one with it.
Sometimes the Worst that can Happen
Is the best thing that can happen -- because then, the worst fears are realized -- and overcome. Until then, the fears become the limits of what we think is the unthinkable, but only when we are forced to confront it in the actuality, and not just academically and theoretically, we really never know anything with any certainty, and discover the truth of the matter.
It was formerly thought that the world was flat, and if one sailed far enough to the edge of the world, one would simply fall off -- and never be heard from again -- when the truth of the matter, was that there were worlds that existed that one could not imagine -- as the New World yet to be discovered. So it was realized, that the only thing we had to fear, was fear itself -- and not the realization of any actuality, unless we were forced to make that desperate leap.
Otherwise, one can never sufficiently be motivated just by curiosity and intellectual satisfaction to go far enough beyond the present known -- with all its fears and trepidations. That is often the case when young birds are finally forced out of the nest -- to learn that they can fly -- when they have to! Those are the essential lessons of life -- without which, one is crippled, and will not survive for long -- and that is the way of Nature that has gotten us this far, so well.
Could it have be done better or even differently? Time makes up for a lot of mistakes. When one has all the time in the world to get it right, eventually one has to get it right -- and that is the only thing that matters, but until then, we never know for certain -- as many presume to.
But as has been pointed out many times before, the thought is not the thing itself -- but always only an approximation of what we are actually dealing with. What we think we are dealing with, may not in fact be what is -- and that is the root of most misunderstandings and the problem. The problem is other than we thought it to be, and until that is understood properly, is the reason the solution fails, and all one has done, is created more elaborate explanations of why everything goes wrong. Obviously, the problem is not the solution -- but merely multiplies the problem into a bigger one.
At the present time, it should be obvious to most people considering a future, that crowded big city environments are not viable on their present course -- nor are settlements in pristine forests -- so the answer might lie somewhere between those extremes -- as the best of all possible worlds. That is still a choice for most people -- rather than to live a horrible life where one presently is, and so the greatest task of organizations and individuals, is to find that optimal for themselves -- and not just settle for their dismal prospects remaining where they are.
In a previous time, the best advice was to go West -- until everyone took that advice and those areas became too popular and crowded as well. But now, the best advice to increase one's prospects, would be to move inland, away from the overcrowded coasts, where many places are offering attractive inducements to move there. What has one to lose? One has a chance for a fresh start -- and that should never be taken for granted, or overlooked.
Nobody ever had the right to be overwhelmingly successful being where they are -- no matter what. Ultimately successful people, had to move into the void of greener pastures to make their lives and fortunes. It won't happen living in their parent's basement. They have to be forced out of the nest -- to fly, otherwise, they will simply soil their own environment until they are drowning in it. That becomes the problem of hoarding on the other end -- when one is simply holding on to everything, and letting nothing go. Then one is buried by all that trash.
So what is the world telling us now?
Floor Exercises: The Key to Lifelong Health
The obvious advantage of floor exercises is that one doesn't have to get up to do them -- and for that reason, are the most beneficial when one most needs to exercise -- when one can't get up. Then, just getting up, is a monumental and life-saving achievement. Most people take that ability for granted -- when that eventually, will be the difference between life and death -- that one no longer has to be bedridden, but from that basic skill, determines their freedom of all other movements. Conversely, when one is so weak that they are not even capable of turning themselves while lying down, they will eventually develop bed sores and resultant infections, and not be long for this world.
So this ability to change from the most immobile condition to regain full functionality, is really fundamental to lifelong mobility and health. One can always begin small and minimally, and progress on up -- rather than maintaining a futile notion that popping immediately up and onward, is the only way to be. It is the ability to change, that characterizes movement and its value. People are not born running, or born unmoving -- but change from one position to another, as evidence of their viability and robustness, and their dynamism in doing so, impresses others.
Much less impressive, is just holding a steady state -- as that does not indicate any other possibility, nor potential for anything else. That is all one does, and there is no indication that they can do anything else -- until they actually do. Usually what one does, is all they can do -- and one should not assume they can do anything else but what they exhibit -- despite claims and promises to do otherwise. Very simply, what you see is what you get -- with very rare exceptions and surprises.
So, far more indicative of their abilities, is the range of their movements -- rather than just the one movement repeated countless times, or with greater resistance. In athletic exhibitions, those who can demonstrate many different movements, are far more impressive than those who do only one thing flawlessly -- because it is the change that creates the impact.
To go from lying to standing, is a much greater change than to go from standing to walking. In fact, there is no greater engagement of all the muscles than in going from lying to standing -- which is the characteristically great advantage of choosing yoga as one's bedrock movement activity, since it specifically cultivates that change, as integral and fundamental to its conditioning program -- which is not duplicated in any other activity -- and particularly, among its oldest participants.
It is very impressive to see a group of 100 year olds getting up and down off the floor -- which is generally their cohorts' greatest fears. So when these oldsters are able to rise gracefully from the ground, there is few things more striking in contemporary society. They don't have to put on makeup or wear flashy gym attire to look young and with it. Just the fact that they get up and down off the floor easily, gracefully and uncomplainingly -- is a lot more than most contemporary younger people are prepared to do.
But that is the real meaning of push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups -- to lift oneself from a lower state to a higher one. It's not even necessary to do 100 consecutively without rest -- because 100 done nonconsecutively, with as much rest as one desires, is even more valuable, especially when performed in the normal course of one's day. That is a meaningfully active life -- and not one that is arbitrarily active for just a brief period -- usually under only one proscribed set of circumstances -- and is sedentary and poorly positioned otherwise throughout most of their day. That latter, causes most of the aches and pains of a poorly aligned posture.
Most of those specializing in back pain will tell you that those misalignments and malfunctions don't just spontaneously happen -- but are invariably caused by poorly designed furniture. shoes and postures. So their job is to observe and detect such misalignments and misuse, and reprogram them on the proper mechanical advantages of such movements.
That mechanical advantage is finding the easiest and most economical way to perform that movement -- and not to make it harder and more difficult until it eventually becomes painful and impossible. Yet that is the path many take -- thinking it is the shortcut to quick gains. That will always result in a premature cessation of such movements and activities -- if not crippling them outright. That is simply the truth of the matter -- and why most former top trainees, no longer can do what they did as younger and indestructible people. Many even die prematurely of heart failures -- from pushing their hearts too hard, too many times -- thinking that all that is necessary, is to push their hearts as hard as possible -- until it fails. That's not a good plan.
The heart will always be the last organ to fail -- and once it does, that is death as we usually define it. Meanwhile, many other organs may have long failed to function -- but we don't know that, because we have not tested for that failure. If we have 600-800 muscles, we only know definitively that a dozen or so still work -- because the rest we don't think to test, or even recognize they exist. So if one can perform a movement that requires all the muscles to be activated whether we recognize them or not, that would be the perfect exercise -- and especially important and useful to cultivate throughout one's life --as the measure far more meaningful than any other.
I've never encountered a healthy person who could not easily get up and down off the ground. I've met a lot of unhealthy people who could not get up from a lying or seated position -- much less walk, or stand. That to me is the difference between a fit person -- and those incapable of independent living. That threshold seems unduly low -- but seems to be fairly consistent for every individual. Most get to that point -- no matter whether they once were world champions, or the average working person.
Cultures, societies and individuals are impressive to the extent that they retain that upward and downward mobility -- more so than by running, jumping and throwing -- which are much less necessary activities, and being the source of injurious wear and tear that are best avoided. At that point in life, it is usually all pain and no gain -- and will often set one back weeks and months for recovery. Many never fully recover, but merely adds to their load of future handicaps and limitations -- until the disadvantages outweigh the advantages that they never try again.
That's a bad place to be. Usually they got there thinking they could not be any other way -- when the truth of the matter, is that there are many ways to be -- even if one has to create it for themselves. Far from being the most daunting prospect, that is the way of truth for every individual that has ever lived and prevailed. That is their singular mission and purpose in life -- to find out what works for them -- if nobody else. It doesn't have to work for anybody else -- as long as it works for them, and that is proof enough.
It's great if it works for anybody -- or everybody else -- but the only truth that matters is that it works for you -- perfectly. That's why there is diversity -- and not just arbitrarily mandated by the political correctness of the day -- for they don't know what good reason. Diversity is not a value in itself. The greater purpose is in achieving the best result -- by entertaining the various different plausible possibilities and their paths, and preparing for them. But diversity in itself is merely randomness without that higher criterion. That has to be results.
What is the difference between a healthy young baby and a dying old person? The newborn gets on its feet as soon as possible because they realize their very lives depend on it -- while the dying old are simply left behind. Nobody has to force them to leave the herd. In that way, the story of life and death is played out in each life -- in its own unique tale. That's what life is. The ups and downs -- and how we manage those transitions.
Death is no longer wanting things to change -- but to stay the way they are permanently -- and that is not possible. So that requires dying to everything, and the body is not far behind. The fundamental question in yoga, is not how much can one lift or how far one can run, but simply, can you still get up -- and show me. That is as basic as it needs to get. And if you're still doing it at 100, you've won.
More of the Same is NOT Better
In a previous time, it was thought that "more" was always better -- not realizing that things could be any "different." It wasn't until the modern age when people began to realize that the transformation of more, was something different, almost entirely. That happens when the critical mass is reached -- and so something entirely new and different becomes possible -- but not until then.
Most of the time, we never get to that point. The obvious one is wealth -- at which a sufficient amount, doesn't need more -- but realizes the imbalance with all other aspects of that life. Then the rest has to get better -- or all that wealth is meaningless, and more, simply the lack of any better ideas for putting money to good use.
At that point, the wise will embark on a wholesale upgrade of their lives -- but as with everything in life, simply more is not enough -- they require something different, on a higher level of appreciation and functioning. Thus, simply more food will not be better -- but the highest quality of nutrition becomes paramount. What is more important than taste and generous portions, are the most nutritionally dense foods one can consume on a regular basis.
Eventually, that's what builds the body -- and not the most enticing foods one can prepare and delight over. It doesn't matter how visually appealing, or how insatiable the food makes one consume -- if baseline nutrition is not addressed and satisfied. Not surprisingly, that will vary from individual to individual -- with a great deal of overlap. But the ultimate reality, is each individual's actual experience. That is not merely "anecdotal," but the actuality of their existence.
Thus the generalized notion of what is good for one must be good for all -- without exception -- is disproven time and again. What works for some, will not work for others, but it is still important, to find out what works for any one -- as the purpose of their whole existence. People who pride themselves on these generalizations miss this point entirely -- and think they must merely apply more force and coercion for their models to turn out "perfectly" -- as they perceived in their own minds. But that is seldom, if ever, how things actually work.
It is the individual realities, that add up to the big number, and not the big number, that dictates the outcome of every individual -- regardless. That is placing the cart before the horse, mistaking the cause for the effect, and never knowing the difference. It is in knowing this difference, that determines the successful, from failures. Often, that cannot be measured in money, or IQ scores -- or any other one thing, because it is the totality of everything -- and no longer simply one thing, no matter how prolific.
In fact, that is frequently how many successful people fail in life -- and fail to get it. That is ultimately what it is -- that undefinable greater than the sum of its parts as viewed through the veil of half-truths, and partial understandings. It misses the whole point entirely -- by its observation of only one small part of it. Of course it is the ultimate presumption of the self-absorbed mind -- that regards itself as all that can be known, and knowable.
That is not just the way it was in a long-forgotten past, but the reality of everyday life -- however much we are in denial about certain aspects of it, and would wish to edit and erase certain parts of it. But what parts of it? If one knew that, then there would be perfect understanding -- and not the quest for it that the inquiring and intelligent mind has always been driven to.
It is that certainty -- that has always been the greatest calamity in human experience -- whether in this age or another. It just comes in different forms in every era. In this age of the technocrat, it is thought that they have the rights to the claim of the ultimate truths as their exclusive monopolies and jurisdictions, and others simply don't know any better -- or anything worth knowing -- rather than looking for that grain of truth in every particle of life and behaviors.
And so many have come to the erroneous conclusion that simply more of anything, is the whole truth that matters -- and not that there can be a qualitative leap beyond the quantitative "more." Living forever in a vegetative comatose state? Yet that is still how many hope their lives will play out -- not suspecting that better, if shorter, might be far better. And that is how the story of life has played out -- up to now. However, there are now those proclaiming that henceforth, no one should die -- for any reason because they claim that prolonging life is the only meaningful measure of it.
Denial of death is not exceptional -- and in fact, is the basis of many religions -- speaking figuratively, and metaphorically. By that they mean, the one individual life merges back into the greater whole of it -- and that is the significance of life -- individual and otherwise. It is important to think deeply on such matters because it is the depth of life that matters, and not simply the frenetic activity at the surface -- which many are entirely consumed by as the measure of their "success." This is not just the spiritual side of life but the deeper meaning of it -- that modern people frequently think they are way beyond, and as such, they lose their mooring, anchorage and direction.
As a famous author once observed, "it is all sound and fury -- signifying nothing." Is that what modern life has come to? Many are "busy," but have no idea "why?"
Tyranny of the Old
The more things change, the more resistance there is to the new ways -- even when they are far better. Nowhere is that more true than in aging itself -- that many will affirm and insist that that is what getting old is -- and must be forevermore, even when modern thinking has discovered the true keys to health in longevity. Many will still prefer the old ways of relentless aging and dysfunction -- to living a different life. That is all they've seen and know -- and all they think possible.
Even in their best case scenarios, it is to deteriorate as long as possible to eventual indefinite artificial life support -- rather than renewal and rejuvenation as they experienced earlier in life. Obviously, they won't get there following the advice and even commands that haven't worked out so well -- for anyone! Still, that is the expectation -- if not the demand from everyone around them -- to just be like everyone else, and fall apart piece by piece.
But it doesn't have to be that way -- if it definitively is not working. One then has to realize they have to find their own way -- and not just the way prescribed for everyone else -- that is not working for either. And in fact, they all come down with the same predictable "age-related" diseases -- which are more accurately, just a matter of time to manifest.
Those are the metabolic diseases of accumulation -- of all that is toxic, while simultaneously eliminating all that is healthful to the body. Chief among them is the substitution of sugar (carbohydrates) for every other nutrient -- with the predictable results. The brain, muscles, and all the other organs cannot repair and rejuvenate themselves -- until all that one has, is depleted, and there is no more life force and the resources to sustain them.
That is not metaphysical, but the actual realities of any existence. To the right-thinking person, that is fair enough -- and proves one's fitness for life -- that they got it right, and no amount of wrong, can make that difference. It doesn't matter how many "experts" say it is so -- if it doesn't work for you -- and that is the whole truth of the matter. It doesn't matter how many others it has been purported to work for.
"Science" is being able to test the truth of any matter for oneself -- and confirm or disprove the truth of it for oneself, and not just "listening to the experts," who may have their own agenda entirely. Very often, it is to command what everybody else thinks is the truth -- rather than in allowing them to find out for themselves. This manner of promotion, is merely authoritarianism -- in which people just accept whatever the authorities tell them -- and are usually forbidden to think and find out otherwise. It is an age-old thread in human experience and evolution -- before a great leap forward -- because reality demands it.
But not everybody makes the leap -- and then those of the old guard -- become the last, while the eager and bold, become the first into the new world. Again, time plays its role -- waiting for everything to fall into place -- even in the most unpredictable ways. Who would have guessed that all the gyms would be shut down -- and then the only way of exercising, was with no equipment, accessories, and uniforms -- and everybody would be forced to create exercise as best they can, with whatever they have. The magic is not in the machine -- or any other apparatus. It is in the knowledge of one's own discoveries and insights.
Insanity is doing the same things over and over again hoping for a different (better) result -- rather than discovering what actually works -- and then improving upon it. Knowledge is always at the beginning of the journey and not the end of the need for understanding. For a whole generation to come to that reckoning is a global shock in consciousness -- that simply accumulating information is not enough, but the integration of all that is known into something unpredictably greater -- is the next step in evolution.
That is the transformation from health care to real health, as the new reality of our existence. Then the possibility of people living to 100 -- in perfectly good health becomes possible, rather than merely wishful-thinking for most. Of course one doesn't get there just by eating everybody else's desserts. In fact, that is the known path to all diseases. It should be obvious by now that doing all the wrong things results in poor health -- and that is not just handed out randomly, or to those who doggedly repeat what is not true -- and gets no favorable results.
There is a reason some are more susceptible to all manner of diseases and misfortunes -- while others experiencing those same challenges -- overcome those adversities and become stronger and fitter -- with time on their side. Then the game changes entirely -- when time is on one's side, rather than working relentlessly against them -- waiting to go off. That's the chance everybody takes -- whether they want to or realize.
With those prospects, one should hope for the best, while preparing for the worst -- because the reality will fall somewhere in between -- and just hoping for the best, OR preparing for the worst, will not be a sufficient response for life ahead. That is what an intelligent person does -- prepare for many scenarios of varying possibilities -- and never expecting that everything will go according to their demands from everybody else.
Life is extremely personal in that way. It's not a random walk through life -- but an increasingly focused and sensible one. Increasingly, what one sees, is what they get, and not something opposite -- as many believe possible. But that is a good model for testing -- to hone and refine one's knowledge to greater precision and effectiveness -- than just knowing the one thing that isn't working very well, and thinking that is all life has to offer -- for assuredly, it is not. There are all the possibilities of life -- that some will convince us are disastrous except for their solution -- but merely prolongs and exacerbates one's condition, until finally there is nothing left.
That is the choice of freedom -- to be what one individually wants to be -- and not just have it determined by the authoritarian others -- who say "this cannot be done, and that cannot be done," because all things are possible -- until proven otherwise. Then, one can discover and actualize the greater life the powers that be insist are impossible, and should never even be thought about -- as their chosen role in society.
Self-Reliance (Self-Discovery)
In troubled times, one is required to do everything for themselves -- and not rely on anybody else to do it for them. Most often, those others will simply not be around -- especially if one is on a road less traveled. If one has ever been in such a situation, one vows to be better prepared the next and all subsequent times -- and not take it for granted that help will arrive -- just because one wants it. Increasingly, most of life is that way -- and any help and cooperation is always appreciated, but should never be taken for granted, or worse, feel entitled to.
The obvious situations are the earthquakes, fires, floods, plagues, famines, along with innumerable man-made disasters -- often by following sanctioned advice. But as long as it doesn't work for everybody else, nobody notices that there could be another way -- a better solution, especially when all thought of such is banned and prohibited -- by the powers that wish to exercise that exclusive control. Such watershed events happen at least once in every lifetime -- whether it is a war, plague, tsunami, personal disaster and loss. Everyone will experience at least once in their life -- and those who haven't, still have that to learn, and benefit from.
So it is much better to have won and lost a fortune, than only known winning -- with never a loss, because that loss teaches one something even more valuable than never having loss -- yet. Because one day it does come, and one is totally unprepared for it -- which is always a greater calamity than those who have been there before. That is one of the advantages of age -- and having lived a long enough life to have experienced many things -- and have died and been reborn to survive anew.
The caveat of course, is that one survives to learn from that lesson -- and also learns not to tempt fate unnecessarily. Every mistake and overestimation of one's abilities, could be one's last. And that is not foolish, for those who survive to 100. They've demonstrated what it takes to get there. But just crawling over the finish line after everybody else has gone home, is not enough -- to make one "first." One wants to discover something else in which they can really be first -- and not the last, and receiving a "Participation" trophy for still thinking it matters.
Better they should create their own event -- in which they really do come in first -- such as the first to live to 100, and not look 100. That is yet to be achieved -- but surely, that milestone will be breached -- as has to, for living even longer, to have much meaning at all. So those who merely they can live forever on artificial life support, obviously haven't thought the implications of life at all. Even if one has all the money in the world to afford, does one want to end up a pile of unrecognizable protoplasm in some laboratory-sealed bunker -- far from the river of life?
I don't think so -- but there may be a billionaire or two looking forward to such a precedence. Much things are possible these days -- but why not the truly amazing, and unthinkable? That would obviously be for a person to live a hundred years while still getting better -- not as a lie not to hurt their feelings, but actually so, because they actually do all the right things -- and not simply the "right" things that don't work. That could be true for diet, exercise, lifestyle -- if it doesn't actually work -- but instead, multiplies the many incurable contemporary diseases and afflictions of these times.
A few perceptive researchers and thinkers about life have questioned that maybe everything they thought was true, is not -- as the simple and obvious explanation for why their models and theories do not work -- rather than insisting that they must be true -- despite the results and consequences. That has been the experience of human consciousness and thought for as long as there is a record of thoughts -- and how individuals, cultures and societies, have attempted to circumvent it -- as the cult of "immortality" in every civilization -- that forms the basis for most religions.
It is the "greater life" in some vague manner that resonates in every culture. But how that is to be manifested "in the flesh," remains to be seen. That is what we really want to know -- as the fountain of youth, or the holy grail -- which is that eternal quest for the unknown beyond. The "known" has its obvious limitations -- that does not get us there -- obviously. Thus, one has very little to lose going where everybody else has gone before -- even if it is the conventional wisdom that fails everybody else. We don't need further proof of that.
The answer must lie beyond this known. It is the unthinkable. But only time will tell -- as the first who get there, and share that accomplishment in the unprecedented manner not possible before. One YouTube video claimed to be a 100 year old ballerina -- which would have been impressive if that were true -- but alas, she turned out to be only 78 -- a remarkable achievement in itself -- and opening up the possibility that it will be achievable in her own lifetime. However, ballet is a perilous vehicle for achieving and exhibiting that -- and any fall from that grace, might put an end to further progress.
So it would be appropriate to ask, how would one demonstrate the robustness and viability of life at that age and condition? Does one necessarily have to run a marathon -- that actually eliminates the field rather than increases the access -- by anybody still living and breathing. That's really not hard to conceive -- if one can let go of all the requirements of all those activities that aren't working, and in most cases, eliminate the participation. You don't get there by eliminating the field of participants.
And that is what the competitive model of athletics and activities deliberately seek to do -- eliminate all the others until only the one remains. But is that necessarily what one wants to do? You can always isolate the one who will be the rare exception -- but if one wishes to discover a general principle, that is the last thing one would do. You don't want to know what only works for one -- no matter how exceptional. You wish to find out what works for most -- so many get there, and then you see the possibilities -- of life beyond.
A sedentary life, or even a bedridden one, should not be a limitation. If one prefers to sit, one need not be forced to stand, nor the bedridden to walk -- when doing so only increases their risk of further danger and injury. Even then, that does not preclude any and all movement -- particularly of what is most significant to move, and that is the blood -- not primarily dependent on the constant heart action -- but greatly impacted by the engagement of those muscles seldom mobilized. If fact, many think they are immobile -- when they are still capable of the greatest movements possible, which are at muscles of expression. They are also the areas greatest distance from the heart -- at the head, hands and feet -- which articulating, and increasing their health and functioning particularly, is mostly the movements that matters.
If those fine-motor movements and expressions can be maintained -- and even enhanced, then one is still improving, and growing. There is no greater self-evident truth.
There is a common belief that stock market prices are moved by the struggle between two emotions -- fear and greed -- as though desiring and working to achieve financial stability and peace of mind was an unnatural impulse -- rather than a natural and healthy impulse of every human being. In that reckoning, fear is seen as good, while greed is obviously bad -- implying avarice and envy. In this way, fear becomes a virtue -- while the desire to improve one's lot and fortune in life, is regarded as shameful. Some even claim their poverty as a sign of their virtue -- rather than vice and sloth -- and the wages of sin, that rob them of their own prosperity.
As long as they hold that mindset, they will continue to be poor -- thinking that the accumulation of wealth, should never happen. Such people, are always at the mercy of forces beyond their control -- because they have no margin for error. At the first whiff of something not going exactly according to plan, they are ruined -- and may not recover. They have no resources for resilience; every challenge sets them back. And so it seems, everyday finds them farther behind. There is no pulling even -- much less pulling ahead. Such people, obviously have no confidence -- in the future, themselves, anything else.
They live in fear of every next thing -- being totally unprepared. Of course, that is not a winning strategy -- or outlook on life. It's somewhat a matter of money, but it is mostly the lack of confidence to take on anything new or different. They will continue to do what they've always done before even if it has brought them nothing but heartache and failure. They prefer the comfort of that familiarity -- to discovering anything new.
There are many different reasons for doing anything -- as there are many different ways of doing anything. It depends on what they want out of it. For some, it is just the entertainment -- of winning and losing. For others, it is to avoid loss as much as possible. Better yet, one weighs the benefits against the risks -- and goes with the winners, rather than hoping the losers will turnaround. Those are the winning bets -- by far, as well as the most obvious. However, many are convinced that all outcomes must be equal -- eventually, if they live long enough, which they hope to be forever. That too, is not a winning bet.
It is commonly believed, as well as taught in many schools of political correctness, that given enough time, a room full of chimpanzees can type out the complete works of Shakespeare -- just by chance. That is not the proper understanding of randomness -- for any practical (real world) purpose -- which is the world most people live in. A few, undoubtedly, live in a world of endless illusion and delusion. Things are only what they wish them to be -- and so they have a distinct problem, meshing with others. They may actually in fact, promote "social distancing" as a virtue. Anything to get people not communicating with each other -- as they don't. That is the only way they can see of leveling the playing field -- dragging everyone down to their level, or seeing that nobody is allowed to do better than they do.
Of course, that is the mindset of the ghetto -- and anyone trying to climb out, must be pulled back into the hopeless vortex. That is one kind of social equity -- but it doesn't allow for any greater possibilities -- only the tyranny of the masses. The mob rules. Fortunately, individuals are forced out and so have to find a better way.
That is the story of Jesus, Columbus, Martin Luther, Socrates. etc. They questioned that authority -- and discovered whole new worlds. That requires confidence and not greed -- and vanquishes fear. That confidence, is the beginning of everything -- while fear is the signal that the end is near. Life and growth prevail, no matter how often it has been suppressed, oppressed and persecuted -- by those hoping to remain on top forever. Life is not that way. They too will pass -- and life can go on.
Making Exercise Easier (and More Productive)
It doesn't take a genius to make anything harder, more difficult, and more complicated -- but that is what the unintelligent, think makes one seem smarter. That's because to them, everything seems harder, more difficult and more complicated than it is -- because of their lack of understanding. Doing anything, without any understanding, or the proper understanding, will invariably make things worse -- and never better, and then they shrug their shoulders and proudly pronounce, that that is how the world is -- everything totally and hopelessly messed up -- no matter how much they do. They don't seem to realize that everything is messed up because of what they do -- and not in spite of it.
So when everything in their body hurts, the first thing to ask, is what are they doing? And from that, one has a fairly clear idea of what they are doing that got them that way. It usually is not a big secret, and may be obvious to everyone else. But accepting or getting used to the idea that everything should go wrong, is what their life is about -- and very few are capable of changing for the better. They don't want to change for the better: they think there is nothing wrong with everything not working out very well -- and are convinced, that is how it is for everyone else as well -- except they are lying, or pretending to be something else.
So the dysfunctional view of the world, is very strong with such people -- but rather than change, they want to pull everyone else into that reality with them. They will not get better -- but only worse, and time will bear them out. You do the same things, you get the same results. Unfailingly. Some never catch on.
And that is increasingly true as time passes -- and those results accumulate; they don't just go away with a fresh slate each day -- not that it would make a difference. They would still find a way to lose -- because that's what they think is the object of the game, or anything else -- to just get worse over time. They proudly call that "aging," when time makes progress possible -- more often than not. That's why there is progress and evolution -- over time. However, that doesn't mean that everyone will progress and get better -- but the few who do, change the course of history and evolution. They make the quantum leap where others have not gone before.
It is not effort and struggle that has gotten humanity to its present evolution -- but improvements in understanding, consciousness and insight. If what we have been doing doesn't work, we just can't keep on insisting that it does -- and simply must try harder. That's particularly true in what seems to work when one is young and healthy, but fails miserably when one is old and decrepit. It may turn out that what one thought worked in the young, was not it at all -- and there were more powerful forces at work.
And the people who claimed to know -- actually don't -- or don't know what actually works, but simply repeat what doesn't, as though it is the truth, and the only thing they agree upon, is to stick together repeating the same articles of faith -- as their brotherhood, or profession. Meanwhile, millions are sacrificed to their "knowledge" -- while they remain at the top of the priesthood. That's a recurring theme throughout history (and ideology). Those who "know" -- and the people who suffer because of it. Meanwhile, such people are busy aggrandizing all the turf -- to speak as though they know, and are the only ones who can know these things.
So it is great to see when they overreach, and people break out questioning all authority -- that has paraded itself as "science," or the truth, but having no idea how they got to believing what they do. In exercise, or the course of movement that one hopes to optimize their individual health, well-being and functioning, it is long assumed that simply making any movement more difficult and problematical, will result in making it eventually easier, more fluid, and productive to attaining optimal health -- when that is obviously not true when the former athletic champions prematurely have heart attacks, are crippled, and die of despair that their heyday is irreversibly gone -- and so they relive their youth as their prime, rather than their tortured present.
How did that happen? It didn't just happen -- it was deliberate and intentional -- in the misguided understanding that to obtain a desired result, means doing the opposite of what is logical to do. That would be too easy -- and logical, and their conditioning has made them to always do the opposite of that obvious wisdom. So predictably, their whole lives fall apart following those infallible guiding principles. Everything just seems to get harder, until one day, they become utterly impossible -- but not to worry, we can hire an army of caregivers to do all those things for us -- and we can continue to become as weakened as possible because technology will still keep us alive despite no effort on our own part. And that is how many hope to live as long as they possible.
That is not the only future for humanity though. There is the remote possibility that people can actually get better over time. Of course, they have to be doing all the right things to do so -- and not just anything that doesn't get one there. But the experts will rationalize that there is no difference -- because nothing they've tried works, and so they have stopped trying anything else -- and especially, those things that might work -- because they are "too old" to learn something new, and different.
That would be, that the smallest change, makes the biggest difference -- and not the greatest expenditure of energy, for little or no results -- leading to the characteristic despair of those who have done so all their lives -- and have no idea things can be different. They think that more of the same is the only difference -- even if it doesn't work, and makes them worse. Still, they will persist at it until they entirely can't. A large part of their conditioning, is to believe that there is no other way -- and so they have to do it that way -- even if it doesn't work, or make any sense at all. Their lives are just rote repetition of what they were programmed by others to do.
So it requires that realization to break free from the tyranny of that conditioning -- but obviously requires, doing something different. Otherwise, the trajectory is inescapable. Even those who teach exercise to the elderly and frail begin by demonstrating and demanding them to do movements that are difficult or impossible -- rather than beginning with what they can do -- but like most people, simply don't think to do. And that is to move at the joints that are ideally designed to move -- at the neck, wrists and ankles -- which if they can be maintained, imply the rest. Larger muscles are not meant to move intricately, but are designed to provide stability and support -- while the important movements take place at the extremities of our vital and critical senses.
Those are the movements and faculties important to sustain and hone -- and not the biceps, pecs and lats -- for what reason? Yet that is the only bodyparts aging bodybuilders focus on -- as they barely hobble onstage -- with their obviously atrophied necks, forearms and calves. That's where the failure begins -- and works its way back to the origin of all the muscular structures at the center (heart) of the body, and all the other organs that work to keep the entirety in top running condition. All the traditional and conventional exercises ignore that importance -- and that is why they don't work -- because the accumulated toxins never returns to the cleansing organs -- and in that process, making room for the new.
That is what productive exercise and movements do -- pump the blood (fluids) back to the heart. The heart pumps blood into whatever space (vacuum) is available to it -- and simply making the heart pump harder and faster does not achieve that effect -- but prematurely enlarges and weakens the heart. Productive circulation is not dependent on how hard the heart works -- but how much the skeletal muscles pump blood back towards the heart. That is what optimizes the circulatory effect -- and keeps one healthy and vibrant in those areas exercised in that manner, and understanding.
Otherwise, there is the frequent frustration and exasperation that no matter how much they exercise with the conventional understanding -- it doesn't work as one ages. That is the accumulative effect of not doing things properly and not that it has to be that way -- for everybody, no matter what they do, and how hard they try. If you're not doing the right thing, it doesn't work -- and it doesn't matter how much of it you do.
Exercising without Movement (Isometrics Reinvented)
As some may be old enough to recall, a manner of exercise that became the rage very briefly in the 1950s, was what was called "isometric" exercise -- notable for its lack of visible movement. However, a lot was still going on within the body that was not so visible -- nor easily measured.
But the downfall of its popularity began when trainees would suffer the valsalva effect of holding their breath too long -- especially under the pressure of exertion. That notable effect was when trainees would pass out -- which made it a very perilous style of training -- particularly around heavy metal and purposefully unforgiving objects.
Often, it was after the isometric exercise ended, when the real excitement began. It is not unlike many single attempt limits in which the trainee passes out -- with often disastrous results for themselves, as well as those assisting them, or merely innocent bystanders. There were even times when a squat rack was placed right next to a plate glass window -- with as one can imagine, spectacular chain-of-events. So such antics quickly fell out of favor -- and few have thought to revisit the validity of the principles invoked.
But such a manner of training (exercising) is not particularly novel nor unprecedented, because yoga is distinctive for its postures and poses rather than movements -- but deliberately cultivates breathing while maintaining a relaxed position. However, even the most fervent yoga practitioner will note that that increased range of movement comes because of a lack of substantial muscular development -- which is an byproduct of optimizing circulation. Muscles, as well as all the organs of the body, reach their optimal performance, development and appearance, because the circulation to those organs, tissues and cells -- are optimized to keep them as well-nourished and toxic-free as possible. Under such conditions, muscles grow larger because they are provided the nutrients to do so, while just as importantly, removing the toxins that build up as a result of those expenditures (exertions).
If those waste products are not first removed, then there is simply no room for the new to replace them -- so understanding that sequence, is key to optimizing the circulation -- and not simply making the heart work harder into the resistance presented when the capillaries are not drained by the proper understanding of that process. All skeletal muscles must contract back towards the heart (proximal), from whatever axis of rotation the joint is articulating at (insertion). In most real world activities, that would be at the neck, wrists or ankles -- but in activities contrived just to increase the heart rate arbitrarily and unnecessarily, that movement seldom proceeds beyond the hips and shoulders -- and even then, not by much.
And that is the problem when people report exercising as hard as ever, with only diminishing returns -- eventually to the point at which they think it is even non- or counterproductive. At which they give up and fall into despair about their future prospects for good health and survival -- and think nothing else is possible -- because they largely think that nothing else is possible. Many physical instructors and even other health professionals will insist that it is either their "way or the highway," even though they exhibit no evidence that their way actually works. It is just enough that they all recommend the same thing -- that doesn't work for everybody else either.
But the inquiring mind might ask, "Is that all there is?" "Are we all doomed in this way?" One hopes not -- but it is not likely to be what everybody is insisting doesn't work. They have to look deeper for a way that does -- and makes perfectly good sense to do so.
One of the earlier ideas to improve upon the isometric idea came in the concept of negative-accentuated exercise -- in which instead of focusing primarily on lifting a weight (positive-accentuated), one devoted more time and energy to lowering the weight from full contraction to full relaxation -- as sort of an isometric with movement. The problem with this is that it still requires breath-holding as the method by which one is hoping to hold and lower the weight as slowly as possible -- and so causing the muscle to "fail" in this way. However, this also made any familiar exercise even harder -- and less rewarding (validating), because the measure of its success -- was this notable failure. It was called "muscle failure," when in fact, it was the failure of adequate circulation to the brain -- that causes all other exertions to cease.
What one wishes to do in any athletic or practical event, is actually to increase one's capabilities and perseverence as long as is required -- and not to prematurely and predictably fail. At the wrong moment, that would be particularly disastrous -- and so the practicality of that manner of conditioning, is highly questionable, and of what use? Predictably, that manner of training, while initially popular, was also quickly abandoned -- because conditioning with "failure," does not particularly make sense to those who wish to persevere long after the competition has dropped out. They wish to be the "last man standing," and not the "first person out."
The problem with most static exercise modalities, is that they move from the presumably fully contracted position to the fully relaxed position -- and when they talk of increasing the range of motion, think in terms of increasing the range of relaxed position, rather than more productively, increasing the contraction beyond what they have thought to be the furthest extent in that direction -- yet that is obviously the movement that would have the greatest impact of forcing the fluid (blood) out of the capillaries at the extremities -- as the muscle contracts increasingly or momentarily as hard as it ever has. That action forces the blood back towards the heart in the most powerful, obvious way -- creating the space for the heart to pump new blood into those areas. Keep in mind that the heart is only an organ of less than a pound, and cannot overcome the resistance of miles of capillaries in which the blood is not moving.
But the evacuation always has to precede the inflow -- because the resistance in the capillaries, is too difficult to overcome. It has to be pumping into a vacuum as much as possible to achieve -- by understanding the action of the muscles to contract back towards the heart -- and in that contraction, compressing the fluids in that direction -- towards the renewing and recycling organs of the body. That's what most produces and assures healthful functioning of the body. Nature has done the hard part -- in designing and evolving everything that way. We still need to read the User's Manual to get maximum use out of it -- and volumes have been written to get even more.
But unfortunately, most settle for the minimal use of it -- rather than its fullest potential to upgrade our lives to much higher levels than ever thought possible before. That's when the real magic is unleashed -- tapping the power of the unthinkable. The position in which one thinks is the end position, is only the beginning -- and one can dispense with the rest. The range that can be extended and articulated (expressed), doesn't end where most think it does -- but actually begins at that point at which most think further movement is not possible. Further efforts in that direction, causes a super-contraction -- while seemingly producing very little discernible movement. However, the resistance from further contraction, is maximal -- and that is the very powerful effect of producing the maximum internal compression pushing blood back to the heart.
Then, even the slightest relaxation, draws blood from the heart into that vacuum (space). And so, it is not a steady, constant contraction that is most effective in achieving that circulatory effect, but rather, pulsing in very brief, but powerful supercontractions -- that only seems like a constant isometric contraction. That alternation of muscular state would obviously produce a similar pumping effect as the heart -- which has to be an alternation between the contracted muscle and a relaxation -- even while an overt movement is minimal. It is the movement within the body that is far more important than any outward show of it -- for the health benefit.
And the health benefit, should be the longterm objective of exercise -- and not just throwing a ball further, running faster, jumping higher, and lifting more weight, but in the doing so, prematurely shortening their life and well-being -- as is so often witnessed in using the highly competitive model to measure one's progress. Thus, many training in that fashion, have a brief moment of fame, and then a much longer period of disability, and premature death. Some are willing to accept that trade-off, but many more, would opt for a longer life, in good health as the overwhelming quality and quantity of life.
But as many people know, or recognize, movements become increasingly problematical with age -- so the trick is to attain the benefits -- without experiencing the pain and disincentives for doing so -- which brings most people to an abrupt stop in their activities, even as much as they've enjoyed it previously all their life. There comes a time when even that is no longer possible, or bearable. So how does one get around that? Exercising with minimal movement -- but unprecedented effectiveness. The exercise must now begin where they previously would have ended it.
A good example is to lay down on a surface and bring the knees up to one's chest as much as possible -- and once attaining that position, straightening the legs, and from that position, move the feet further towards the head, and even down to the floor if that is possible. Every inch of moving in that direction, will produce an unprecedented muscular contraction -- most notably of the abdominals, but of all the muscles also -- in a way that moving the feet in the more conventional direction (back to relaxation), could never. The quality and intensity of the contraction, determines the effective of the compression of the blood back towards the heart -- and on each momentary relaxation, the heart has space to fill with new blood. Otherwise, the heart is totally ineffective -- because it cannot overcome the resistance of miles of capillaries with blood that remains in it. That is not possible, but simply returns to the heart.
The blood has to be first evacuated -- and then the resulting space, creates a vacuum where new blood can readily flow. It can't work any other way. It is just physically impossible -- no matter how much one thinks it is so. It just doesn't work that way -- or could it. That's why the isometric contraction -- beginning with the conventional endpoint, is the most powerful way to effect this action -- because nothing else is possible.
This is a particularly useful way for those with movement limitations to exercise -- because it obviates the need for overt movement, while maximizing the internal movement, which is the flow of blood back to the heart. In more primitive times, people would move their hands, feet and necks much more -- but now that is seen mostly in performers in dance, gymnastics, diving and other athletics -- but is less obvious in all the athletic movements -- that are overshadowed by other measurements of significance. Many purely fitness activities overlook these critical and fine motor coordinations -- thinking wrongly, that gross movements are all that is necessary to make the heart work harder. But the lack is not the dereliction of the heart but of every other muscle of sedentary contemporary living to do its vital part to complete the circulatory process and pathway -- particularly to the head, hands and feet, that are the familiar and obvious signs of deterioration and aging.
Understanding and focusing on only one part of it, does not make it a whole, or even complete understanding of this vital health process. One needs to see the larger picture -- and not mistake a small part, as the whole story. -- yet thinking one understands anything at all. People don't just die from one thing; they die from everything. Similarly, life is not just one thing -- but everything.
Recovery Ability (Resilience)
Probably the most underappreciated and misunderstood force of life is the concept of recovery ability -- or how one responds to the challenges of life. That can be the calamitous shocks, as well as the self-imposed to increase one's ability to handle any challenges. Done successfully, one grows stronger with such deliberate dosings and exposures, and prepares themselves to avoid those situations in which one might become overwhelmed by more than can be handled. So while doing something demanding may cause one to increase their ability to meet subsequent greater challenges successfully, falling off a ten-story building, does not make one less susceptible to falls -- and in fact, will certainly kill them.
Throughout life, one hopes to explore that fine line between too little, and too much challenge (stimulus), and determine the proper dosage that enables one to sustain increasing immunity -- from that which might be deadly or disabling -- just as any animal does in their lifetimes. That is the basic intelligence test that really matters -- and beyond that, one can fine-tune the subtleties and nuances.
Most athletes experience that turning point at which they no longer recover from their injuries and/or exertions as well as they once did, and seem to enter a prolonged and irreversible state of decreasing recovery ability that signals that it may be time to move onto the next stage of their lives -- beyond world-class competitions. It happens even to the best -- and to everyone else, a lot sooner -- but that turning point is unmistakable and unforgiving. But is that the end of life, or just the signal to adapt to even better ways? Brute force will only get one so far in life, and to go even farther, one has to leap to another dimension and outgrow their childish ways and tactics.
When they do, whole new worlds open up to them -- and they are no longer simply repeating the past -- as the only way possible. That is what real progress and evolution is about -- and not simply doing more of the same -- hoping for a different and better result. Often, what they have been doing, will be revealed not as the solution, but actually the root of all their problems -- that keep them from making the leap into the future. And that's where they want to live their lives -- and not just keep on repeating their retarded past. Something new and wonderful, has to come into being -- and not just the same old, same old.
Hopefully, everyone is living for the breakthroughs in their own lives -- and are not just the pawns in some other people's or institution's agenda. We all have that right to our own lives -- and as the authors of our own original, unique, and unprecedented scripts. That's when life gets really exciting -- to go where we have not gone before, and even nobody has gone before. But the latter is not our primary concern -- as there may be others, and one shouldn't be overly concerned about what everybody else is doing, while neglecting their own purpose. It's easy to get distracted by what others think is so important -- and lose sight of our own significance.
Saving "mankind," is not nearly as important and meaningful as saving oneself, and in that doing, one is saving mankind -- one person at a time, and not just the thought, while doing nothing meaningful in one's own life. And that is usually how mankind goes astray -- by everyone saving everybody else, while nobody bothers to first put on their own emergency mask. And so the plane crashes -- despite all the good intentions and selflessness. People are not effective at preventing others from dying and disease; they are most effective at preventing themselves from dying and disease. That is the effective and winning strategy -- and not preventing everybody else from losing.
It seems a very simple lesson -- but hard to execute, because one thinks reality is what everybody else is doing -- rather than what one is doing themselves. For many people, there is no distinction between the two -- and so if somebody else is doing it, that is good enough for them -- and they don't have to do it themselves. They think if the "average" person does it, they don't have to do it themselves, because they are included in the average -- which means they've already done it. But the average is not the reality for any specific individual -- and what every individual does, is their own reality -- and not vice-versa. That's how the human experience diverges -- for every individual.
That is the failure of mass culture to instruct properly. It is the individual who is real, and not the average -- which is only an idea of what everybody is actually doing. And so when people fail to get excellent results for their efforts and understanding, it is because they are trying to get an average result -- rather than the best they can for themselves -- with the understanding that that is what others are trying to do as well. There is no athlete or competitor who is trying for the average -- but each is out to do the best they can do -- individually and personally -- and that is what matters. That is what is misunderstood by the purely academic approach to the understanding of anything. Everyone is deliberately trying to skew the average -- and not conform to it! There is no default to the mean.
So arbitrary (work)loads are not as significant as how each individual responds to it -- and recovers in anticipation of the next. It could be favorably or unfavorably -- depending on that particular individual. That is individual variation -- and not one size fits all, because the averages say so. Most will not be negatively impacted while a few may die -- depending on their recovery ability, which is their response to this and any other challenge. The results remain to be seen -- and cannot be predetermined except for these actual outcomes, and from that, the truth is revealed. Individual results will vary -- and be valid for every individual. That is not just "anecdotal" but a case study of one. It also, is not the only, and the whole truth of the matter.
One person dying from it, does not indicate that everyone will die from it. That would be a gross generalization. Or even that one person dying, is one too many that must be prevented at all costs! If one person dies of a heart attack from exercising, all exercises must heretofore be banned -- because if even one person succumbs in that manner, it is far too dangerous to be beneficial -- or what the pseudo-scientists (media writers) will proclaim. It does not matter that they had an underlying health condition; rules are sacrosanct -- and must never be violated. Nobody should determine that appropriateness on their own -- assessing their own risk and rewards.
It must be determined for everyone else -- for their own good! "Let it be written, let it be done."
Thinking for Oneself
Probably the greatest challenge of any time, is learning to think well for oneself -- as that quality, is the greatest predictor for success in life. It is also the means to that end -- and no other way will bring them greater happiness, meaning and purpose.
Otherwise, one is simply in a coma -- sleepwalking through life -- with no idea how they got there, and where they are going. One just follows what everybody else is doing -- and never takes the leadership and ownership of their own lives. They simply believe what they are told to believe -- which is a very sad way of living, and feel they have no other choice.
They are told what to believe, repeat, and even impose -- as though that was their greatest social duty. That's life as one of the mindless masses -- awaiting instructions on what to believe, and repeat as though one thought of it themselves -- and they go through their entire lives that way -- never having an authentic, original and unique thought or experience in their lives.
They even think that is the ideal -- of a life written for them -- and not that they are writing it as they are living it.
The virus is not the problem. 99% of the people who get it, don't die from it. 99% of the people who do die from it, had metabolic syndrome comorbidities -- associated with the diabetic process -- including those who seemed to have no "diagnosed" underlying medical problems -- as many "prediabetics" do. They're not considered diabetic unless they have high levels of sugar in their blood -- but they can have high levels of sugar in all their other tissues -- causing their organs to rot. That's why many diabetics eventually have to have their toes and feet amputated, and other organs malfunction -- including the liver, kidneys, brain and heart. That condition is caused by the advice given 50 years ago to avoid protein and fats, and instead to favor carbohydrates which break down into sugar -- and then is stored in the body -- until there is a demand for it, or the body is not being triggered to store energy in this way. That is what the body has evolved to do -- store energy for the time when food may not be accessible, but instead of the Malthus hypothesis becoming true, food became abundant -- particularly plant-based food, which the human bodies are not so well designed to metabolize. Infectious disease was basically eradicated in the 20th century with the 1918 flu, polio, tuberculosis -- and replaced in the 21st century largely by these metabolic disorders -- and that's what people are dying from -- with any additional "load" pushing them over. As many scientists have noted, we live in a world of germs, bacteria, fungi -- and not that they live in our world. So the suggestion that we have to completely eradicate them before we can continue on with life -- is really idiotic, even if promoted by Fauci, Gates, WHO, CDC, Surgeon General -- who largely got us into this mess with their advice to make everyone a diabetic -- with their advice to eat a high carbohydrate, low-cholesterol diet -- which a few pioneering researchers realized is the cause of most of modern day diseases. That is lifestyle, diet, and exercise -- which Fauci, Gates, WHO, CDC, and the Surgeon General is totally missing in action from. And the media writers, are hoping to win a Pulitzer prize reporting on the end of the world -- and can no longer "discriminate" significant differences and facts from political correctness of repeating what they are told to. That is where we are -- because we are living in a politically-correct, non-discriminating society -- that can no longer discern relevant discriminations -- and so all must be treated randomly, as though there is no difference. But it does make a difference -- if one is metabolically compromised in this way. It is not not just fat-shaming, and disease-shaming, and all that other politically-correct nonsense -- that says we have to let the Faucis, Gates, WHO, CDC, Surgeon General do all our thinking for us -- as though they knew better, when in all practicality, they know less -- and are still fighting the last war. History only repeats itself because people don't create a better future -- but only think they can rewrite history with themselves as the heroes. That won't make a difference.
The Ultimate Exercise Machine (Exercising at Home)
The shutdown of gyms and other exercising venues, is an excellent opportunity to rethink "exercise" -- and all it can be, and not simply focus on what marketing strategies will sell best -- whether they actually deliver those promises or not. If they indeed worked, we wouldn't have so many people living longer lives -- but in poor health, making them vulnerable to whatever the "disease" and "fear" merchants can conjure.
Health is the best defense against any disease -- or disaster. That is simply being the best one can be -- and beyond that, is out of our hands -- and that is important to realize also. It is like that old wisdom, "Let me change what I can, and accept what I can't change, and most importantly, know the difference." Most spend all their time and energy trying to change what can't be changed, while doing nothing or little, to what they could make a huge difference in their lives -- and so they come to accept the futility and despair of doing nothing that really matters, while protesting constantly that things shouldn't be as they are.
Far more fruitful and practical, is to accept things as they are -- and figure out a way to work with those millions of years of evolutionary wisdom -- and fully embodying and exemplifying those possibilities, rather than expecting and demanding perfection without any effort and expense on their part. Nothing has ever worked that way. Even the lowliest of insects, must work tirelessly from dawn to dusk -- or dusk to dawn -- just to survive another day. That is the advantage of being higher up on the evolutionary scale -- that one no longer has to toil every moment of their lives, just to secure enough food to sustain them one more day.
Instead, they are well-designed to store up excess reserves -- for more difficult and challenging times, and emerge unscathed, and even ahead of when things became difficult. That is the value of culture -- which propels each subsequent generation to begin on a higher level, and not revert each time to merely subsistence concerns -- beginning with just eating enough. And thus humankind, has long exceeded those thresholds, and even become a curse to those who cannot manage abundance and success well -- but can only think to undo those advantages, and begin all over again, as the only way they know to live in a world of greater prosperity. We know such individuals as "dysfunctional," because despite their seeming great advantage, always find a way to undermine themselves.
These are people who cannot handle success -- but are doomed to repeat failure repeatedly, and prefer it as all they know. Meanwhile, the best and the brightest have moved on -- regrettably having to leave them behind, or they will drag down the rest -- if empowered and enabled. Such people, thus empowered, will then turn on their enablers -- and no amount of compassion can change that -- however much they demand that the rest cannot move on without them. That is the "dysfunctional relationship."
But it always begins with one -- exercising and actualizing their own fullest possibilities as the greatest antidote to whatever ills and misfortunes befall them -- and whether they risk it all on the proper outcomes, or simply lie in wait for their ultimate demise -- and thinking there is nothing they can do about it but trust in others to do it all for them. Such a life -- and society -- doesn't work that well, because there is no limit to how much all the others can sacrifice for one who will not do anything for themselves -- or others, but increase their incessant and insatiable demands. There is no limit for how much others can do for them, while always dismissing offhand, what they can do for themselves -- first and always.
That is the genesis of a healthier culture -- than the less perfect societies of the past, each seeks to improve upon -- as their own categorical imperative, or supreme commandment of life. In that respect, the individual is the world -- as the highest manifestation of it -- and not just as a theoretical model, of what ought to be instead. That is the evolution of understanding that makes greater achievements possible.
In order to make that leap to the next (higher) level, the understanding of what one is doing, first has to be stripped of all presumptions and beliefs -- that those are the only things possible. The work, or action that is measured, is what is going on inside the body, and not its apparent manifestations that is more likely to be counterproductive, and even injurious -- as the practitioners of every activity ultimately experience. If that were a therapy or course of improvement, it would not be crippling, debilitating, inevitably, abandoned -- when needed most -- which is the truth of such fitness modalities.
When things work, they work, and don't require unlimited and increasing commitment and devotion to produce those favorable results. It is simply an indication that it doesn't work -- and a different approach and understanding needs to be looked for. That is self-evident truth that is manifested in every life -- and not needing a double-blind study to prove -- all in the names of "science" -- which is always rigidly controlled to defend the self-invested status quo, who like it that way.
For all the rest, they should begin each day with a systematic program of stretches and movements just to get functioning properly -- and not that personal records have to be achieved in every effort. Ideally, the greatest gains are made in going from total incapacitation, to the flawless execution of even the simplest movement -- which in olden times, would be that focus on breathing or heart rate -- which is unnecessary, because it is an autonomic function, and therefore, always appropriate to a more conscious and deliberate effort and movement -- that is only possible with the correct breathing and circulatory support, but the breathing alone, cannot ensure -- just as heart rate alone, will not ensure a world record, or personal best.
One implies the other, but not vice-versa. In fact, one is automatic, or autonomic; it takes places regardless of conscious effort. Otherwise, one can't properly do anything else -- because they are too focused on the breath, but the proper performance of any other conscious and deliberate movement, includes the proper breathing. Nothing else is possible.
The most basic of human movements is to lift oneself off the ground -- as well as lowering oneself down to that level as easily and gracefully as possible. That is the great teaching of yoga that is always overlooked -- and often eliminated from the practice altogether, as though everything else was more important. If an athlete cannot raise themselves off the ground, they are "finished," because they won't be going to the next round. The contest is over. That is simply the elemental truth in every activity, much less competition. We don't need more funding and double-blind studies to "prove" the truth of that obviousness. It is evident to any body still functioning -- and can tell that difference.
In fact, some performers get off the ground so easily and gracefully, that one would never know that it wasn't part of their program; they just made it look that way. It doesn't matter, as long as one can still get up -- and continue -- often, even better than before. That's all part of the game -- what it takes to get there. Whatever it takes.
That is even more basic than walking -- or any other claim to the most basic activity that can be exercised. It is no shame to go from the most debilitated condition to one's most able and functional -- and in fact, the ability to do so, indicates one's vitality and viability. They are undoubtedly, still in the game. On the other hand, one's inability to change position, does not bode well for their future prospects.
In yoga, that action is manifested in going from the Child's Pose to Tabletop posture, to the Downward Facing Dog, from which they can move into the Forward Fold by walking their hands back toward their feet (rather than vice-versa as usually taught), and then shrug their way to a fully upright position -- as weightlifters do to lift the heaviest weights. They have to lead that movement with their shoulders -- and not at the waist, which is the improper form, foretelling years of back pain. Early posture exercises was mainly about this control of the shoulders -- leading the way, and as such, preventing the rounding of the back characteristic of back pain, poor posture, and the look of infirmity.
Prior to the 1950s, that's what fitness classes largely consisted of -- classes for attaining the perfect posture -- as a healthy and robust-looking person bound for success. It's never to late to begin -- and maintain for the rest of one's life. That says it all -- and is always a worthy beginning to each day.