Making It Possible ... Not Harder

 The mistake most make in prescribing exercise for the senior, disabled and terminal, is not that the exercises are not hard enough, but that they are impossible to do at all -- and the proper way to begin, is exploring what movements they can do -- and most need, rather than all the extraneous movements and activities possible.  That is usually what is referred to as the latest gimmick in getting people to exercise -- as though it is just another form of entertainment and diversion, rather than that their very lives depend on it.

Many still are conditioned to believe that exercise is optional rather than mandatory and necessary for a body to obtain and maintain its best health -- throughout life, and so it is necessary to design techniques and protocols that make that manifest -- rather than just the wishful longings for the days long ago when one could do such things.  The intelligence and capability of the human mind is that it can solve a problem -- and not that it is powerless to act by its own invariable constitution.

The major reason for this proper exercise of one's faculties is not that it is for vain and ego purposes -- but to produce and optimize health, and that is reflected in one's appearance -- and not as many "intellectuals" rationalize -- can only come at the expense of one's health.  That is certainly the wrong way to think about these things -- and they are encouraged by all these well-intentioned people who try to make it as difficult and impossible for those to begin.

Instead, it should be realized that the most necessary movements to do and become proficient at, are those that is most palpably useful -- which is the use of the head, hands and feet -- where human expression is articulated and maximized.  Yet it is frequently noted that those are in fact the first places to decline and deteriorate -- for the increasing lack of use -- as the swollen hands, feet and faces of those not in their best condition.

Right off, one recognizes that those are the areas that could benefit the most and immediately from a strategy to reduce that swelling (inflammation) -- which is the simple and obvious value in producing contractions to effect the compression that pumps the fluids (including blood) back towards the center of the body to the purifying and recyling organs of the heart, lungs, kidney, liver, etc. -- rather than allowing those waste products to accumulate in the tissues for a lifetime.

That is the immediate and obvious value of exercise -- which doesn't need more funding for further studies to verify.  We know that to be true in the standard medical treatment for most acute injuries.  Pressure (compression) will stop the bleeding.  Compression will simulate the beating of the heart -- as well as breathing.  That is so because those are the conditions that life has evolved in.

The alternating contractions and relaxations produce a flow -- and in their absence, flow does not occur -- because it is produced by alternating pressure differences.  Properly understanding that, is most of the difficulty in exercise -- and not that one is attempting to overcome and override the laws of physics at every effort in life.  Far better to understand and work with the environment one already finds themselves in -- rather than attempting to change the entirety of the world to suit one's own primacy and superiority over it.

Assuredly that won't happen -- and it would be foolish to undertake.  Yet that has been the premise of much undertaking in history as well as modern life -- trying to game the system, rather than simply enjoying the game and enjoying what life gives.  And so the great wisdom of the ages is to appreciate that -- to be one with that Nature -- and not cut off from it, and increasingly isolating oneself from that greater Life.

That is everyone's religion -- and guiding principle throughout life -- learning to go with that flow.  However, most of what people do, goes against that flow -- thinking it will make them stronger and wiser -- than the billions of years of evolution.  Of course if they could overcome all that, they would be God -- and could make whatever rules they want.  

But the far more productive course for most, would simply be observing, understanding, and heeding what all of reality is telling them -- of which even their own lives would be a bountiful library of experience and knowledge -- far greater than even the most well-funded studies.  Not that they need even more funding to be more accurate -- but that others can duplicate those results in their own experiments -- and not that such things can only be properly conducted by self-designated "experts."

That's not what "science" is about -- maintaining the authority of certain individuals to proclaim the truth to everyone else.  Rather, it is the truth that can be tested by anyone and everyone -- as verifiable truth.  Then that becomes self-evident truth -- because one has done and tested it for themselves, and not just quoted some other, or countless other authorities.  

That flaw is usually because they all assumed the same premises -- rather than questioning from the very beginning -- and that is the notion that the harder the exercise, the better -- rather than the better the understanding, the less effort is required to achieve even greater results.  that is the breakthrough idea that makes every subsequent effort and achievement easier -- and not more difficult!

But effort and achievement will always be necessary -- because it must always be an actuality and not just a thought unexercised and untested.  Naturally, the most highly motivated to find out if anything is true, are those whose very lives depend on it -- which are the people in the worst condition, and often terminal.  They have nothing to lose -- and their lives to gain.  Closely behind them are the disabled, and seniors -- who are frequently the victims and end-results of ways that do not work -- try as hard as they might.  

And of course, they are told, there is no other way.  There is just the straight and narrow path that hasn't worked for anybody before -- and none other -- and they are exhorted even harder, to get with the program!  By then, they are convinced that nothing works, and there is no hope, and only the constant decline is the fate of all human beings.

However, astute observers and practitioners will note that in this "inevitable" respect, not all people are equal -- and a few defy this deterioration much longer, while others seem to age rapidly and hopelessly from their earliest years.  Is there some scientific principle at work here?  That has been the quest for the holy grail and the fountain of youth for as long as recorded history -- but even the 100 year old alligator does not become immortal.  Accidents, catastrophes and miscalculations do occur -- and one is fortunate to avoid them for as long as one can.  That is also part of health, well-being and conditioning.  One does the right thing as much as one can -- but there are no guarantees of infallibility.

But as much as possible, one wishes to have as much of one's fate in one's own hands -- and not at the will of everyone, or anyone else.  That does not mean going against everybody and everything else -- but in understanding how it all flows, and that is life itself.