On Monday 22nd April it’s my birthday - I’ll be 52, and I have never felt better!
On Monday 22nd April, it’s also Earth Day. Founded in 1970, it is a reminder of the importance of environmental conservation and sustainability, encouraging us to come together and take action for a healthier planet and brighter future.
For this week’s update, I was hoping to link my birthday with our key lifestyle element of Moving Well and Earth Day.
After a little head scratching I think I have found a way, so please read on to explore my favourite yoga pose and to get an insight into Earth Day.
Tree Pose is my favourite. It’s an iconic and ancient yoga asana from the Hatha tradition. The benefits include improved balance and stability in the legs, feet, and pelvis—and also the emotions. The pose is grounding and calming, but subtlety challenging both in terms of the physicality and the concentration required to balance.
When you attempt the one leg balance, your brain is performing a remarkable amount of coordination. It integrates signals coming from the fluid in your inner ears, visual cues from eyes, and even feedback from your joints and muscles.
There has been significant research into the links between the ability to balance and aging well. It has been shown that how well you can stand on one leg can be a powerful predictor of how long you will live and how healthy you will be. In 1999, researchers did simple tests on 2,760 men and women in their 50s and timed how long the volunteers could stand on one leg with their eyes closed.
When they revisited the people 13 years later, they found that those who stood for two seconds or less on the earlier test were three times more likely to have died than those who managed ten seconds or more.
It’s a staggering statistic, and something that makes me pleased that I embraced yoga, including the practice of balancing poses, from my mid-20s to age 52 and beyond.
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Tree pose is my favourite - it’s even the image on my logo.
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Trees appear throughout Indian sacred yogic literature as symbols of the universe and as organic links between God and the individual.
Trees are important to our lives in many ways. The most obvious is their role in producing the oxygen we breathe and eliminating carbon dioxide to help protect our atmosphere.
We are also often emotionally connected to trees. Think of the outpouring of anger and astonishment when the Sycamore Gap tree in Northumberland was senselessly felled.
Earthday.org operate many environmental initiatives including The Canopy Project that works with global partners to reforest areas in dire need of rehabilitation.
Earth Day 2024 has its focus on a commitment to a 60% reduction in plastic production by 2040.
On Earth Day 2040 I’ll be celebrating my 68th birthday and I hope I’ll be feeling as vital in my body and mind as I do this year - I’ll let you know!
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