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Dear
Ma,
One
of the questions on my mind these days is
the body and aging. I'd love your input.
Does one accept the natural changes of the body? Does one fight
them, go with the flow or find a way to stay firm and fit and
invest the necessary time and effort? I was thinking about your
running the New York marathon and the kids telling their friends
with great pride, "My grandmother ran the marathon."
I
loved talking to you after you trained. You sound energized and
full of the spirit of the thing. You told me once that it had
helped you build stamina and discipline for other challenges of
life, and that the marathon people stressed that what was important
was doing one's personal best.
Ma,
what made you decide to run? How old were you when you ran the
first marathon? The second? The third? Did it make you think about
your body in a new way? Does exercise affect how you think? Does
it keep you young? I know that for me movement is really a way
of being and in movement I sometimes reach new clarity and new
decisions.
Lots
of love
Felice
Dear Fe,
Thanks
for your letters, the poem, the thoughts and questions -- to which
I am sure there are many and varied responses . . . . I will try
and be succinct and only preface my writing with the following.
Every
person is many faceted and all of us are in great measure the
result of our background -- how we were brought up, the influence
of our parents, families and experiences -- but we are influenced
most of all by our own "life force," by how we view
life and by how we have been able to master life in its entirety.
Each
birthday is unique and it has always been my wish to celebrate
the day by including all that is meaningful to me -- starting
the day with exercise and adding something unique and wonderful
that will make me feel the day has indeed been well spent.
When
I started running I was well into my 40s. It was a challenge which
afforded me the greatest satisfaction -- adding lap after half
lap. Realizing the stamina and feeling of well-being were wonderful.
Exercise has been a very important part of my life. It gives me
tremendous joy, allows me to do good thinking and helps clarity.
Training
for the marathon was most exhilarating -- and absolutely wonderful,
being with people from so many backgrounds and geographic areas,
all working together toward a common goal.
Yes,
indeed the credo is you're ALWAYS a winner, for you do your personal
best -- a wonderful lesson in life!!! Aging is the normal process
of life. Aging gracefully is a gift. Changes in the body are normal.
One prays for a long and healthy and productive life.
I believe there are two aspects (at least) to aging. One is the
physical and one is the mental and I believe they go hand in hand
for is it not said "A healthy mind in a healthy body"?
I
try to change what I can -- and work very hard at it -- and love
each given day. I believe positive thinking is one of the most
important ingredients -- being an optimist rather than a negative
thinker -- and I believe that my work has taught me that EVERYTHING
can be phrased to bring out the positive. It is so easy to be
negative. Aging is a state of mind, which one can dwell on only
when there is too much time not used well.
You
asked how old I was when I first ran the marathon. I ran the first
one in my 50s, the second and third in my 60s -- at the beginning
and towards the end, respectively. Each race was exhilarating,
an enormous challenge and each one was unique for different reasons.
They
were all important and all had one message -- that achievement
is how one sets one's goals -- the ability to substantiate expectations
of self with a point well proven.
Got
to run...much love...a hug and kiss...
Ma
Dear
Ma,
Exercise
-- swimming, jogging, biking, tennis, dance -- has always been
structured into your life and into the life of the family. Involvement
with sport was pretty intense and a high priority. Your discipline,
your background helped you implement your exercise regimen, even
if you weren't in the mood or it was cold out or you didn't feel
great.
But
how does one include exercise if one is not disciplined to exercise,
if one is not in the mood and a hundred good reasons not to do
it come to mind? How does one get started? Keep it going?
I'd
love to hear your perspective. These are ways that have worked
for me -- visualizing the activity, auto-suggestion first thing
in the morning -- "I am a runner, a jogger, a swimmer"
-- and then going for it: not thinking too much about all the
possible reasons not to exercise, but diving into the water and
swimming -- and then thinking afterwards. The thinking is usually
better, too.
Another
effective way has been learning a new sport with a friend, each
helping the other to get started and stay motivated; then even
if it feels like a major hassle, another person is in there with
you, counting on you, encouraging, and you do the same for the
her.
Life
in an industrial and technological society distances us from our
instinctual modes of moving and stretching. It can alienate us
from the experience of our bodies as part of nature. Recent attempts
to structure walking, bicycling, exercising into our daily schedule
has been a way of restoring our connection to nature.
Movement provides an opportunity of living in one's body afresh,
of recapturing sensations vaguely remembered, of remembering one's
first dance and is a safeguard against taking one's body for granted.
Movement connects us with the greater cosmos, on one hand, and
on the other, revives understanding of our primal being.
Looking
forward to your response.
Felice
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