133 or Bust – Changing My Perceptions

Back in June, I told you about my goal:
to live till I’m 133 — MINIMUM!

Ever since then, I’ve been reciting Deepak Chopra’s age-defying mantra not only as soon as I wake up in the morning and right before I doze off at night, but numerous times throughout the day, be it while taking a walk, taking a break, taking a shower, or taking a leak.

Now that my brain is convinced I’m 49, I’m ready for the next step: to perceive my body not as a fixed, material thing, but as a flexible, dynamic bundle of consciousness.

In Grow Younger, Live Longer - 10 Steps to Reverse Aging, Chopra explains that in order to reverse the aging process, you must use the words energy, transformation, and intelligence as reinforcements to experience your body as it really is — a field of inexhaustible energy, in constant transformation, and as a physical expression of pure intelligence.

For this, you will start by visualizing your body
at a quantum level — use this illustration.

Once you have that image in your mind, consciously take a deep breath (do this several times each day), close your eyes, and mentally repeat the word Energy.

Similarly, when you eat your food, do it consciously and repeat the word Transformation, visualizing the light body in transformation.

Finally, every time you take a sip of water, silently repeat the word Intelligence and envision your light body as fluid and flexible.

It is said that as you repeat this ritual with breathing, eating, and drinking, you will be starting the process of restructuring your perception and the experience of your body from material to subtle.

Book excerpt:

Enlivening Energy (Prana)

Your vital energy animates both mind and body. Throughout the day, use the word Energy and experience the life force rejuvenating every cell, tissue, and organ in your body.

Think “Energy” whenever you:

• Walk through a garden.
• Go from indoors to outdoors.
• Practice breathing exercises.

Enlivening Transformation (Tejas)

The essential transformation force is the primordial fire of life. Throughout the day, use the word Transformation to enliven the transformational process that continuously converts energy from one form into another.

Think “Transformation” whenever you:

• Take a mouthful of food.
• Feel the sun on your body.
• Gaze into the stars at night.

Enlivening Intelligence (Ojas)

When intelligence is abundant and freely circulating in your body, all your physiological systems — cardiovascular, digestive, neurological, hormonal, and immune — function at their optimal level. Throughout the day, use the word Intelligence to enliven nourishment in every cell of your body.

Think “Intelligence” whenever you:

• Take a sip of water.
• Walk along a natural body of water.
• Drink fresh fruit juices or other healthy beverages.

Whenever you are performing a rhythmic activity — walking, jogging, swimming, riding your bicycle, or using a treadmill — silently repeat “Energy, Transformation, Intelligence… Energy, Transformation, Intelligence… ” or “Prana, Tejas, Ojas… Prana, Tejas, Ojas… ” with your full attention on your body.

After a while, your habitual way of experiencing your body will change because your perceptions will have shifted.

You may think this is all a big hassle, but it’s not. It quickly becomes a fun habit — at least it has for me. Reciting the affirmations about being 49 puts a smile on my face and gives me an instant energy boost.

Another advantage is that the more I fill my mind with images and affirmations about staying young, fit, and healthy, the less there is room for negative thoughts.

Come on, give it a try.
Say it with me…

Every day in every way, I am increasing
my mental and physical capacity.

My Biostat is set at a healthy ___ years of age.

I look and feel a healthy ___ years YOUNG.

I am reversing my biological age:
By changing my perception of my body,
its aging, and time.

Hey… you look younger already!

LAW OF ATTRACTION: 133 or Bust!

In 1991, on the eve of turning 41,
I decided I was going to live till
I’m 133 — MINIMUM.

A healthy 133 years young…
in mind, body, and soul.

Along with being vegetarian, eating healthy foods, exercising regularly, and laughing in the face of adversity, I thought I’d add a little Law of Attraction to my daily routine to help keep my mojo workin’ for another 74 years.

Before I move on with my plan, here’s a reality check: I already have a ravaged face.

That’s because of the rock’n'roll life I’ve led, the roads of depression I’ve traveled, the sun I’m addicted to, and the load of crummy genes I inherited from my now-deceased mother.

At the moment, the wrinkles around my mouth are the ones that bother me the most. But I’m sure it won’t be long till they blend right in with the ones that are slashing my mug, from my forehead to my chin.

Another thing that makes me look older is my hair.

I got my first grey hair when I was 12; by the age of 28, my mane had turned to salt and pepper; nowadays, well, it’s mostly grey… a very light grey (see photos).

In 2006, sick and tired of my dusty locks which, back then, came down below my shoulder blades, I had my hair coloured a nice golden brown. Two weeks later, realizing that the grey would always pop back to ruin the look, I bought a clipper and shaved it all off.

In September 2008, deep in the throes of another capillary crisis, I had plum-coloured streaks brushed in. After going through the same process in December and once more last March, I have since chosen to drop the streaks and get used to my natural look. Instead of reaching for the clipper, I’m patiently waiting for the streaks to either fade out, grow out, or fall out.

So when I say I want to live till I’m 133,
esthetics are evidently not a priority.

My new motto:
GREY ROCKS!
WRINKLES RULE!

From now on, my mental and physical health, my strength, my endurance, my flexibility, and my humour-slash-happiness are what I intend to focus on in order to stay in top shape.

Enter Deepak…

According to Chopra’s teachings in his book Grow Younger, Live Longer – 10 Steps to Reverse Aging, the “normal” experience of the body and its aging is a conditioned response — a habit of thinking and behaviour.

By changing my habits of
thinking and behaviour,
I can change the experience of
my body and its aging.

Excerpt:

SETTING YOUR BIOSTAT

Close your eyes. Become aware of your breath, releasing any tension you may be holding in your body.

Now, choose an age within the last fifteen years
that you would like to be in biological terms.
(Note: I’ll be 59 this year, so I chose 49.)

This means you would like to have the physical and mental capacity of a healthy person at that age, that you would like your biomarkers to reflect that particular age, that you would like to feel and look that particular age.

Just as a thermostat adjusts the temperature in a room to a particular set point, so, too, your Biostat will orchestrate your psychology and biology around the biological age you have chosen.

This will happen through the following mechanisms:

1. Your intention to stay at a particular Biostat will directly influence your body of energy, transformation, and intelligence. This is because intention influences your biochemistry through its infinite organizing power. This is the principle of teleology, which states that intended outcomes orchestrate the biological mechanisms to fulfill themselves.
2. Keeping your Biostat in your awareness will influence your thinking, your moods, and you behaviour, and reinforce your intention to maintain your biology at that set point. Once you have identified your set point, begin affirming it five times a day.

We suggest practicing the following ritual upon awakening, before breakfast, before lunch, before dinner, and at bedtime. On each of these occasions, close your eyes and mentally repeat to yourself each of the following phrases at least three times:

Every day in every way, I am increasing
my mental and physical capacity.

My Biostat is set at a healthy __ years of age.

I look and feel a healthy __ years old.

Within a few days of performing this ritual, you will actually begin to think and act from the level of your Biostat. All your habits will be influenced, but even more important, your perception of your biological age and your experience of it will begin to shift. You will start to believe in your Biostat and its organizing power, and your new belief will shape your new biology.

Believe me,
IT WORKS.

Give it a try and let me know how you feel.
KEEP ON ROCKING IN THE FREE WORLD

The Flying Troutmans

WARNING: Click the audio button at your own risk. Audio content may cause drowsiness, nausea, and a deep aversion to book excerpts. My bad: instead of going to bed, I stayed up all night trying to sound “scholarly.” I better stick to talking to birds… or making people smile.

So the library phoned to say my book was in…

Miriam Toews’ The Flying Trout- mans was ready and waiting for me to pick it up.

Pick it up I did: dropping what I had been doing when the phone rang — the Tweeting and the Facebooking — I rushed out in the afternoon sun and literally galloped all the way to meet my new companion.

Because after reading a complicated kindness, I was totally hooked on Toews’ style and humour.

And judging from the opening paragraphs you’re about to listen to if you click on the audio button, her latest novel promises to be quite an adventure (yes… there’s also a road trip involved: cool!).

Here’s what’s written on the book jacket (in case my beautiful rendition of the first two paragraphs hasn’t quite hypnotized you into buying the book):

The impetuous Hattie has just been dumped by her Paris boyfriend; her sister, Min, is going through a particularly dark period; and Min’s two kids, Logan and Thebes, are not talking and talking way too much, respectively.

So when Hattie receives an SOS call from eleven-year-old Thebes, she grabs the first plane home. There she discovers that Min is on the way to a psychiatric ward, and Hattie assumes responsibility for the kids. She quickly realizes that she is way out of her league, and hatches a hare-brained plan to find the kids’ long-lost father. With only the most tenuous lead to go on, she piles Logan and Thebes into their Ford Aerostar, and armed with some art supplies, a mondo pair of headphones and a cooler full of food, they hit the road and head south.

What ensues is a frantic expedition during which Hattie attempts to reconcile a tricky past with Min; Logan carves cryptic messages into the van’s dashboard; Thebes makes and distributes oversized novelty cheques to anybody who needs one; and the threesome discovers that while freedom has its costs, it also has its payoffs.

At once hilarious and heartrending, The Flying Troutmans tells the story of a fractured family on the verge of spinning off its axles and a road trip that just might keep them together.

That’s it for now…
Keep on rocking in the free world!
xoxo