Erris Eye publication - Topic - Traditional practices for longevity

Posted on: Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Traditional practices for longevity, learn to exercise like nature!

Qigong (pronounced chee-gong) is an ancient Chinese exercise and healing technique that involves meditation, controlled breathing and movement exercises.

Peter Deadman is a very famous and established acupuncturist and lecturer in acupuncture. He has written many books most recently a book called "Live Well, Live Long". Peter Deadmam practices and teaches qi gong.

He speaks about exercise in such a different way to what we would see as normal here in the west of Ireland. Deadman believes that exercise should help the body to be strong enough to conduct daily activities as you age. It should help the body to be flexible enough to be able conduct daily activities as you age. It should allow the body to have good balance so you dont fall over. It should help you to have an integrated body where your movements are natural and flow. Exercise should help you not to have stuck areas that can easily become diseased. It should help you to have youthful elasticity. Exercise can provide a stable mind and a stable body, so the mental part of the exercise is just as important as the physical. It's not about running on a treadmill looking at TV trying to distract yourself from the pain or discomfort. It's about integrated mind body and breath. It's about a good level of fitness so you can go for long hikes and keep walking all day and climb a mountain easily enough. Not a competitive athlete but something that fully enhances daily life and does so all the way into older age. This rules out a lot of exercises. Many exercises are tested on narrow results. Deadman says that high intensity training gives the best bang for your book for 20 minutes a week but does it permeate your whole life being with this great range of qualities?

He says learn to exercise like nature, movement all of the time, that water is always flowing. Our modern world has people sitting down for a long time and then busting it out at the gym. It's been proven that this practice doesnt make up for the long periods of sitting. The softness in strength movements of qi gong, tai chi even yoga or pilates is what centuries of Chinese texts have stated benefits to a person and provides a healthy lifestyle. Karena is an acupuncturist at The Mayo Acupuncture Clinic, Ballina and Castlebar.

Visit www.mayoacupuncture.ie or call 0879918514 for enquiries.