Mobility & Healthy Aging

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John Salak: Sometimes you just need to sweat it, especially if you're older by sweat it. We're not encouraging worry or anxiety. No, we're talking about physical activity or exercise. There are reams of research on how exercise can benefit all ages. These pluses cover everything from weight loss and stress reduction to building heart health and lowering the risk of various diseases for mature adults.

Those over 50 regular excise isn't just a good idea. It is essential for their mental and physical health. We've [00:01:00] written about this extensively at WellWell usa. Just go to the site and you'll find plenty of stories. One report covered claims by the University of California in San Francisco that elderly individuals who exercise regularly enhance their cognitive health and lessen their chance of memory loss.

To be clear, Activity can't offset diseases like Alzheimer's, but Canada. Simon Fraser University supports the notion that activity, light exercise and social engagement can reduce memory decline in individuals 65 to 89. Better yet, the impact of this trifecta only increases with age, want more benefits.

Activity also helps mature adults build motor skills, improve muscle endurance, reduce stress intention, strengthen immune systems. Built heart health and enhanced balance. The combined impact can also reduce feelings of loneliness in older adults and even lessen their chances of other injuries.

[00:02:00] Ultimately, it helps people live longer, healthier lives. But how much exercise is enough? Well, here's some recognized guidelines for those 65 and older. At least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week, like a brisk walk. Make it easy by breaking it down into five 30 minute segments. It can be spread out on each week looking for something more intense.

Try 75 minutes of vigorous exercise such as hiking, jogging, or running. It's also important to blend in exercises to strengthen muscles and improve balance a couple of times a week. The benefits of exercise aren't debatable. What's troubling is that mature adults are chronically sedentary and their inactivity only grows with age.

The C D C reports that almost 30% of adults over 50 are totally inactive outside of work. This percentage grows to more than 35% for those 75 and older. [00:03:00] Obviously exercise changes with age. What someone can do at 20 or 30 isn't likely to be repeated at 50, 60, 70, or 80. But there are plenty of exercise options for older adults from walking, swimming, and biking to competitive sports like tennis, golf, pickleball, even softball and basketball.

What tends to stop many people are the aches, pains, and physical challenges we all face as the years roll on. There is no way around these challenges, but there are ways to loosen their grips so that older adults are freer to get out and get moving. That's why we've lined up a special guest for this podcast, a Felton Christ practitioner who, among other things, specializes in helping the young and the old overcome physical constraints and aches and pains so they can move freer and easier whenever they're out.

So welcome to our section of, what the Health podcast, where we talk to experts on various health and wellness issues since we're dealing with [00:04:00] mature health, healthy aging. In this episode, we wanted to get a handle on movement for mature adults, older adults. , is it important, why it's important, if so, and how they can best continue to be active and.

Free and feeling good about themselves as they age. So we've called in, an expert on this field, Suzanne ak, who has led an extremely varied career. She has started out as a journalist working in the US and Europe, later became, trained yoga instructor and then still later became a certified Felden Christ practitioner.

And we'll get into exactly what Felden Christ is in a moment. But Suzanne, Takes all of these skills and puts 'em under the umbrella of the company she founded. Move to Live now.com. And in talking to Suzanne before the podcast, I asked her, how do you describe yourself? And she said the best way to describe me is as a movement educator.

So I would like to welcome Suzanne to our broadcast.

Suzanne Ausnit: [00:05:00] Hi John. I'm very happy to be here.

John Salak: So Suzanne, let's start with, How important is it for mature adults, let's say people 50, 60, 70, 80, whatever, to stay active? And if it is important, why it's important.

Suzanne Ausnit: Well, you've heard the old adage, if you don't move, you lose it.

Right? Move it or lose it. It's pretty basic and that's true at any age, but especially as you get older because all kinds of other problems happen when you get older. You lose muscle mass, you lose bone strength. And the fear of falling is huge. So balance is very important. And as you get older, it's very important to.

Maintain your independence, and so any loss of function, for example, if you can't get up and down from a chair, think what that means in terms of getting up and down from the toilet or [00:06:00] getting up and down from the floor. All those very basic functions. If you lose them, you lose your independence and, things don't end too well.

John Salak: It sounds like it's both a, physical issue and as we've written about lots of times at WellWell, U S A, a mental health issue because obviously you wanna stay active for those reasons. As you said, just independence. You're gonna independent, you're gonna feel isolated. This we know has an impact.

It creates loneliness, lack of social integration, and that's gonna have an impact on your mental health as well as your physical health, I assume?

Suzanne Ausnit: Absolutely. It's always a combination of factors. It's never just one thing. As you get older, if you lose a loved one or you lose friends, it's natural to.

Withdraw or you have a physical injury, maybe you fell, you don't want to move, you don't want to do things, so,

John Salak: so, or you just get achy and sore and Yes, whatnot. Of course, as course you get older course and it makes it a little more difficult. [00:07:00] We touched a little bit on on why it's difficult. Are there other issues, physical issues that come into this?

I mean, we talked about if you don't move, if you can't move, you're not gonna be able to do things. Why are older people just, you're saying, is it muscle loss, bone loss?

Suzanne Ausnit: You lose bone density as you get older. One way to maintain bone density is to stay active. Same. You lose muscles, so if you lift lightweights or you do any kind of activity, even walking, will help you. Stay fit.

John Salak: From what I understand, you are incredibly active. you're into hiking, you work with bands at times, you work with lightweights.

, and I think other aspects too. So you sort of touched on a little bit, but from your perspective, and you have a, a different perspective maybe than some others in the field, but what are the best ways for adults, assuming that, they can overcome any aches and pains to stay active? And again, it's in a very, I assume for somebody who's 50, 60, 70, and 80 and above.

Suzanne Ausnit: Well, if I had to choose [00:08:00] one thing, I would say walking is probably one of the most important things that you can do to stay active because everybody can walk.

And I think one thing to remember is you don't have to walk three miles, four miles at one go. You could walk half a mile and then maybe later a quarter of a mile, as long as you have. Continued exercise throughout the day. It could be just going up and down the stairs a couple times a day. There are all these little things that you can choose to do to remain active on a very basic level.

John Salak: What about extending that a little bit? And I know it's gonna vary by person, and you're not advising someone who's injured or something like that too, but weights are still an option.

Suzanne Ausnit: You know, weights are excellent, but lightweights, but it really depends how you do the weights because you can injure yourself even doing very lightweights.

And this is where the Feldenkrais [00:09:00] method, which is something that I. Practice, it's a somatic practice. That means mind, body helps you move better and it doesn't matter what you do, whether you wanna do lightweights, if you pay attention to the how rather than to just the movement itself. It's, well, how do you lift the arm or how do you get up?

From a chair or how do you turn around in bed? Most people just do it. If we had to think about how we do every single thing we do, we'd never get anything done. But if you go back to how babies learn how to move, they do things hundreds of different ways, and it's those hundreds of different ways that feed the brain and in the Feldenkrais Method.

We teach people all these different possibilities. And then the brain, it's very much about brain plasticity. With all these [00:10:00] alternatives, the brain comes up with a better way of movement.

John Salak: Someone who may not be in developing Christ or be aware of it might still not understand what you're doing.

Why would someone come to you and I know that you ha you have clients, that are young and old and in different conditions. They're coming to you for different reasons. But let's concentrate on first why an older adult would come to you. Is it a matter of injury? Is it a matter of increasing flexibility or strength?

A combination of those, and then sort of break down a little bit, simpler as to what you're going to do for somebody.

Suzanne Ausnit: So, older adults come to me for a variety of reasons.

One is pain. Some people have chronic pain and they don't know how to get out of the chronic pain. They've tried physical therapy, they've tried many, maybe other modalities, acupuncture, therapeutic yoga, but it hasn't worked.

But what we do is we [00:11:00] have methods to help people with chronic pain that I can talk about later, whether it's through the breath, whether through incredibly gentle hand movements or through eye movements. So chronic pain would be one of them. Another reason people come is because they lose suppleness as they age.

They get stiffer. And especially if they're very active, they tend to stiffen up. And the Feldenkrais method definitely helps you stay supple, but it also helps you reorganize. Reorganize so that you move in a better way. And it also, if you practice this, regularly, it makes you more resilient.

You realize that if something happens, if your knee hurts or your foot hurts, it's not the end of the world that there are things you can actively do in a very gentle manner that can change your alignment , and make you feel a thousand [00:12:00] times better.

John Salak: It sounds like to me that Feld in Christ and from what I know about it, and I know a little bit about it.

Is not an exercise in and of itself, but it's more a mechanism to get your body aligned, get it back in shape, meaning more aligned in increasing balance and those sort of things. And that then allows you to engage in those physical activities you're talking about, whether that's walking or whatnot.

Suzanne Ausnit: You're absolutely correct, John. It's a learning modality. It's, in a way we're reeducating the brain, but not by saying, you can't do this, or you have to do this with these very gentle movements. You're encouraged to pay attention to how you move. So it could be something as simple as if you're lying on the floor and you lift your shoulder, the action is could you lift your shoulder?

How do you lift your right shoulder so you're lifting your right shoulder? But do you do that with [00:13:00] tension? Do you squeeze your jaw, contract your jaw as you lift your right shoulder or are your eyes looking in the wrong direction?

If you lift your right shoulder, what should happen is the head should gently move a little bit to the left, but with many people, it might turn to the right, it might not move at all. So by guiding people, To pay attention to how they move. They start sensing all these different options and possibilities.

And it can be done two ways. It can be taught. Verbally as a class, or it can be taught on a table where the practitioner will gently lift a shoulder and look and see what happens, and then try and figure out is it perhaps the jaw that is not moving or the eyes that are going in the, in a different direction?

Or is somebody really so contracted that they're constantly holding their belly in? [00:14:00] Is it a lack of being able to breathe in a relaxed fashion? It, there's so many possibilities and we don't assume that it's any one thing. That's what's very different about the Feldenkrais Method as compared to maybe other modalities.

We play and in the process of the playing and in the process of the person on the table or on the floor, paying attention to how they move, things begin to change in the brain. And I have to stress, it's not about the movement itself, it's about the attention to the movement, and that's what makes this.

Somatic practice. So different maybe from other modalities.

John Salak: To go back to, cuz I mean this is the underlying point of what we're trying to get at by making someone aware of maybe how they should be moving or any of these factors.[00:15:00] It can help people and can, this is what we're talking about.

People who are stiff, have an injury, are in pain. You can help identify why that pain is occurring and how to lessen that pain or relieve that pain entirely. Is that correct? And it, and it may not be apparent. That's what we're saying. Your, pain may be on your shoulder. But the reason the pain is in your shoulder may be something else that's occurring.

Ex And I mean, that's the key for these, for older adults.

Suzanne Ausnit: Yes. I mean, you have culprit and victims. So something is hurting, but it's not because your knee is hurting. , it could be anything.

John Salak: Right. And the process helps people, the

Suzanne Ausnit: process helps people become aware of all these different things.

Yes. And, we don't tell people this is incorrect or correct. We have them explore different possibilities, different approaches to movement, whether it's with. My hands as a practitioner or whether they're sensing themselves. And I think [00:16:00] perhaps the most important thing is we really teach people how to sense themselves and that's what babies do.

It's really based on how babies learn. And babies don't learn like you're taught to learn. In school, babies sense it's all about sensation and they learn to turn over, they learn to lift the head or they learn to walk and they try millions of different ways until it's aha, something works and we lose that as we age.

If you think, you go back to school and you're in school for all these years and you're told not to move, you're sitting at a desk crunched up or looking at your phone, and in the process of. Getting older and becoming an adult, you develop a lot of bad movement habits. We all do, and especially now with cell phones.

If you look at all these young people, we're constantly with their heads down looking at the phone or. What it does to the neck, what it does to the shoulders. It [00:17:00] creates all kinds of problems. And so what we would do is give people different options. Is there a different way of looking at your cell phone?

We're not saying don't use your cell phone. How could you do it without being in that position that's creating problems?

John Salak: Why is it that most people haven't heard about Feld in Christ? I mean, this isn't something you, from what I understand, study probably maybe hundreds if not thousands of hours.

It's a long program to be certified as a practitioner. You don't have to be licensed, but you do have to be certified as a practitioner. aren't we more aware of felt in Christ and what it can do? No, that may not be your expert area, but it is unique because it's known better in other countries.

Suzanne Ausnit: I think it's a marketing problem and it's hard to describe the feld Andre me that I think that's part of the problem. It's a somatic movement modality it's experiential. You really have to experience it to understand it. It's not for everybody.

The two things you need to [00:18:00] really. Use the Feldenkrais Method or improve with the Feldenkrais Method is curiosity. You have to be really curious and you have to have an ability to pay attention. And a lot of people don't have that sustained ability to attend, to pay attention, and they are not interested in developing it.

And you have a lot of people who are not curious. , but if you have those two elements, that's really all you need to benefit from the Feldenkrais Method.

John Salak: I've, I've been to a couple sessions just to experience it.

It's almost surprisingly gentle. It's physical, but it's not aggressively physical, I guess I would say is that a fair, it's incredibly gentle, but the impact that it has?

Suzanne Ausnit: Yes. It's, it's really all, it's it's gentle movement and you're always looking as, when you do a movement, could you make this movement easier? Could you do this movement perhaps with a little effort or smoother and as you learn to [00:19:00] detect, oh, well this is creating tension. What happens if I change my attention to someplace else? For example, we go back to simply lifting the right shoulder. So what happens instead of lifting the right shoulder, if you press the left shoulder back into the floor?

So if you. Press your left shoulder back into the floor, suddenly you'll feel, ah, the right shoulder just lifted easily. So we change the attention constantly so that the whole body is involved, the whole skeleton. And it's never just one thing,

John Salak: and it obviously probably differs from person to person.

The everybody has their unique. Quirks and bad quirks.

Suzanne Ausnit: Yeah. Everybody has their own habits and from a teaching point of view, that's what makes it so fascinating cuz nobody's the same and every person has different habits and you have to be very creative in finding different movement [00:20:00] options for everybody.

John Salak: And we've touched on this a little bit, but I want to go back to what mature adults are facing and you, your, a lot of your clients, uh, I assume are, are mature people, really 40, 50. And you've dealt with younger clients, you've dealt with babies. I understand that there's a different, uh, set of practices or, or aligned practices for that.

For the older adults, and you've touched on it, but just tell us what you come across in terms of what they're dealing with. Is it, what are the prevalent conditions? Is it an injury? Is it soreness? Is it gentle, general stiffness? Is it loss of balance?

Suzanne Ausnit: I. Well, they're all those issues, John. So it just depends.

I'd say back pain is huge. Back pain is a problem. For so many older adults, because they're too sedentary. So if you sit a lot and you sit in a way that is not, say , Conducive to your spine. Then you're gonna get back pain. But if you were to move and get up [00:21:00] every 10 minutes, even if you were just to walk around your apartment, that would make a difference.

So I'd say back pain is something I see a lot , and. Lack. People get stiff , as they get older. And just doing some Feldon Christ movements every day, even if it's just for 15 minutes, can make an amazing difference.

John Salak: And if you're doing the Feldon Christ, it doesn't mean you're blocking doing other stuff. It's I just wanna emphasize that you do your veres and it helps you move less pain. You're able to bike, you're able to height.

Suzanne Ausnit: Yeah, of course. I mean, it, it improves your walking. It improves. That's it. It's a method of, I'd say improvement.

You can apply the Feldenkrais method to anything. So if you were an athlete, it will improve your boxing or you're jiu-jitsu or you're dancing. But as a mature adult, it improves your ability to move at whether it's just [00:22:00] walking or swimming or, and you start paying attention to things.

So say you're walking down the street and suddenly your knee hurts. Would you just continue walking in the same way you're walking, or would you maybe think of some of the. Lessons you've done and say, okay, maybe I'm gonna stop for a second and bring my attention to my other knee and my other foot, or maybe I'm gonna bring my attention to my arm.

Is my arm swinging, or you have all these possibilities. I think what I love about it is once you've. Done it for a while, you can help yourself and apply it to every single thing you do. Even if you're in the kitchen and you're taking something out of the dishwasher. How do you take that plate out?

How do you bend? Or if you're reaching for a plate that's a little too high, how do you do it? so many people hurt their shoulder when they just go to take a dish out of a high shelf, but.[00:23:00] You pay attention, I think in a very different way, teaches you to pay attention to yourself and listen in, and it makes you more resilient.

John Salak: So, and this, is not exclusive to you or your experience, but, We know that there are physical barriers to age. As we said, it's just natural. You need to do a different thing and you are not as active or as strong or as whatever, as balanced as you are when you're 20 or 30.

But for someone who's 50, 60, 70, 80, I assume that these people not can, but should stay active. You don't see any barriers to activity as you get older?

Suzanne Ausnit: None at all. I mean, the Feldenkrais Method can be done sitting in a chair. We have chair lessons. You could do it lying in bed if had serious, serious issues.

Generally in classes, it's done on the floor, but it could be done on a Felton Christ table. It could be done. Standing. I mean, there are no barriers [00:24:00] to doing the method. And you have to remember, it's somatic, it's mind body so it's not just exercise.

And I think what's tough for people to understand is that it forces you to slow down and pay attention. And most of us are so used to doing things quickly that we don't know how to slow down. It goes against what we do. When you have a habit, you just, you do it right, you don't think about it.

And by slowing down and paying attention, it does something neurologically to the brain.

John Salak: Okay, so we are gonna wrap this up in a second, but before we do, what advice you want to give people at any age, what they should be doing and what they shouldn't be doing in terms of physical activity or how to stay physically active.

Suzanne Ausnit: Well, I'd say. Walking, choosing to do stairs instead of taking the elevator and [00:25:00] obviously I'm a Feldon Christ practitioner, so I would say doing very gentle movement and paying attention to your movement is critical as you age. Ultimately,

John Salak: keep moving.

Suzanne Ausnit: Ultimately keep moving, but to really attend to the how of the movement.

And that's where the Feldenkrais Method can really help you. And as I said before in the beginning, for chronic pain, it can make a huge difference psychologically, mentally, it can relax the whole system and, uh, Many people as they age, develop chronic pain. So I'd stress that it's a wonderful method for people with chronic pain.

Relieve the

John Salak: pain. Help yourself. Stay active. Yep. Help yourself. Stay active, stay mentally and physically fit

Suzanne Ausnit: you got it, John. All right.

John Salak: Well, we'd like to thank Suzanne for joining us today on this edition of [00:26:00] What The Health and, you help people both online and in person. If they want to get in contact with you, with questions or whatever, or explore the Feld crisis message or just ask a question about what they may be going through, how is the best way to contact you?

Suzanne Ausnit: So email, um, it's Suzanne with a z two ends. E. And then my last name is A U S N I T, so it's Suzanne AusNet, one word@gmail.com. You can text me or call me. My number is nine seven three two oh four. Oh 9 2 9. That's 9 7 3 2 0 4 0 9 2 9. And of course, um, check out my website because I have a lot of articles on the Feldenkrais Method.

I have videos and you can learn a little more about it. And my website is move to live [00:27:00] now.com, and the two is actually a numeric two.

John Salak: Okay. Suzanne, thank you very much, and we hope we all stay moving.

We're gonna serve up some health hacks shortly on how to get and stay active. But before that, we want to offer up an exclusive discount from one of our many affiliates. Members of our well wellbeing community can enjoy up to more than 20% off their first order from ortho feet, which specializes in innovative foot pain relief technology.

And obviously if you eliminate discomfort, it will be easier to stay active. Now joining our Well Wellbeing community is easy and free, and it opens you up to hundreds of other exclusive discounts on health and wellness products and services. To join, just visit WellWell usa.com. Go to Milton's discounts on the pull down menu, and you'll see the signup sheet.

Enjoy. Okay, so how do older adults. Get started and stay moving. First off, start slowly. A simple [00:28:00] walk daily is a great way to begin. It's also great exercise and walking can be a launchpad for more vigorous and enjoyable activities. Two, track progress. Create a routine. Monitor what you're doing on a daily basis, stay with it and then build on it, which can mean exercising longer or harder, or trying new activities.

Three, exercise with others. There are plenty of ways to do this. Just look online for local opportunities and you'll find them working out with others regardless of the activity, not only makes exercising more enjoyable, it opens you up to social engagements, which are also essential for mature health.

Four, explore options. You don't have to limit yourself to a single activity or even non-competitive activities. There are plenty of competitive team and individual activities available. Think tennis, golf, bocci, ball, pickleball, swimming, biking, hiking, and more. Five, be prepared. Wear the [00:29:00] right clothing and footwear.

Use sun protection and have water available. Six, think safety. If you're biking, use a helmet. If you're hiking, make sure you have proper ankle support and even wear knee pads and gloves in case of a slip. Hiking sticks are also recommended. Also, no matter the activity, take time to warm up and loosen up before starting.

Ditto for taking time to cool down after intense activity. Finally, if you're not sure if an activity is right for you, check with your physician first. That's it for this edition of What to Health. I want to thank our special guest, Suzanne Sk, for taking time to speak with us and I want to encourage anyone with questions to get in touch with her directly.

More importantly, I want to encourage everyone, no matter their age to keep moving. Thanks for listening.

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