What Makes a Good Exercise for Baby Boomers?

Easy is Right!

I am a baby boomer and although I have practised some form of exercise most of my life, I still feel, for example, that training to run faster or for longer periods is not really what my body needs now.

I have heard the same from other over 55’s.

At this time of life, although not really ‘old’, most of us feel we need to nourish our body and be careful not to waste or scatter our energy.

It is not a time of life when we have so much vitality that we don’t know what to do with it, which un-channelled too easily leads to simply wasting it!

I remember jogging every day in London and getting ‘high’ on it! Really feeling very good after a session, clear-minded, the body light and ready for some challenge or even more exercise like Tai Chi or Qi Gong, as if the jogging had been a warm-up!

Mind you it’s perfectly feasible for people to carry on running to a pretty old age. It’s just that most people would rather not make that amount of effort.

So, I am addressing those of us who have not necessarily been running for the last 40 years but who would like to take some easy and simple exercise that rewards us with great results and maximum benefits.

I find that the important words to keep in mind for this kind of exercise that’s good for us baby boomers in order to reinforce energy, health and well-being are ‘gentle’ and ‘steady’. Nothing brutal or sudden as this would harm the energy system of our body.

After all, as a Tai Chi principle announces:

“Gentle Rhythmic versus Hasty, Violent Movements
Sudden movement causes energy to stagnate as it also must stop quickly, while gentle, rhythmic movement brings about its flowing”.

Brutal moves would also amount to the same result and be harmful.
So, in contrast this is what I would advise for baby boomers:

· Some warm-ups are also a necessity, but unlike running, soft and slow shaking and breathing, mindful stretching exercises of most body parts, such as the neck, shoulders, hips, knees, whole limbs and the body as a whole

Then…

· A short, light overall self massage such as the Chinese know well how to do, preferably along the body’s meridians and energy channels to stimulate the flow of energy circulation

Then ideally…

· Some Tai Chi movements and/or Qigong exercise to create a proper ordered energy flow throughout the whole system

These easy movements, being slow and including some deep, slow breathing, allow us to draw our attention to our inner sensations, enhancing the effect of the exercise and bringing with it not only health and well-being but also a big PLUS: meditation, which in itself is ideal for developing the wisdom we all long for in our older years.