As I was flying out to Montana this week, and had some time in airports, I enjoyed watching people walking and moving…it is a great study in “stiffness” and if they are young or old. The funny thing I realized in my very limited research on this subject is that if you are stiff in your joints it doesn’t make any difference what your chronological age is… you look “old”! It is that “weight of the world” type of movement that looks like you are burdened with each step because your fluidity of joint movement isn’t there.
However, I also noticed a very curious thing; those who were walking slowly and being aware of their surroundings appeared much more at ease in their walking stride…and on the other side of that observation; those who had a great urgency and were rushing to get somewhere had locked their eyes, jutted their chin forward, pushed down and stiffened their legs and joints and appeared very tense. They even had a scowl on their faces as they tightened the facial muscles and jaw.
So, yes there is definitely a “psychophysical” relationship in how we think and how we move, and if we think we are “old” we may stiffen up for no reason except that is what society says we must do. We have a “choice”, there is that word, the experience that can free us from being what we think we have to be or do.
Come experience this choice – stiffness or fluidity – your time to be all you can be and loving life!