Member-only story

Ice Sculpting In The Desert

Steven Barnes
4 min readNov 15, 2021

--

Matthew Arieta said:

“I was having a conversation with a friend earlier about how to best maintain physical and mental well being as we age. The premise was what methods offer the most value for the lowest risk, and what value is there in increasing risk?

We saw methods such as meditation, joint mobility, and yoga (done well with proper instruction) as low risk, high reward. Anything beyond that such as playing sports, martial arts, calisthenics, conditioning, bodybuilding, powerlifting, or weightlifting, increases the risk of injury, so is the reward worth it? If so, what is that reward that the “safer” methods don’t offer? Trying to look beyond pure enjoyment at the tangible rewards of increasing risk.

Totally subjective conversation, but since you often post about things in this neighborhood I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thank you.”

###

To answer this, I think you have to ask a few questions.

  1. What are the qualities of life that ordinarily decrease with age?
  2. Which of these are connected to voluntary behaviors?

There are aspects of mental, physical and emotional health, and the subject is vast. What I WILL say is that if you add a pulling activity, YOGA is the best single overall practice, IMO. Because it is a “closed chain” activity, with hands often bearing weight on the ground, you can engage with gravity in a different way. Traditional Indian yoga can also involve…

--

--

Steven Barnes
Steven Barnes

Written by Steven Barnes

Steven Barnes is a NY Times bestselling author, ecstatic husband and father, and holder of black belts in three martial arts. www.lifewritingpodcast.com.

No responses yet