Thirty Day Sun Salutation Challenge: Day 22

There is a thing I called a “false physiological profile.” Namely, to ask what the physical characteristics of perfect health are, and to aim at them. The hypothesis was that doing this, controlling the aspects of my body that WERE under control of habit and discipline would influence a host of things I can’t see or consciously control. Cognitive efficiency is one of those. So is sexual energy and general “aliveness”, optimism and clearing of fear-reactivity.

The method was to find movement patterns that are challenging, complex, applicable to life and sport, and SCALABLE. On a bad day, I can move lightly. If I’m feeling froggy, I can jump.

This hypothesis was never really tested formally, but looking at research on aging, immune health, overall energy and “health span” the notion seems to be pretty damned accurate, so I’m going to call it a “theory” rather than a “hypothesis” because of the massive tangential, inferential, experiential and anecdotal evidence.

Find a movement which, were you to perform it PERFECTLY, you’d be proud and feel that your younger self would approve of your current performance. There are a lot of such movements, but the Sun Salutation is definitely one of them. If you look carefully, you’ll see a VERY wide range of options. Once you have established a daily habit, perhaps starting here:

Sun Salutations: Senior Yoga (Bonus Video)

All you have to do is follow your “safety rails”: things like “Never go above a…