Yoga, Exercise, and the Three Gates

Exploring the interaction of the Three Gates and the Three Centers. I saw this note from a dear friend who has survived on the planet for lotsa years, and loves loves loves playing basketball.

“Practically all the fitness training advice out there is not really appropriate for me any longer at some level or another. I have to baby the hip, I have to baby the right shoulder, I’ve substituted reps for weight and probably won’t ever get back to serious weight.

Anyone know of a really good fitness routine designed for older people?”

My answer: Yoga. It is THE physical science, and unlike sports, calisthenics, most “exercise” and weights or running, it is about HEALTH, not “Fitness.”

The difference? “Fitness” is how high, how far, how fast, how heavy, and so forth. But “Health” is things like: how did you sleep? How do you feel when you wake up in the morning? How is your sex drive? How much energy do you feel? How often do you get sniffles and colds, or other iillnesses? How do your joints feel?

HEALTH in that sense is connection to that natural flow of life every child has. When we were young, that is as wide as the ocean. But as we age, that flow becomes narrower and narrower, to a river. And sometimes the flow of the river changes. Sometimes it goes underground and you have to dig a well.

Sports are the EXPRESSION of Fitness and Skill. Fitness is a focused aspect of “Health” then. It is the difference between a stock car…