OBSERVATIONS FROM LIFE TO BETTER HEALTH
I should make it make known that I’m not a professional in matters of health, but a long life has taught me some important health and life style differences between the cultures that I’ve lived in. A California upbringing with a holistic and health food leaning mother will help to set the scene.
SE Asia has been my home for the last 30 years, so I’ll start
here. Most of the population in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand
have poor rural roots. It’s their body and mind flexibility that amazes me, I feel it’s this trait that has developed from their life style and the reason why they have such bodily flexibility. Chairs are not a part of their life, nor are beds or toilets that you sit on. They prefer to squat for everything. Oldsters of 80 years or more can sit like this for hours on end. Much of the cooking, food harvesting, preparation, cleaning and community conversation is all done while squatting. The Zen like mind and body control of yoga positions helps to add emotional peace.
Western cultural habits of sitting in chairs, sleeping on raised beds and sit down toilets have all made our bodies less flexible.
Additional cultural differences in diet, health care treatments and life styles contribute to our overweight, sedentary and less healthy conditions. A Lao friends father who is over 80 (my age) has never been to a doctor, dentist and rarely leaves the village. I have trouble just getting up from the floor, while he scrambles up ladders and is as spry as a teenager. Too late for me, but there’s a lesson to be learned from this way of living.
I’ve also lived in Mexico and other Central America locations, often in poor, undeveloped areas. Most of the citizenry were poor and struggling to survive. But their life style seemed to lift them beyond their problems. This positive attitude was partially stemmed from the practice of siestas. Bringing all the family together for a snack, communications and a little afternoon rest together contributed to making life more positive. Fiestas are also a large part of their life style and to help lift their spirits.
These traditional life style habits are now declining in many places. Some astute westerners who see the value in health and spirit are now turning to yoga and other, simpler life styles. Some of these new practices are now turning their lives around for better health.