DeAnna Smothers: Becoming an athlete at 60
December 11, 2009 by DeAnna Smothers
Filed under News and Events
Athlete - A person possessing the natural or acquired traits, such as strength, agility, and endurance, that are necessary for physical exercise or sports (www.thefreedictionary.com)
Last Tuesday evening while I was teaching a peaceful yet sweaty yoga class at our studio it hit me…at 65 years of age I have become an athlete! I asked myself “How did THIS happen?” I used to be a blobby, overweight, out-of-shape woman at 59! I looked around and saw that I am kicking the butts of some people who are half my age and able to do every single thing I’m asking them to do.
Age is just a number
But before we go into how this happened, I would like to say that if I can become an athlete in my 60’s, anyone can regardless of their age or current fitness levels. I know you hear people who have accomplished desired goals say this about different things all the time… and now I know why…because they really mean it!:-) If I can become an athlete, anyone can.
Like most of us, becoming fit and healthy was a dream of mine. I wanted to acquire traits such as strength, agility, and endurance necessary for physical exercise and a healthy lifestyle. Think about it: Why would we want to be less than our best, period? Scripture says in 2 Cor. “Run the race in order to win. Win to get the prize”. What kind of a life plan is it to say “You know, I think I’ll just be 1/2 my best all my life”.
Where I fell short…and the wake-up call that made me pay attention
I’ve been thinking about and dreaming about being authentically healthy in mind, body and soul for years, wanting it, seeking it, falling short because I didn’t have the stick-to-iveness. I needed the proper motivation, but what was it? I needed to just do it instead of only thinking about it all the time.
I would love to say that my deep love for God and my perfection as a Christian is what did that job, but that would not be truthful. I would love to say that I did it to honor Him and be obedient to what Scripture instructs us to do, to take care of our temples mind, body and soul. But that would be an overstatement. I got here because a li’l bout with breast cancer got my attention loud and clear. (My cancer was gone after five months of natural cancer therapies…but that’s a story for another time.)
How you can make the shift in your life
My point here is that I had to be stopped dead in my tracks to have enough motivation to realize my dream of becoming a healthy fit athlete. Hopefully, you will be smarter than I and do it because you want to can and should.
It’s not rocket science, the formula is clear…eat right, exercise regularly (always include yoga in your exercise routine) and most importantly, take time to be still and peaceful long enough each day to commune with and hear God so you can be lead by Him in all you do. Very simple steps, really. But how do you actually make the shift to that lifestyle?
I wrote “8 Steps to Unleashing your Inner Athlete After Age 60” to help you with your motivation to make “the shift” once and for all to a healthy lifestyle. It is great fun and so rewarding! It outshines all the old stuff, trust me on this one.
awesome, awesome, awesome!!! I am going to share this with everyone I can!!! I love you!
Hi:
I have a friend who has breast cancer, how can I pass info on to her about the natural remedies you used?
Hello Lynnita,
Thank you for visiting Yahweh Yoga. I am blessed by your question as I had asked myself that many times! Here’s what I did:
1. Absolutely get really clear that you intend to get healthy and in shape. The science physically is quite clear. However, the mind is where it begins and ends.
2. Count on the fact that everytime you are tempted to return to your old lifestyle (and it will be often and forever), you simply need to center with Christ and ask for His strength and wisdom, feel the Holy Spirit dwell in your temple. Then woman-up and make the right choices. He can lead us to water but he gave us the choice as to whether or not we would actually drink the water.
3. Understand that you will be making a “lifestyle change”, not a diet and exercise routine till you feel in shape then you can go back to your old lifestyle, because if you do you will get the same results. Ever heard the quote: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten”?
4. Make no mistake, this is a difficult and absolutely wonderfully satisfying, joyful and noble goal. It’s the world’s number one New Year’s Resolution to become healthy and fit.
5. Understand, it will not be easy, yet it won’t be too hard either. It’s all what you want to make of it. Making a lifestyle change is just one component of our overall lives, we have lives to live and like Scripture says and I paraphrase: Don’t be telling everyone what you’re doing, if you’re fasting just be joyful and keep it between yourself and God. Afterall, this all comes down to you and Him. Check out Proverbs and you will see that we are commanded to live healthy lifestyles and that in 3John it states “Beloved, I wish above all else that you prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers”.
6. Are you married? If so, get your husband on board if possible. Personally, I pick my fights carefully with my husband, and this one I was willing to go to the mat for. It’s too hard having to live two lifestyles and believe me they need it too. My husband LOVES it and wouldn’t dream of going backward now and he was a very hard sell at first. If you’re not married then this information is not pertinent at this time.
7. Eating is majorly important. I guarantee you your body is toxic. Detoxifying and eating all organic foods, especially raw foods and drinking green juice (which is the rage in the health world from common person to movie stars and athletes) One must drink green juice everyday and at first almost fast with it. The best juicer for this must have a large opening that a whole apple can fit down…I like http://www.breville.com . I wish you could take our teacher training because it allows for a complete education in this area. Lots of people take it who just want the transformation aspects, but they end up being teachers too. Some I might add that have never done yoga and are our age. But that’s something for you to pray about.
8. Exercise - Always, always, always…start out slow. Take some rest and restore yoga classes 3 x per week in your area….gentle, gentle, gentle and begin to walk for 1/2 hour each day 6 days per week. Have the time slot the same each day, you are beginning your new lifestyle. As you schedule exercise time, it will remain in place. Before you know it (and you will know when no one needs to tell you), you can move up to an hour a day walk and perhaps a little more challenging yoga class…perhaps. Just get this down first. The success formula is consistency, consistency, consistency.
9. Have a complete Vitamin Panel Blood Test done on you. Check out all your vitamins, hormones (especially thyroid) levels. Make sure you get a comprehensive blood test (you can go to http://www.lef.org ) They are great and have clean vitamins. After you get your blood tests back you can call them and talk to a doctor and he will lead you to the right levels of what you need. This is the organization that Suzanne Somers recommended in her book. They are first rate and reasonably priced. If your vitamins, hormones (naturally they would be natural hormone replacement not AMA stuff) minerals and such are not optimized you literally have no chance of success. You won’t have the chemistry for it.
10. Enjoy the ride, it’s a process. Stay cool and centered in Christ, make the right choices 95% of the time (remember He says to run the race in order to win). Check out this website, she just started her transformation and it might be fun blogging with her and following her http://www.thedancingbaptist.blogspot.com/
Love,
DeAnna