Longevity - Living a Long and Healthy Life

Not everyone wants to live a long live; not unless it is a healthy and vibrant life, supported by a good circle of friends and family and free of major illnesses.
Unfortunately, modern life with its environmental and societal pressures has led to worries, uncertainties, physical and mental stresses and resulting deterioration in our quality of life especially in our later years.

We could move in the rural areas of the country or smaller cities and lead a more peaceful and healthy existence, like so many have done during Covid 19 and continue to do as we start to return to a semblance of normal life. Is that the answer though?

How about those who prefer to live in the city or because of work and family responsibilities have very few choices of where to live? Do we really need to move to a blue-zone location to live a healthy and fulfilling life, or can we learn the key determinants of healthy living and longevity regardless of location?

I believe we can and here is how.

Let me start by saying that I am a strong believer in the “mente sana in corpore sano” credo, promoted by the ancient Greeks, Romans and is the foundation of the esoteric principles of the orient and the traditional martial arts that also incorporate a strong spiritual element in its integration of body, mind and spirit. I was fortunate that this belief was also shared by my older brother and many of our friends and I started at a very young age to practice this philosophy of life and healthy living. 

The breath of life

If Covid has thought us anything is that in the areas where smog was prevalent, casualties were much higher than in areas of cleaner air, so less populated areas with fewer industries did much better. It makes eminent sense then, that to live a long and healthy life, as a minimum we need to spend more time in areas with good oxygen like in the bush, by the ocean/rivers or in the country.

That alone will not be sufficient as regularly most people only use about 2/3 of their lung capacity, therefore missing on a substantial and readily available boost to their health and vitality. Gradual longer walks and deeper breathing can greatly help and expand the lower part of the lungs and provide extra oxygen to the body and especially the brain, resulting in much better health overall.   

Lessons from the Blue-Zones and Martial Arts

As students of Karate and other martial arts, we learned how to breathe, how to remain calm under stressful conditions and how to control our body, emotions and spirit. While meditation is very important, in longevity movement is just as important. This can be observed by the centenaries walking the mountain hills of Sardinia, Greece, Okinawa or other parts of the world where the over 100 thrive (the so called blue zones). For those who cannot walk or go very far, Tai-Chi is a great way to integrate body, mind and spirit in a simple exercise.

The town of Acciaroli (picture below) is such a place. So much so that the famous writer Hemingway was so taken by its idyllic beauty when he first saw it as a soldier during the allied landing of Southern Italy in the Second World War, that he returned after the war to write his masterpiece of “The Old Man and the Sea” there. In fact, there is still a bar with his name on it there (see picture below).

Walking meditation and swimming are also a great way to remain active and healthy well into old age. I have incorporated both into my lifestyle with positive results, as I have had to battle thirty plus years of Fibromyalgia, an Angioplasty to open up a 90% blockage in an artery in my heart, and a massive retina detachment that almost led to a total loss of vision in one of my eyes.

These health issues and other minor ones were due to prolonged periods of high levels of stress that I was able to handle in my youth but to a lesser degree once I hit my forties and fifties. Now that I am in my sixties (67 as of November 2021 to be exact) I feel better than I have since my early forties and I hope that these insights and healthy practices will also help you.  

I would be remiss here if I did not mention that during some extensive tests for possible autoimmune disease (I was in such pain and there is also a family predisposition and history of it) at the Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto when I was 57 years of age, the specialist told me that my test results showed the body and internal organs of someone 15 years younger than their actual age, or similar to someone in their early 40’s.  

Lessons from the elders of Acciaroli, Amalfi Coast, Italy

While I had read about the blue-zones, I was surprised to see that Acciaroli was not in there even though the percentage of centenaries in that small village on the Amalfi Coast was much higher than about anywhere else in the world and was being studied by Europeans and North American medical researchers.

The picture above (taken in 2016 when I was 62 years old) is that of a 93 year old gentleman who was part of this study, and on that afternoon I would have not expected to find him outside a bar, as most people and especially elderly ones would be taking a restful nap. When I asked him why he was not he said that he did not need it but his 100 year old brother and wife did. He also told me that his wife had passed a few years before and he was actually looking for a girlfriend…:-)

The Mediterranean Diet

One of the key findings by the researches in Acciaroli, was that besides the fresh air, the long walks up the hills, fresh seasonal food mostly locally grown, there were two common foods that just about everyone ate every day. They were a daily catch of fresh fish, specifically acciughe (anchovies) and fresh Rosemary herbs that were added to just about everything. Without listing all of the great nutrients and exceptional health benefits of having these two in the daily diet, this is nothing new to most Italians who have been eating well all of their lives.

The Acciaroli Secret 

In fact, when I asked the gentleman for the secret of most of Acciaroli inhabitant’s longevity, he said smiling that for him the key was to always leave the table a bit hungry. That is, whatever you eat (which is important), do not overburden the body. Basically another form of intermittent fasting that is integrated into a way of life and does not deprive the body of anything or is subject to some strict time interval.

As I get older, and my metabolism slows down, I am not digesting the food as well as when I was younger, and I have learned that to prevent acid reflex and get a good night sleep, I have to eat less and much lighter foods in the evening and get up from the table a bit hungry. I am sure that these simple adjustments to anyone’s way of life will bring many health benefits.

The Determining Factor in Longevity

As I continued my research on longevity and studied other findings, a strong social and community support system consistently emerged across all blue zones as a key factor for a long, healthy and happy life. Now that we are starting to emerge from 2 years of Covid lockdowns and other forms of restrictions across all of our normal social interactions, we have become keenly aware on how important it is for our mental and physical well-being to have a strong network of family and friends in our support system.

The Esoteric Practices and the Spiritual Dimension

While not widely discussed in longevity studies, the esoteric practices of the orient in the integration of body, mind and spirit are now being more fully understood by the rest of the world. In other parts of this book I will discuss at greater lengths how recent scientific discoveries in Quantum Physics are finally opening up our understanding of a multi-dimensional universe and our role in it, and how the outside world is only a reflection of our internal state of mind and emotional, spiritual being.  

Future Knowledge

I will discuss how ancient knowledge of the universal law of manifestation, healing practices, and the power of our mind to control our internal universe can direct our attention and energies to heal ourselves and others. Yogis, healers, martial arts masters and many others have known these secrets for thousands of years, and anyone who consistently applies these basic principles, can use the transformative power of Ki (life force) and become a master in the art of life management and easily live over one hundred years in abundant health and prosperity.