Mind-body and long life

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Mind-body and long life

Postby klonk on Mon Mar 30, 2020 2:39 pm

It is commonly believed that diligent Taijiquan practitioners tend to live long.

The same is true of dedicated fencers. Some are still giving lessons well into old age.

I just discovered that another group has some old-timers still going strong: classical singers. To sing classical music you have to sing low notes and high notes and long notes. You have to be loud because there were no microphones when the classics were written. There are particular techniques for doing it, and they involve intentional breathing, close attention to posture, and, in all, an unusual degree of mind-body coordination.

Hmm...
Last edited by klonk on Mon Mar 30, 2020 2:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.
I define internal martial art as unusual muscle recruitment and leave it at that. If my definition is incomplete, at least it is correct so far as it goes.
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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby klonk on Mon Mar 30, 2020 2:57 pm

Okay, I'm locked down and bored out of my mind. I had some lessons in my youth. I have been singing "Funiculi, Funicula," and "Tuba Miram." The mailman says I have a really nice voice. The neighbor's cat agrees.
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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby Peacedog on Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:20 pm

You could try this approach...

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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby klonk on Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:52 pm

I define internal martial art as unusual muscle recruitment and leave it at that. If my definition is incomplete, at least it is correct so far as it goes.
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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby everything on Mon Mar 30, 2020 4:51 pm

klonk wrote:Okay, I'm locked down and bored out of my mind. I had some lessons in my youth. I have been singing "Funiculi, Funicula," and "Tuba Miram." The mailman says I have a really nice voice. The neighbor's cat agrees.


lol. good stuff. this is some good writing ... I kinda want to read the story that starts with this paragraph, actually.
amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong
/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /
“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science
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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby everything on Mon Mar 30, 2020 4:51 pm

klonk wrote:Okay, I'm locked down and bored out of my mind. I had some lessons in my youth. I have been singing "Funiculi, Funicula," and "Tuba Miram." The mailman says I have a really nice voice. The neighbor's cat agrees.


lol. good stuff. this is some good writing ... I kinda want to read the story that starts with this paragraph, actually.
amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong
/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /
“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science
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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby klonk on Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:58 pm

everything wrote:
klonk wrote:Okay, I'm locked down and bored out of my mind. I had some lessons in my youth. I have been singing "Funiculi, Funicula," and "Tuba Miram." The mailman says I have a really nice voice. The neighbor's cat agrees.


lol. good stuff. this is some good writing ... I kinda want to read the story that starts with this paragraph, actually.


I'll try to think of an ending that does not see me going stir-crazy and punching the walls. ;D
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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby Steve James on Tue Mar 31, 2020 1:30 pm

It is an excellent time to meditate, maybe the best time. Take your forty days in the wilderness as a Godsend.
"A man is rich when he has time and freewill. How he chooses to invest both will determine the return on his investment."
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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby Michael on Tue Mar 31, 2020 10:09 pm

And during Great Lent!
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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby Michael on Tue Mar 31, 2020 10:13 pm

Advanced voice training on display:



or

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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby klonk on Wed Apr 01, 2020 10:19 am

So, returning to the field where last our muttons were seen, it seems a hypothesis worth looking at: Various activities that engage high levels of mind/body coordination may prolong life. I am not saying it is true, but that it is possibly so.

Who knows? Perhaps the common denominator is as simple as breathing deeply. ???
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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby klonk on Wed Apr 01, 2020 10:22 am

Michael wrote:And during Great Lent!


All the fish fries are canceled. There used to be a deep rivalry, locally, between the Serbian Orthodox and the Roman Catholics as to who put on the best Lenten fish dinners.
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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby Peacedog on Wed Apr 01, 2020 10:50 am

I'd say the reality is very little can be done to move the needle to the right in terms of longevity. Even historically, I'd be hard pressed to find verifiable examples of people living much longer than 100 years of age independently in a manner that most people would find enjoyable. The only examples I'm aware of anyone living past 120 years of age essentially involved entering a state of suspended animation for long periods of time punctuated by short periods of activity. Not an optimal situation.

Engineering is beginning to find some compounds, all of which have side effects, that could potentially change this, but none of them are ready for primetime so to speak. I say engineering as these are all off label uses of existing compounds. Science hasn't done jack until very recently involving direct interventions for aging.

A better way to look at it is that many things exist that move the needle to the left (i.e. shorten lifespan). Some only require avoidance and others need an active intervention. Avoidance based issues include: smoking, obesity, drug use, sleep deprivation, prolonged excess stress and high risk activities. Active interventions include: sloth, a lack of stress (i.e. eustress), exercise, life long learning and doing something productive with your time.

I've seen many people die within a few years of retirement due to lacking a reason to live. Nothing was wrong with them physically. They just gave up.

Likewise, I've seen a number of people survive really bad lifestyle decisions into their 90's by sheer force of will.

I've never met ANYONE over 103 years of age that was living independently and having a good time. Ever. I did hear of one man, that I could verify, who was 108 years old when he was run over by a drunk driver in Brooklyn walking home from the gym. FYI, he came from a family of people who all lived into their 90s and early 100's. He was also a strongman in the 1930's, always stayed in shape and never had any bad habits.

Also keep in mind that if the median age of people at the time of death is X where you live that half of them die before that.

Aside from avoiding bad habits, having decent genetics and staying active, I'm not sure what can really be done. And if you have bad genetics, I doubt real longevity is in the cards regardless of what you do. For example, as of today roughly 0.0173% of Americans live to be 100.

But staying active and having a reason to be here, no matter how frivolous, is super important to avoid dying early.
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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby Michael on Wed Apr 01, 2020 11:19 am

klonk wrote:
Michael wrote:And during Great Lent!


All the fish fries are canceled. There used to be a deep rivalry, locally, between the Serbian Orthodox and the Roman Catholics as to who put on the best Lenten fish dinners.

If only livestreaming included smell-o-vision and taste-a-rama.

Why are churches not essential? Not even a thought from the bigwigs about it. But other tremendous establishments must be kept open. >:(
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Re: Mind-body and long life

Postby Taste of Death on Wed Apr 01, 2020 11:21 pm

I'm in Sacramento, CA where a third of the covid-9 sufferers got it at church. I've been warning people for years that organized religion kills but no one listened.
"It was already late. Night stood murkily over people, and no one else pronounced words; all that could be heard was a dog barking in some alien village---just as in olden times, as if it existed in a constant eternity." Andrey Platonov
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