Natural Anti-aging Medicine and You

by Chris Savidge, Acupuncturist and Herbalist at 889 Yoga.

As we get older, aging itself as well as the questions that arise with this process become more of a concern – and, as I want to emphasize, a huge opportunity. One of the fundamental questions is how can we age gracefully? How can we grow older with vitality of body, mind and spirit while maximizing our chances of avoiding the chronic degenerative diseases of aging? And, last but definitely not least, how can we age with youthfulness and wisdom – while looking great in the process?

 Before we begin to investigate this, however, we need to define our terms; what, exactly, does it mean to age gracefully? Without having at least a basic idea of what this means to each of us, it’s pretty hard to do, especially living in a society that idolizes youth and physical beauty to an almost pathological extent. Looking around, how this often manifests is in the ultimately futile attempt to hold onto our youthful appearance. The popularity of facelifts, botox and $300 facial creams is testament to that.

I’m actually not against any of that, though I am afraid that if these more superficial strategies are not coupled with deeper, more holistic ways of combating aging that people will miss the incredible opportunity to age with vigour, energy and health.

So, there is huge value in looking at how we want to grow old on all levels of our being. I certainly know how I want to get old – with as much health, vitality and youthfulness as possible. I think this is a pretty natural thing for us to want. The good news is that there are many, many things we can do to maximize the chance of this happening. If we take care of ourselves physically, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually, then most of us will live long, healthy lives free of the degeneration of mind and body that our culture largely assumes is the inevitable result of aging.

I’m not talking about a mythical fountain of youth, but I am talking about using all the tools at our disposal – body-mind techniques such as meditation and yoga, Asian healing modalities like acupuncture, herbal medicine, appropriate exercise and diet as well as the judicious use of supplements.  Combine that with an understanding of how degenerative changes happen and we have a potent combination to ensure that we live long, full, healthy lives (making changes to diet and lifestyle with an understanding as to how this changes our physiology takes healing to a completely different level than blindly making changes for the amorphous goal of somehow avoiding aging).

Asian medicine is actually meant to be used as anti-aging medicine, which is basically code for preventative medicine. Ancient Chinese doctors were paid in a very different way than modern health care providers – they were only remunerated when their patients were healthy. They received no recompense when their patients got sick. This, fundamentally, is a completely different paradigm than that of modern biomedicine, which is a medicine of disease. We all know the drill. We get sick, we go to the hospital or clinic, receive tests and then take some concoction that a pharmaceutical company has dreamed up, first for profits and then for healing.

But I digress. My point is that there is a radically different approach to health and aging, one that values not just maintaining but maximizing health and wellbeing on all levels of our being. It is both my experience and belief that Natural Medicine offers us the best opportunity and most support in living as fully and as long as possible. In future blog entries, I will introduce the different health concepts that are central to longevity and health, as well as practical, easy to implement strategies to maintain our youthful health and vigour.

I’m excited to be sharing this journey of preventative Natural Anti-aging Medicine with you. It is my sincere belief that this is the future of medicine; by emphasizing health rather than disease in our health care, we not only live longer and healthier, but with more opportunities for deep growth and the transformation of negative patterns of both mind and body. The end result is happy, healthy people empowered to be as compassionate and caring as humanly possible. This is not a solo journey in search of immortality, but rather a conscious journey of mutual support and growth as we transform ourselves into radiant beings of health, happiness and wisdom. Now that is a recipe for both internal and external beauty if I’ve ever seen one.