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January 30, 2006
The Stealthy, Insidious Enemy... Is Stress the Single Biggest Factor to Consider for Longevity and Your Qigong Practice?
In a recent article on longevity-factors published through CNN, I was very struck by this excerpt as it relates to the longevity benefits of regular qigong practice:
"Regardless, there are some concrete steps people can take to maximize their own life span.
“Thomas Perls, director of the New England Centenarian Study, examines people age 100 and above in order to help everyone else learn how to age well.
“He says the key to a long and healthy life is rather simple: Don't smoke, gets lots of exercise and sleep, and eat a balanced diet.
“Centenarians are a diverse group, according to Perls. Some are teetotalers. Others manage to reach extreme old age despite heavy drinking and smoking, deadly behaviors for most people.
“One feature common to most centenarians is that stress doesn't bother them.
‘They seem to be able to shed stress. It doesn't get to them and cause them to age more quickly. They don't internalize stuff,’ Perls said.”
As I love to point out, our relationship to stress is rather like a fish’s relationship to the ocean: we are swimming in it to such an extent we take it fore granted.
Unfortunately, while the ocean waters are of course life-giving to the fish, the longterm impact of chronic stress on our systems is disastrous.
Stress is an insidious, stealthy enemy that creeps up on us day after day, quietly stealing us blind of our life-giving energy.
By the time stress seizes us by the throat and whispers “Gotcha!” in our ear, it’s often too late to recover.
Many centenarians appear to have maintained an innate ability to counteract and shed most stress from their life.
Regular practice of qigong can help you develop this same life-saving and life-prolonging capacity.
See all of John Du Cane’s qigong resources.
Posted by james at January 30, 2006 10:56 AM