Mobile bodies

0:00Andre:How to live to 100 or die trying is brought to you by Genical.

0:10Andre:Let's talk about bodies. Big or small, agile or a little less so, we rely on them to get us through life. So it is worth a conversation to, and forgive me for this, ask not what our bodies can do for us, but what we can do for them. Whether we train for Ironman competitions, do chair yoga, or jump out of airplanes, physical fitness plays an important role in the way we age. And accounting for different abilities, it sure helps us stay mobile, strong, and even playful. This is not a conversation about tech pros who are spending millions to keep their bodies as young as they can, although at least one has admitted there is nothing better than eight hours a night of good old-fashioned sleep.

1:01Andre:Depending on your algorithms, social media supports an entire industry of people telling us to drink certain smoothies or take specific supplements to avoid disease or build strength. If you want to spend the money to go down that rabbit hole, fine, although the anxiety of keeping up might be self-defeating. In this episode, we begin with the recognition that this fabulous new longevity humans are starting to experience does not also mean that we will automatically remain healthy for those extra years. If we are going to be around for such a long time, it sure would be nice to be able to pick up our great-great-grandchildren or twist open a jar of blueberry jam.

1:46Andre:So let's dig into some pretty interesting insight on how, physically, we can prepare for a good time, now that the odds are we'll be here for a long time.

2:06Andre:From the Toronto Star, this is How to Live to 100 or Die Trying. And I'm your host, Moira Welsh.

2:29Andre:Andre Talbot and Catalina Marega are a husband and wife team running a studio called Spirit Loft Movement Centre in the Toronto neighbourhood of Leslieville. Andre is a former Toronto Argonaut. He played as a receiver for nine years and helped them win the Grey Cup in 2004. He was a team captain of the Argos, known for speed, agility, and hands that seemed to effortlessly catch the ball. Those skills helped to give him football longevity, but all of the repetitive movements led to late career injuries and ultimately his decision to retire. Catalina too had an athletic younger life. She was a competitive gymnast who studied and taught yoga for many years.

3:17Andre:We live in a culture that prizes athleticism, especially professional athleticism, for many reasons. One of the biggest is that it is tied to the seeming power of youth. And as we age, much of keeping fit can be tied to ego, proof that we've still got game, so to speak. But as Andre moved from his athlete years, it struck him that, you know, since he was going to have this body until he died, the question was how to take care of it.

3:51Andre:As Andre and Catalina grew older, as their bodies changed, they began to explore new ideas for movement and immerse themselves in a practice called the Fighting Monkey Rootless Root, which, in the most basic of descriptions, is a form of cross-motion mobility that looks at movement through the lens of human history, dexterity, and creative thinking, all with the goal of a good life and old age. They combine lessons learned about physicality from their younger years with this new way of approaching mobility and its aim of keeping the body agile for many years to come.

4:29Mary:You touched on my previous life as an athlete, and that was really geared around elite performance of a particular sport. And in that sense, I would say my relationship to my body was very much around to push beyond my limits. Retiring from sport, there's a different perspective that I feel really grateful that I've been able to embody and cultivate. And that is around longevity. It's around well-being. So it's different than very, perhaps a more rigid approach to functionality rooted in performing a specific task at its highest capabilities.

5:16Andre:As Andre and Catalina considered what they could offer their clients, and as part of their new learnings, they examined the origins of human movement, the ways in which we rather joyously used our bodies daily for survival and evolution, leaving behind our initial quadruped state, crawling on all fours, and eventually rising to bipeds, standing upright on two feet. The problem is, they say, modern culture is removing us from what it physically means to be human.

5:50Mary:Our environments promote sedentary culture. So now we have clientele coming in and being like, how do I create a practice that will help my physical well-being and help me to engage my physical body when everything around my environment is saying, just sit down. Let someone else do that movement. I don't even chop my own vegetables. I don't even cook because I order my food pre-cooked. I don't carry my groceries because they're delivered. My work is all at the computer, so I'm sitting most of the day. And then I drive across town, so I'm sitting when I'm traveling. So this is radically different than human experience for hundreds of thousands of years.

6:34Mary:And this is a modern reality. And so now we have to counter this modern environmental behavioral conditioning with intentional movement practice.

6:47Andre:Let's consider for a moment longevity. For those born in 1900, the average lifespan was 50 years of age. Today in Canada, it is closer to 84 years for women and 79 for men. We have these extra decades because of science and medicine. Antibiotics protect from infections. New treatments for heart disease keep people alive longer. And in case it needs stating, vaccines are factually proven to safely prevent a host of potentially deadly diseases, such as smallpox or polio. Some research suggests more vegetables in our diet is what we need for the best shot at longevity. Others talk about exercise as the key.

7:34Andre:While it is nice to contemplate the potential of an extended lifespan, let us not forget our health span, our ability to move through the world in whatever ways we can with the greatest possible physical and cognitive agility. Our health span can determine whether those extra years give us more pleasure than pain. Back to Catalina and Andre, they too have a powerful perspective on the relationship between exercise, well-being, and a good life. Extra decades or not.

8:10Catalina:I think this is really important also around we don't know how long our lives will be. We can only be interested, really, about quality of life through the lifespan because nothing is promised to us. And we would even say that as we age, aging is a very important part of human development. It's not a stage of decline, but it's a stage of development. So to kind of push back against this narrative that is circulated, often with a tinge of fear, is that somehow we are sort of destined to lose capacity and decline as we move on through the years, and maybe to think about it in a different way. We'll be right back.

9:07Andre:At Catalina and Andre's Spirit Studio, you won't get a typical exercise class, where everyone is lined up on a spin bike or a Pilates reformer machine. At Spirit Studio, playfulness and human connection are built into the classes. What does that actually mean? We will let Andre and Catalina describe how their movements are integrated for a healthier mind and body, but here are a few examples. You might see Andre demonstrating explosive leaps, bouncing across the room, landing with knees bent. Or Catalina, with a yoga strap around her waist that is pulled by a partner, crawling with knees lifted off the ground, trying to stay on balance.

9:53Andre:Sometimes people will stand on one leg, moving arms, twisting their head to the back, squatting and flipping to the next foot for a new series of movements, all focused on flexibility, agility and strength. They use weights, barbells, balls, even a pumpkin at Halloween to throw and catch. There is a lot going on here, But the goal is to help our bodies and mind out of the restricted movements and thoughts that dominate our lives. And, if we are blessed with longevity, to help us stay strong enough to catch ourselves if we trip on the stairs, or mobile enough to sit on the floor, play with grandchildren, and get up again.

10:39Andre:The aim of these movements is to help us take risks, to face physical aging without fear, especially for women who've been taught to believe hormonal changes will lead to diminished bone density and they'll inevitably become fragile.

10:55Catalina:I hear this a lot, and I hear it as soon as particularly women get into their 30s and 40s because they start to fear perimenopause and the neuroendocrine changes that are going to happen and the stories about us losing our bone mass and our muscle mass. And we're born with a compass. And if we train our ability to stay connected to that, which is our sensory experience, both internally and externally, and we learn how to navigate that space and we reach out to the network of people that can help us navigate that space, then we can pass through those life stages. And we don't have to pass through them with fear.

11:38Catalina:And we can find ways to stay strong.

11:40Andre:So it is pretty clear by now that the philosophy Andre and Catalina teach has created a community that explores, in a way, the anthropology of human movement. It examines it from its origins to the present, from physicality to emotional connections, which of course is our blueprint of existence.

12:02Mary:I think one of the important feedbacks we get is a continuing relationship. What we've noticed is that people come back and they seek more nourishment, more education, more stimulation in the group environment, or more specific individualized training that helps them to work through maybe a new injury. And so I think continuing relationships is at the basis of community.

12:28Catalina:And even if it's hard or heartbreaking, you know, when we do pass through an injury or a surgery or a loss of some sort of faculty, we're grieving. It's tough. To be playful in that kind of landscape takes a lot of fortitude and support and courage. And so it's not to say, when we use the word play, it's not always fun. There's some work there. And when your physicality changes, working through kind of some of the aches and pains that come with degradations in joint health, finding creative solutions to obstacles, our perspective changes. Our sense faculties change. So everything changes. And I think that's what we hear from people, that they are able to track that and recognize that they're able to name it and they're able to value it.

13:20Andre:we'll be right back

13:34Andre:in December of 2023 I wrote a very sad story about people who grow old and live mostly alone I was doing research with a Toronto organization called House Calls a team of doctors, occupational therapists, nurses, social workers, and physiotherapists, to name a few, who visit older people who are unable to leave their homes. What became clear, and sadly so, is that a great many older people who are aging in place, our supposed goal, are doing so in isolation, spending a dozen or so hours alone in a living room chair. And if a home care worker misses the appointment to move them into bed, they will remain locked in that chair until the next visit.

14:19Andre:After the story ran, I received an email from a woman named Lena Zatzman, who, on the cusp of 80, wanted to remind me and Toronto Star readers that aging is not just doom and gloom. A lot of older people are actually having a great time. In fact, Lena told me, she and a girlfriend were planning a summer jump out of an airplane. As always, there is a story. So here is how Lena and Mary's great skydiving adventure began. At her 80th birthday party in the fall of 2023, Mary Kelsey gave a thank you speech to an assembled crowd of 40. And with just the right amount of drama, built to an announcement that, to celebrate her entry into her octogenarian years, she planned to go skydiving.

15:09Andre:If there was a pause of slightly shock silence, Lena, a great pal of Mary's, quickly filled it by shouting, I'm going with you. And that is how I met Lena and Mary. Let's fast forward to the jump. It was a hot day in July. The setting was a grassy field outside Dundas near Hamilton, Ontario. That is the home of Skydive Swoop. Just a few trailers, a picnic table, and a tiny pockmarked Cessna. I decided to jump with them to see up close what their big day would be like. They chose the Rockstar video package to capture the drama of the freefall and ultimately document the adventures of two women who, well-admitted thrill-seekers, also wanted to show their grandchildren that people don't change once they reach a certain age.

16:00Andre:When we met later, they spoke of growing up in a time when they watched women be told to strive, above all else, to get married and become mothers. But they wanted more. Lena's parents encouraged her to learn how to support herself. Mary went back to university after she had her first daughter. Mary and Lena were from the so-called have-it-all generation. Women who tried to build a career, create a family, and run a household. Them, their children grew up, and the women retired. What next? What adventure could they look forward to now? Here's Mary.

16:39Catalina:I quoted Robert Frost. Walking by the woods on a snowy evening was the poem that he wrote. And the last line was, The woods are lovely and dark and deep, but I have miles to go before I sleep. And I said, now we need to keep those miles going. I said, I have a bucket list, and one of the things on my bucket list is to go skydiving, which was a surprise to everybody. And I said, I'll go with you.

17:08Andre:There we go. There we go. And that was it. Jumping out of an airplane was not their first big thrill. They did the CN Tower Edgewalk together a few years earlier. Lina has gone hot air ballooning, whitewater rafting, and ziplining through a Costa Rican forest. There were a few factors that gave them the taste for extreme sports in their later years. But as young women, the inspiration that led them there came from very different perspectives. Here is Mary.

17:40Catalina:I grew up on a farm, and we had a hayloft, and it had a very high ceiling. And there were a lot of ladders, and I would climb to the very top of the ladders, and then I would jump into the hay. I did all of those kinds of things. I climbed trees higher than other people. You know, when I was in Teachers College, we were bored and decided we would go swimming in the Otanabe in the middle of January, and I did that. Those were the kinds of things I did, and I didn't think twice about doing it because it was fun.

18:12Andre:Lena came at it from a much different perspective.

18:15Catalina:I think I was a nervous child. I was a very nervous child. And I regret that I was a nervous child, but that's the way I was, and I don't want to be a nervous child anymore.

18:27Andre:Through this new lens of longevity, it is fair to say that women and our bodies have been through a lot. Like Lena and Mary, many women had children and raised them, all while working. No small feat. Now that these life phases have concluded, Mary and Lena are taking stock of a new life, including the evolution of their bodies. There is plenty of research that shows staying active and fit improves our health span, and the odds are our lifespan too. Lena heeds that research.

19:02Catalina:I don't consider myself particularly agile, but I do sword tai chi. I do weights. I do some cardio exercises. I do some at home, and I've joined the YWCA that's around the corner from my building. So I do try to stay active. Mary's approach is different. I probably don't do enough to stay fit, but I don't worry about it because I am in reasonably good health and I can still carry on my day. I do want to say one thing about aging. I worked in a profession with a lot of teachers. And the one thing I find rather sad, rather sobering, is that a number of the people that I worked with have all died.

19:49Catalina:and they're younger than me, I am appreciative of the fact people younger than me, in much better shape than me, have died. While that's sobering, I also appreciate the fact that I'm still here, and I'm still carrying on, and I'm going to live every day to the fullest.

20:11Andre:As we age, we all approach it from a particular mindset. Many follow the laissez-faire philosophy and take their chances, enjoying the view of the TV. Some want to work on their physicality as they get older for practical reasons to avoid falling or to throw around a ball with the grandkids. Others want to be strong and look good, a mix of vanity and pragmatism. Mary and Lena may address or maintain their physicality differently, but there is one point they have in common. They want their bodies, their knees and joints to stay adventure ready. And here we go with Mary in the airplane.

20:50Catalina:Right now we are at 6 ,000 feet, halfway there, another 10 minutes to go. How are we feeling? Feeling great.

21:00Andre:She had been joking around with her skydive instructor during the first part of the ascent. But at the 6 ,000 foot mark, Mary, like most other novice skydivers, became quiet and at 10 ,000 feet, ready to jump, Mary's instructor had to do a couple of maneuvers to get her out the door. It's funny how the body works. Mary's mind was raring to go, but her legs did not follow. She was strapped to a macho skydiving instructor who had to, politely, drag her toward the front of the airplane, where the insane power of the wind blew inside the open exit of a door that had long ago been removed.

21:41Mary:Are you ready to go? Let's go, baby!