Episode 212: Aging Well Like a Yogi w/ Victoria Moran

In this episode, Dr. Jeff Armstrong and Corbin Bruton are joined by Victoria Moran, author of Age Like a Yogi: A Heavenly Path for a Dazzling Third Act to take a dive into holistic approaches to aging gracefully through yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda, emphasizing vitality, mindfulness, and purpose. Learn about gentle yoga practices for older adults, meditation techniques to combat challenges like tinnitus, and Ayurvedic routines to harmonize with nature's cycles. Discover the deeper spiritual elements of yoga, the importance of mentorship, and practical tips for integrating these practices into daily life to enhance health, calmness, and joy for… aging well.

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Transcript

0:05

Welcome to the Aging Well Podcast. I'm Dr. Jeff Armstrong here with my co host Corbin Bruton. In this episode, we have a very special guest, Victoria Moran, an inspiring author, speaker, and the author of Age Like a Yogi, A Heavenly Path for a Dazzling Third Act. Victoria is known for her holistic approach to aging with vitality, mindfulness, and purpose through the practice of yoga and other lifestyle choices. We are thrilled to explore her insights into how the principles of yoga can help us to thrive during the latter stages of life and age well.

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 0:36

So Victoria, welcome to the Aging Well podcast.

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 0:40

for having me.

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 0:41

begin by just having you tell us a little bit about yourself and how do you define

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 0:45

Aha. I think it's waking up each day with purpose and being glad to still be here. I think, I mean, I'm 74, and so things do look a little different when it's very clear that I'm closer to leaving here than showing up here, and so things do shift, but I think to have that internal momentum to keep contributing is really the essence, and then of course good health is the foundation for that.

corbin-bruton_1_10-26-2024_073041: 1:20

Yeah, I would not have guessed 74 at all. So it looks like you are aging. Well, um, what drew you to yoga initially and how has your relationship with yoga evolved

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 1:32

And what a great question. And I realized I didn't answer the first part of what it means to age like a yogi. But I think maybe it'll come in answering this one. For me, I was an overweight kid. My dad was a physician. And at one point, he and my mom founded one of these, they used to call them reducing salons. They were kind of the precursors to health clubs with the belts and the rollers. The idea being if you were jostled sufficiently, great chunks of yourself would float off into the stratosphere, never to be seen again, didn't work that way for me. So I was a fat kid. I was bad for business. And so I was always really interested in health. I remember climbing up on my dad's desk and I don't know why I knew that this book that had a Latin title was a nutrition book that he had in medical school, but somehow I did. And I pulled it off the top shelf and blew off the dust and trying to find something that, that would fix me. So by the time I was 17, I was interested, you know, very much still in health, but I'd also always been interested in the big picture. I had a nanny who had been in a lot of spiritual seeking in her life and that really resonated with me as well. So given the fact that I didn't care for my body and I didn't like gym class and I didn't like exercise, I was not somebody that was out running, et cetera. And then here comes yoga and yoga says that in addition to all the philosophy and all that, which I was very attracted to, there is a physical aspect, there is an aspect of movement of breathing. And guess what? You get to bring your soul along. And they had never told me that at the gym. So that was what appealed to me. And I think in terms of answering the first question, what it means to age like a yogi is that you use the wisdom, certainly in the yoga tradition, there are teachings that have to do with health. And you also bring in the best from contemporary science because why wouldn't you, but then also to have this inner component. with meditation. And if you get really into the Raja yoga philosophy, the idea that there is meaning and purpose and it all, you know, at the end of the day, even what we don't understand is good.

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 4:10

so this kind of builds off what we just kind of talked about a little bit there, but in the book Aging like a yogi you explore the deeper spiritual aspects of yoga. How can And, uh, kind of embracing these aspects support the aging process. Yeah,

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 4:26

I think that when you get to the point Where you really understand that you're mortal and that comes to different people at different times. I remember when a contemporary of mine and I were both turning 50, she said, wow, that really put me in touch with my mortality. And I'm thinking, didn't put me in touch with my mortality because I was just at a different phase and looking at things differently. For me, that was 70, 70s, like, whoa, that's when, you know, my grandparents all left this earth in their seventies. And that was okay, there you go. But once you get to that point, I think it's important for most people, at least, to have some sort of framework, understanding that nobody knows answers to all of the great questions of life that philosophers and prophets and others have been looking into for millennia. But to have some sort of grounding for the inner self and yoga is really good at that. And the other thing that's wonderful about yoga is that you don't have to buy it 100%. So, for example, traditional yoga. Yoga philosophy, which is also the philosophy in Hinduism, Buddhism, is that the body is a vehicle. In fact, in yoga, we have several bodies and that when we leave the physical vehicle, there is more and even reincarnation and all that. But you can practice whatever aspects of yoga. make sense and work for you with your own worldview. So without buying into reincarnation, et cetera, you can still develop a sense through yoga that life does have purpose, whatever it means that our lives collectively has purpose. Each of our lives individually has purpose. And what can we do to make them The most purposeful each day. So with practices such as meditation, the idea of karma yoga, which is doing the work that we do in terms of service, looking for ways to, um, to serve others, finding out who we are to really just give some time to ponder. I think if I met you in an elevator, I would give you the brief version, but none of those things that I would say in the elevator about name, location, profession, age, all those things are changing. They're not untrue, but they're not permanent. And so to have some of that philosophic reflection on What could be more of an ultimate truth? It's quite grounding And I think that a lot of people whether they call their spiritual path yoga or something else when they get to be older This comes a little bit more naturally and I think that's why most people if you ask who's the most spiritual person you've ever known Would often say my grandmother

corbin-bruton_1_10-26-2024_073041: 7:42

There's a lot to, it's a lot to unpack with what you just said there. Um, I think keeping on the subject though, I, yoga is, it's often associated with physical flexibility, but it sounds like. you're saying, it's kind of seeming more like a mental, emotional, even a, even spiritual flexibility.

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 8:07

how beautiful that you would, spiritual flexibility. I love that. Yeah. It's a very interesting, yoga is extremely old and Ayurveda that I also talk about in the book, really old. The written tradition is at least 3000 years old. The oral tradition is believed to go back well before that. So we're really talking about ideas that germinated, Far back in history. So the yoga sutras of Patanjali, which was kind of the basic text of Raja yoga or the Royal path, which is a yoga that contains various limbs. So one of those is asana and asana is what we today, you know, in the West say the postures, the yoga positions, the downward dog and the headstand and the whatnot, and yet none of those are in. Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. The word asana means easy, relaxed position. So that was presented by Patanjali as a way to invite meditation and to encourage this meditative state. So even the yogic dietary suggestions came out of the idea Of what can we do? How can we live? How can we sit in this asana? How can we live in our daily lives? What can we eat that make it more? Um, that make us better meditators that make it easier for us to sit and seek the answers divine or from within. Now later in the middle ages, a book came out that was called the Hatha Yoga Pradeepika. And that was where we get many of the postures that are used today. And obviously it has grown. The, sun salutation that everybody knows that you go into yoga class and they want to really warm you up. You do this posture that has 12 positions in it, and that was something that came into being in the 1800s. So, there's A lot of, uh, of history here to pack together. So nowadays in the West, if you say yoga immediately, it's go to Instagram and see somebody doing a contortion that is really impressive, but that's fairly new. What really makes a physical practice yoga, my teachers have said, is the intention and the breath. And this means that you can do your walk in the morning in a yogic fashion. You can do your weightlifting in a yogic fashion as well as the yoga postures that have developed over the years.

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 10:56

Corbin and I actually recorded an episode recently on laugh

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 10:59

Ah,

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 11:00

laughter

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 11:00

great.

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 11:02

Yeah, and, uh, I find that pretty interesting.

corbin-bruton_1_10-26-2024_073041: 11:06

it sounds kind of like you're praying almost as you say, as you're like walking or, you know, just doing your breathing to me, it seems kind of like a

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 11:17

It can certainly be a form of prayer. It can be a form of concentration also, which is one of the limbs of yoga. The idea of focusing on something uplifting. So you can go out in the morning, you can walk, you can watch your dog, and you can be thinking about this is wrong. And that's wrong. And Oh my gosh. And I have to face this today. And that's intimidating. Or you can use your power of concentration. To focus on your breath, to focus on the beauty of the nature around you, the sunlight that is going to help you actually sleep better at night because you got the sunlight in the morning and yoga is really a discipline. It's a practice. There's certain beliefs that go along with it. You don't have to believe anything, but you do have to practice if you want to get the benefits.

corbin-bruton_1_10-26-2024_073041: 12:14

So it's if an individual had like severe anxiety and they're feeling the heart and the shortness of breath it's allowing them to calm down, take control over that situation, take control over that nervous anxiety and be in the moment, control their breathing and kind of control what's happening on the inside of them. And then just being, Present. Is that

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 12:41

certainly the idea. I'm not sure that I would say severe anxiety. I think somebody with severe anxiety probably needs to see someone and see if they need more help from the Western side of things. But definitely that's the kind of thing that meditation was really made for beyond what it was really made for, which is to come to know who we truly are and connect with the divine, as the yogis would say that. Yeah, it's definitely. Yoga practice has been shown and actually in uh, Western medical studies as well, um, has been shown to decrease anxiety. There have been studies that have shown that it actually can halt some of the shrinkage of the brain. That happens over time. That particular study, they were looking at people practicing Kundalini yoga, which is kind of intense practice that I don't do. but fascinating to see the studies. Also, it's very good for the heart. Dr. Dean Ornish's landmark study back in the late 1980s that showed that heart disease could be reversed with, um, Very low fat diet, group support, yoga practice, walking, and the yoga practice and meditation, interestingly enough, when they were looking at comparing the people in the study, these were cardiac patients, severe cardiac situations, and in those who turned that around, who turned it around the best? The people who meditated the most. Not the ones who, you know, ate the best or whatever, I guess everybody had to do that part fine. But when there was a difference, it was the meditation.

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 14:31

It kind of ties in a lot of what we talk about in terms of what I call, like, Well centered fitness, which is that balance of the spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, and social that there's that. And I always present it as a bit more of a pyramid where it's built on a foundation of the spiritual and the physical, and that those are so deeply interconnected that we tend to separate them too much. And I think when you get into some of the practices of yoga and meditation and those things, you start to understand a little bit better how our spiritual and our emotional that, you know, that divine, the universal connection and everything else is all very much entwined with our physical. And even like quantum physics is getting into a deeper understanding. And I'm sure there'll be some studies at some point where somebody will look at, you know, the sub molecular, Changes in the body during yoga and during meditation and how that impacts how at a energy level our bodies are functioning. I think that's pretty fascinating stuff. And one of the things that you emphasize in the book is Aging with grace and intention. Could you share some key practices from your book that kind of help us to cultivate that

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 15:48

I think the first thing is to really Know that you're okay, that you are right on time, doing fine, just as you are. And I think there's a lot going on in society now that is helping people be a little bit less harsh with themselves, uh, than they were when I was growing up, when you're supposed to be absolutely a certain size and look this way and do things this way. So I think there's a little bit more elasticity there now, but people who are already my age older age group, we came through the time of you have to be like this. And so to just come to understand I have value as I am. And this of course is particularly difficult in an ageist culture. And that seems to be one of the prejudices that is taking the longest time to, to dissipate. I think a lot of that is because. It's frightening to people to think about advanced age. We tend, uh, not to like how older people look. We don't want to come into that ourselves. And when you hear the phrase anti aging, it's almost always cosmetic, and what can be done so that you don't look the age that you are, but really that's the least of it. It's more about what's really going on physiologically and also what's going on emotionally. So I think that self worth is a really big part of it. Yoga can be so helpful with that. And yoga in terms of asana practice, in terms of the exercise component, it's quite very nowadays because there are so many systems and you could walk into a yoga class that makes you feel like, Oh, my gosh, I'm not a 16 year old gymnast. What is wrong with me? But generally speaking, if you can find a traditional role. Hatha yoga class, it adapts to you rather than you're having to adapt to it. So that I think helps with the overall feeling better about yourself. Another thing that's rather interesting in Ayurveda yoga sister science where there is talk about the doshas, the body types that the teaching is that there are three basic energies that affect us and everybody. at the moment of conception has this blueprint where we have more of one or two of these energies, less of another. So when people first hear that, and they go take a quiz, and they want to find out what their Doshik makeup is, and if it's, The Doshas are called Vata, Pitta, Kapha, and say somebody is, Oh my gosh, I'm 75 percent Vata, and I'm 20 percent Pitta, and I'm 5 percent Kapha. What's wrong with me? I must need more Kapha. I must need to balance these out. But the teaching is, No. What? You came into being as is absolutely perfect. And it's when your ratio gets out of balance that things get a little bit tricky. So I think the real foundation of this thing is, okay, I'm okay. Now let's build on my okayness. to make some things better if I want to change a few habits, whatever it takes. And the cool thing about yoga is when this touches you anywhere, it touches you everywhere. So you start doing the exercises, you start changing your diet a little bit, you start meditation, and then the other doors open and they're much easier to walk.

corbin-bruton_1_10-26-2024_073041: 19:57

So say we have an individual who's never practiced yoga and they're really intimidated by this because it can be, it sounds like it can be a little intimidating. what advice would you give them to get started, especially for those individuals that are in

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 20:14

Sure. Well, I would obviously suggest that they read age like a yogi or any other book that is about yoga. to people in later life, midlife and later. I'm a great fan of the books by Dr. Lauren Fishman, who's a medical doctor here in New York City, a physiatrist. And he's written about yoga and osteoporosis and yoga and arthritis. And I think when you are introduced to something. In a way that's gentle and easy and clear and sane. Then whatever you walk into, if it's not in alignment with that, you know, you know what? This is not for me. If you walk into a yoga studio and things just don't seem like it's going to be good for your body, then you know it's not you. It's not you. what they're doing and whatever they're doing is fine for the people that it works for and if it doesn't work for you, you do something else. So I would personally, if I were starting out now in yoga, is I would look around online or I would look around in the bookstore to just get some basic philosophical and practical background, If there's any kind of injury going on, if you've got active arthritis, do see a physician. And if you're lucky, you can find one who knows a little something about yoga so that you get an idea of which practices would not be good for you. The one thing where people really do seem to run into trouble in yoga is with needs, with the meniscus. Especially, so probably if you've had any knee issues, if you've got any arthritis, if you are over, you know, you pick the number where it seems like you need to be extra gentle with the joints. You don't wanna sit in the lo lotus position with one leg on top of each thigh unless you've been doing. all your life. If you travel to India, you see people in their nineties sitting in a squat, sitting in the yoga lotus position, just doing their work because they've done it forever. Those of us who have not need to take it a little bit easier. I would also look for a kind of yoga that describes itself as gentle, as welcoming, Because if you start slow, you can always speed up. I mean, because the fact is, just because you're a certain age, doesn't mean that you're not absolutely fit and flexible, and that you could fit right into a more advanced course. But one of the yogic teachings is, you always want to stop just before you think you could do more. Because it's that overdoing that can lead to injury that can get you in trouble. Plus it's philosophically yogic not to get your ego in the way and say, Oh, I can do that. say, okay, fine, I could do that, but I'm just going to stop a little bit before that. So if your yoga class is called Hatha, that's probably going to be very safe. Integral yoga is a beautiful system. If you live in a city where there's an integral yoga center, uh, Sivananda is also very gentle that way. And, uh, Then there are certain types of yoga that are specifically designed for physical rehabilitation. There is one called, uh, L Y T. I'm not sure if she called that light or lit, probably light. Uh, and that was actually designed by a physical therapist who's also a yoga instructor. And then a yangar, which is easy to find around the country is used by physicians in a physical therapeutic sort of way. So I'd shop around and if at first you don't find what you're looking for, uh, keep looking. And then of course you have access online to so much. I do very much believe in having a live teacher if you can find one because they can help you do things right. It's sort of like having a personal trainer if you're going to start lifting weights. But if you're in an area where it's not available, uh, use the internet and it'll open a door to a beautiful, I think, way of aging better, feeling better, and having some calmness and peace that you might not have had before.

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 24:42

So that kind of leads into my next question is how do you see yoga fitting into a broader wellness routine for older adults and what role does it play alongside of other forms of exercise, nutrition, and self care where kind of, we, we end up wanting to push our limits a little bit further in maybe a different

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 25:00

Yes. Well, I think it's very individual and it depends on a person's history and if they've had injuries and so forth. But I actually have a chapter in Age Like a Yogi that's just about movement in general, because it's probably not advisable for older people, especially older people who have never done yoga before, to try to get all of their strength building and their cardio with yoga. You can do it. There are certain kinds of yoga. There's power yoga. There are certain Ashtanga classes that are, you sweat, you work hard you do a lot using body weight, and that's all great. If your body can handle it. But if not, then you're probably better off using yoga for what yoga is really good for a little bit of strengthening. whole lot of flexibility, a lot of bringing the mind into balance. And then according to yoga philosophy, not all backed up at this point by Western science, but the yoga teachings are that these yoga postures are designed to influence channels, which in yoga are called Nadis in Chinese medicine. They're the meridians and that you're actually providing, um, healing benefits to the body as well as flexibility and strength. So better probably for older adults to get their cardio in a safe cardio way of walking, swimming, dancing, all that kind of thing. And depending on the kind of yoga you do, you could get a lot of strength training just with yoga. I find it simpler for myself and some of the people that I counsel to do a You find a way to do your aerobics and you do weights a couple of times a week or three times a week, if you'd rather divide it up that way. And then you do yoga for what yoga is for. So I find for myself that when you're older and you wake up and you're just a little bit like, Oh, wait a minute, I'm creaky. Why am I creaky? Well, it's because I didn't get my yoga mat up last night. I didn't get down on the floor. and just stretch out some of the tensions of the day. Instead, if I brought them to bed with me, I slept with them all night and I'm going to wake up, you know, a little stiffer. So yoga kind of ingratiates itself into the day in a beautiful way. You do maybe 10 minutes at night. You can do 10 minutes when you get up in the morning and then maybe take a class a couple of times a week in person or online. And That seems to be where it fits in. So just to tell you my personal routine. I do weights twice a week. I do cardio and it's usually just as simple as the treadmill four to five days a week. And I do yoga because I teach. I teach a couple of times a week. I take two classes a week and then I just do a little bit. Morning and evening just it's kind of brings me back into my body in a very comfortable way But it's important that we keep track of our fitness see what's going on with you know the heart rate and where our Muscle mass is going, sarcopenia is a big problem for everybody who's getting older, so we want to be sure that's covered, and whether you do that in more of a dynamic yoga sense, and there are certainly ways to do that, or whether you do it with western exercise, just do it, and use your yoga for what it's good for.

corbin-bruton_1_10-26-2024_073041: 28:52

Looks like she answered the, uh, are you doing to age? Well, that we ask all of our guests. Um, speaking of all of our guests, a lot of guests that we've had on recently. Um, been hearing more and more about mindfulness and meditation these days. important are these practices in your approach to aging like a Yogi? And what would you say to someone that's struggling to quiet their mind?

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 29:20

I think that there's a misunderstanding that we're supposed to get rid of our thoughts. Which is not possible because it's the nature of the mind to have thoughts. So in yoga, the last three of the limbs are called concentration, meditation, and then Samadhi, which is, divine connection. And so all we can really will ourselves to do is concentration meditation in a precise definition is when the concentration persists without effort and you transcend as the transcendental meditation people like to say. So basically for meditation, You don't want to try to do anything. You just want to, as the Buddhists say, sit. And it is interesting, you know, we know sitting is the new smoking, and sitting doesn't have a very good reputation these days. But in terms of meditation, just take the time to sit. Just. sit. And there are different kinds of meditation. And the kind that is probably traditionally yogic is to have a word or a phrase. So this can be Sanskrit Om Shanti. The Om is the primordial sound believed to have very healing vibrations. Shanti means peace. Or you can do something in English and words that you understand. And something that I like is all is well. Inhale, all ends. Exhale, well, and as you do this, the mind is going to wander because that's what it does. If St. Francis is credited with saying, it's fine that you have thoughts during meditation, they're like birds flying around your head. You just don't want to invite them to build nests in your hair. So all is well. No, it's not. Your own life isn't even that great. And have you watched CNN lately? All is not well. all as well. And you're bringing yourself back into another level of seeing things. And you can go off on these tangents. Oh my gosh, it's really hard for me to sit here. My mind is very active. Do you think this means that there's something wrong with me? Do you think I'm getting Alzheimer's? Bring it back. All is well. All is well. And that's the process. And over time, as that becomes natural, then it really does become meditation. And the studies that have been done on meditation since the 1970s are just stunning. I mean, everything from fewer sick days to my very favorite study, which showed that people who meditated regularly for five years or more were 12 years younger physiologically than people who didn't meditate. And they measured the physiological aging with body mass index, cholesterol, vision, hearing, joint flexibility. And to think that just for sitting quietly, now they were looking at people who did 20 minutes twice a day, but that's a lot. That's a lot. So for me, it's just something that I do. Now, I have tinnitus. It's kind of interesting little side note to share, which a lot of older people have. I got mine from flying with an ear infection. Bad idea. But that means that for me, this beautiful silence is not silent. So nowadays when I meditate, I'm playing some white noise and meditate. And it's like, okay, it's sort of like when you're older and maybe a certain posture is difficult if you don't use a block or a blanket or a little bit of help. I need a little bit of help with meditation, but it's worth using the help to get it done.

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 33:31

We interviewed Craig Goldberg recently who has some products that are like vibrationary pillows and cushions that you sit on and provides the sound that can kind of go along to kind of fill that void. But he has, it's um, what is it, InHarmony is his app where you can get these just soothing sounds that um, somewhere between music

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 33:55

Ah,

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 33:56

white noise. But used that and that, to me really

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 33:59

well, I'll look that up for sure.

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 34:01

he told me not to use the driving, but I have used a few times in the car I can kind of play it through my phone. But we've talked several times about this body mind spirit connection and you talk about it in the book. How can we nurture these connections as we age to live a more fuller and more meaningful

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 34:19

I think that when we're younger, we're very involved with the body. Because it's brand new, and for most people, for many years, it works well, and it looks good, and it's fun to find a new sport, it's fun to, you know, look at yourself in the mirror, and all these things, which is part of youth and that's cool. And then, as Time goes by, we start to value more of the subtler aspects. And I think that just to recognize that I'm all of a piece, I think it was Candace Pert from Tufts University said, the body and mind are not connected. They're a single entity. And to just know that as long as we're in a body, We're not going to be able to accomplish anything, including spiritual growth without the cooperation of the body. So the trick, excuse me, as we get older is to value the body, to care for it lovingly and wisely, and also to know that we're going to be letting it go at some point. So we want to care for it and treasure it, but we don't want to get too attached to it. And I think this is a great gift of yoga. the idea that this is not me, but it is what houses me while I'm here and I'm going to take really good care of it. And then. The next adventure.

corbin-bruton_1_10-26-2024_073041: 35:53

So in your experience, what are some of the biggest misconceptions about yoga, particularly when it comes to

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 36:00

Ah, well, I think the biggest misconception in the West is that it is just an alternative to Pilates, that it is exercise pure and simple. And that's all the end big misconception, because if Hatha yoga disappeared off the face of the earth, if some, uh, tyrant bandit, the yoga that has been around for thousands of years would still be there. So that's huge. I think in terms of aging, I think there are a couple. One is, well, you're older now, so switch whatever exercise you've been doing to yoga so you won't get hurt. Because you can get hurt, and particularly with Western bodies. You know, we're not used to sitting cross legged on the floor and getting up and down, as people in some other cultures are. And so, we're also looking at a system of exercises, which when they were originally developed, was basically for young men. And so I think the idea it is a myth that you just show up at yoga and all as well. And we are lucky now that there are so many different kinds. You've got restorative classes that are just very restful. They wouldn't count for exercise, but they would count very much for, Calming the body. There's also a movement called accessible yoga. There's a book called Accessible Yoga by Giovanna Haman, and this is for people of all kinds of ableness. So you can do yoga in a wheelchair. You could do it in a chair. You could do it in the bed. Because it's been modified to accommodate that. So I think the idea that you can just show up at yoga and don't change anything when you're 75, not accurate. And I think the final thing is that yoga is just Another thing that you pick up and pass through and you like it or you don't like it and you let it go and Maybe it is, you know Certainly just because we develop an interest in something doesn't mean we have to be interested in it all our lives But I think to be open to the possibility that perhaps in your life Perhaps not this could really be a pathway to genuine Holistic health so that you're taking care of your body You're taking care of your mind. You're acknowledging your spirit and you've really got the whole thing covered. And one way I think as an older person to get more of this active in your life is to have mentors who have gone before you. And for me, it's my first yoga teacher, Stella Turfis. She's 99 years old. She still teaches a senior yoga class once a week, uh, chair yoga. She has a wonderful women's salon in her flat in London every Sunday morning, and that flat is three flights up. So when I think about, oh gosh, you know, should I do this? Oh, wow. Am I going to feel older today? I think about Stella. Now, I don't know that I have the genetics to live to be 99, but I know that I can aspire to what Stella and other yogis who have gone before me have done and are doing.

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 39:24

So do you have any daily routines or rituals that help you kind of embody these principles of yoga in your own life? And how do approach aging?

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 39:35

well, that depends on the day because, you know, sometimes in all honesty, aging can throw you a curveball. And I think one of the disservices that people in the wellness world, uh, can be guilty of is just being. Too much positivism of, you know, just go on like you've always done and don't worry about anything. Well, you know what, as you get older, you do need to focus on certain things, maybe not worry about them. So I think that what I'd like to share about What I do is that the quiet, the connection to the divine for me is very important. I have an altar, which is just a shelf of a bookshelf, and it's the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning. And on that altar are items that to me are grounding and holy and uplifting. And that's a lot better thing to look at in the morning than whatever my phone is telling me happened overnight in terms of the news of the world. So in Ayurveda in particular, there are lots and lots of suggestions for what to do in the day, because the Ayurvedic teaching is that we are part of nature. And when we are, resonating with nature when we're cooperating with nature's cycles, then we do better in terms of calmness, in terms of health and healing. So getting up early is really important for me. And I'll just share with you and your audience that as long as I've been doing this, I'm Lately, that getting up early has been difficult. My husband has been quite ill. He's had a couple of strokes and some follow up from that's been very difficult. And sometimes when it's 6 a. m. and according to Ayurveda, that's the perfect sweet spot for getting up, my eyes open and I don't want to get up. Because I know my life is going to be a little more difficult than it was five years ago. And yet there's something about that energy of getting up early. getting a little sunlight in the morning. I'm lucky I have a dog. He kind of forces me to get some sunlight and a little movement in the morning. Those even few yoga stretches to start the day. Certainly checking in with the meditation. And then there are just a few little hygienic things that have some ritual value for me. And according to Ayurveda, some self care value as well, such as scraping the tongue. In Ayurveda, they say that the coating that forms on the tongue overnight is ama metabolic debris, and that it's a very good plan to get a little tongue scraper, which you can now get at any drugstore and remove that in the morning. I also do the Ayurvedic practice called Abhyanga, which is self massage, With warm sesame oil, got to be really careful, obviously, with oil and getting into a shower. But beyond that, the idea of nurturing yourself and Ayurveda really likes oil. And it likes that kind of nature of things on the skin. And particularly as we get older, according to Ayurveda, we all become a little more vata, which is drier. So the idea of two or three mornings a week of just giving myself that wonderful, luxurious self massage before the shower is, um, pretty much. My routine, my morning routine. Another thing that I do midday is have my biggest meal. And this again is an Ayurvedic teaching. The idea is that what is called an Ayurveda Agni, digestive fire, is hottest in the middle of the day. And I know that's not practical for everybody. Some people still go out and work in offices and have limited lunch hours. But I have found for myself, I that it has made a huge difference to have the big meal in the middle of the day. And then in the evening I have supper, which comes from the same root word as supplement, that it is to supplement what you had at breakfast and lunchtime. Uh, there's also an Ayurvedic teaching to take a little walk after meals, just 10 minutes. It's not a power walk, more of a stroll to aid with digestion and also you get some more steps in. So I try to do that after lunch and after supper and then to be in bed by 10 o'clock, which again is according to Ayurveda. That's when nature would like to see us going to sleep so we can get up in the morning and have another full day.

corbin-bruton_1_10-26-2024_073041: 44:30

Kind of sounds like you're, um, timing, you're eating with your Linking them all up. That's really cool. And also I loved that you said, uh, supper how it stems from supplements. And it's like, duh, like obviously, but. I don't think a lot of people think like that. So having that little connection, you know, because we talk a lot about, you know, supplements are they're great, but you should be getting a good portion of your, um, nutrition and what your body needs through your meals. if you can't get it, supplements are a great addition, but. I think changing the mindset of instead of saying dinner, saying supper that's great. I really appreciate that little piece of advice that he just gave

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 45:23

My pleasure.

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 45:24

I'm from the East Coast, Midwest. It

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 45:26

Yeah.

corbin-bruton_1_10-26-2024_073041: 45:27

you. Well, speaking of advice, uh, what piece of advice would you give to someone looking to embrace aging with the

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 45:36

Uh, we live in a very materialistic culture, and in some ways that's given us a standard of living that people in the past could never have even imagined. And certainly what we have now with the digital age, as much as people my age are annoyed with it, like, another password? Are you kidding? My password was great three days ago. Why doesn't it work now? And yet The idea that we basically have the universe in a phone is stunning. So I think it's really about. I am going to take a chance and I speak just for myself. Everybody has a different worldview and is certainly entitled to that. But for me, knowing what I know of yoga philosophy and yoga teachings, I'm going to take a chance on this, that there's a reason that I showed up on earth. There's a reason that I'm still here at 74, a lot of people don't get the chance to live even this long, not to mention 99. And based on that, I am going to strive to make today meaningful. And I know that one day at a time is important in addiction recovery and all kinds of other things. Because it's really important in later life, because It's something that we can embrace. We don't know how many more summers we're going to get. We don't know how many more Decembers with all the decorations and things we're going to get. So to really cherish that. with the understanding that there's that and it's beautiful and there's more besides. So what yoga tells me is that, that each of us is an expression of the divine and that because of that, we're all related. We're all related at the heart. And this is all humans and all beings. And I know it's difficult, particularly in our current era, when it seems like so many people can't agree on much of anything, to know that, you know what when all of that cultural stuff, and all of that stuff that people have experienced to bring them to certain ways of seeing things, is out of the picture, We are one and speaking as a yoga practitioner, I can even say we are divine. So everything that I strive to do in my day, except when I'm Not doing well. And because I'm human, I certainly don't do this in the ballpark of perfectly. But what I strive to do is to think of yoga's first moral precept, which is Ahimsa. And that is harmlessness and reverence for life. So that's kind of the guiding light for being here to express as much, um, Thank you. Care and concern for myself and others as I'm able to do on any given day and then just trust that somewhere in the midst of the facts with a small F, there's the truth with a capital T that science is trying to get to that. Religious teachers have been trying to express that to us over centuries and that I might not know what it is, but I know that it exists in me. And that just gives me a lot of hope and a lot of joy.

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 49:23

Well, we usually at this point in the interview, ask the guests what they're doing personally to age well. And I think you have been giving that as. Giving us that information throughout the interview. But is there anything you want to add that we maybe haven't talked about that you are doing personally to age?

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 49:39

the thing that I'm going to be doing, as I told you before, the show is listening to your podcast, because I think that having exchange and interaction and information from people who are on, Somewhat of the same wavelength, maybe not always the exact same wavelength, and that's really important now to be able to listen to different points of view, but to really look at aging as a project and an adventure. So, okay. Maybe it's not one we would choose. Maybe we would rather be 36 forever and ever, but that's not an option. And so I think that one really important thing is just to get the information and hang out with people for real or online who are aging well, and who are coming up with ideas for aging well, and try them out because at the end of the day, it's really about being happy and being. content and happy and content are different from ecstatic, but they're pretty good.

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 50:44

well, thank you for listening and participating in the podcast because that is what we're trying to do is we're trying to make this a more proactive approach not just reacting to getting older. We want to Educate people in that, you know, you can age well, and it's just some small practices bit by bit You can better yourself and you know when you're 73, you're gonna look and behave like you so it can happen

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 51:11

Well, thank you. And thank you for having me.

corbin-bruton_1_10-26-2024_073041: 51:15

Yeah, no problem. Thanks for coming on. Victoria, is there anything else that we may have missed? Where can our listeners find your book? How can they connect with you? Is there a social media page? Do you have a web

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 51:26

Um, pretty much all of the above and thank you for asking. So the book is age like a Yogi and the publication date is January 14th, 2025. So anybody who is listening prior to that time, if you. Look up Age Like a Yogi on Amazon or BN. com or wherever you buy your books then it looks like something you would like to read. If you pre order you get a couple of perks. One of those is the Age Like a Yogi e cookbook and the other is an all day workshop that I will be doing on January 12th. So if you're interested in those perks, just buy the book, send your receipt to assist at victoriamoran. com and you'll get those two things and maybe some other stuff that we'll come up with. Um, and so victoriamoran. com is my author website. I'm victoriamoranauthor on Instagram and Facebook and would love to hear from people

jeff_1_10-26-2024_073041: 52:29

Victoria this has been a truly enlightening conversation Uh, love your perspective on yoga and aging brings so much value to our listeners and our viewers who are Navigating this chapter of their life

victoria-moran_1_10-26-2024_103041: 52:43

and navigate, we will.

corbin-bruton_1_10-26-2024_073041: 52:48

Victoria, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your insight with us. And to our listeners out there, thank you for tuning in. Remember to keep moving, keep practicing mindfulness, most importantly, keep aging well.

53:04

Thank you for listening. I hope you benefited from today's podcast. Until next time, keep aging well.