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Living Purposefully and Staying Agile: Insights from Physical Therapy with Vicki Gold · Authentic Living

0:01
Everyone, it's Roxanne Durhodge.
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Thanks for tuning in again to Authentic Living with Roxanne.
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So today, I have someone that's got an amazing story.
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And I I also have the privilege of sharing my amazing guests with you, and I feel like I
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benefit so much just from having these meet amazing people come and talk to us.
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So today, have Vicky Gold.
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Vicky, welcome.
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Welcome to podcast.
0:27
Thank you, Roxanne.
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I'm really happy to be here.
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So Vicky started off today, while we were talking offline, and Vicky is eight years 80
0:37
years old.
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And for those of you that are lucky to see the video and those of you that are listening, and
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she looks absolutely, amazing.
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I would not think that she's 80 at all.
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And she's gonna share some basic wisdom with us about what it takes to live and function as
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optimally as she has done up to age 80.
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So let me tell you a little bit about her, and and then we'll get into it.
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She's a registered physical therapist.
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She just turned 80 in September of twenty twenty four, and she recently her book
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comprises tips on tricks, strategies, and skills that she's garnered along the way.
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And the name of the book is Aging Safely, Wisely, and which is just an amazing title.
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And Vicky decided on this path of physical therapy quite young.
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So Vicky, tell us a little bit about what made you want to become a physical therapist.
1:38
Oh, thanks Roxanne.
1:39
As I had mentioned to you a little bit earlier, my brother was born when I was six years old
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and he was profoundly mentally retarded.
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So right from age seven, six or seven, I was already aware of disability, although I didn't
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know that name per se.
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And then when I turned 10, a school mate of mine became one of the last victims of polio.
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Yeah.
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Just as the vaccine came out, she had not gotten it.
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So again, I'm with somebody who's in a wheelchair and sensitive or not uncomfortable
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with disability.
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And then finally in, when I was 15, was away at summer camp.
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And my summer camp was visited by a camp of children who were physically handicapped.
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And I was completely at ease with them.
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I'd be riding on the back of their wheelchairs, taking down hills, going dancing with them.
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And one of the counselors asked me what I was planning to do or be when I grew up.
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And for some reason I thought social worker, I didn't even know what a social worker did.
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I thought I'd be planning parties, But the social worker said, you may wanna consider
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physical therapy.
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They described it, and that was it.
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So at age 15, I was already sending off postcards to the two physical therapy programs
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in New York at the time, and that was the beginning.
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I never looked back.
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Wow.
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So quite the path.
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What have you seen over your years in the field about how people think about health, Vicki?
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About health?
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Because thinking about health, I've seen the whole range of people who absolutely did not
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care for themselves, whether it was because of alcoholism or morbid obesity that was not
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caused by disease or endocrine dysfunction.
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So I saw everything, as I said, from the people who had the, showed the least concern for their
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physical well-being and even mental well-being to those who were extreme athletes, extremely
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conscious about their health?
4:00
Yeah.
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So it depends on what people's path was.
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So they would come to you for different reasons.
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So they'd either come because, and I'm gonna assume, and you tell me if this makes sense,
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that a lot of times people came to you when they weren't well for physical therapy.
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Or did they come because they wanted to learn?
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And like you said, the athletes, they would have come because they want to enhance things.
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When did the bulk of clients come to you over the years?
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Okay.
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Physical therapists in general will work with people who have had accidents.
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So there has been some kind of physical injury or they've had surgery, which could be anywhere
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in the body.
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The accidents can be anything that might cause brain damage to quadriplegia or paraplegia.
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They usually came through the hospital or I've worked in nursing homes and you have frail
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people there, and you'd want to try to get them to as them functioning as independently as they
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possibly could.
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So nowadays there is more focus on prevention, but unfortunately, the way our medical
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insurance companies work, they are not as good about providing coverage for people who simply
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want to prevent having falls, maybe because their balance is off accidents or injuries.
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And the other challenge we have is that a lot of insurance companies insist that a patient
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see a doctor for before going to a physical therapist.
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And that gets us into a whole political discussion.
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But anyway, they come to answer your question, they usually come because there's been some
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kind of an insult to their physical well-being.
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It was a very long answer, I'm sorry.
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That's okay.
5:54
That's okay.
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Think for the average person that hasn't had or used physical therapy services, I think it's
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important that they understand.
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Now you talk a lot about something called you say that we all need to learn our ABCs.
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I know what the traditional ABCs are from school.
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Now you know that I talk a lot about mental resilience and all my work is around teaching
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people to really understand when they're within alignment, out of alignment and understanding
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what they need fundamentally to reconnect or stay connected with themselves.
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And that's kind of most of the work that I do with a lot of leaders and teams and people that
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coach with me one to one.
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So tell us what the ABCs are.
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Tell me tell us what the ABCs are.
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So for my ABCs, the set of ABCs is what I now call the ABC mind body system, and those are
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alignment, which are about our physical posture, good posture, good alignment.
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B is breathing and how we can use our breathing as a tool for stress reduction, as well as a
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way to increase our respiratory capacity.
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And the C is centering, and centering has several meanings, but for our purpose, I want
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you to think of centering as your mind and your body working together.
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So how I ask the question, how often have you had an accident, made a mistake, had an injury
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because your mind was one place and your body was doing something else?
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So we just a quick little here's one of those little tricks that I talk about.
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There is a system that I call start, act, stop.
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So instead of start, act, stop, and it's in the book.
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So to keep from multitasking, which is usually what has us make mistakes and certainly not
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function as efficiently as we can.
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If we think of starting an activity, whether it's as simple as washing a dish or writing a
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book, you start the activity, you do as much of it as you're going to do, or if you're washing
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a dish, complete that.
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There's your action.
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And then at some point you declare that you stopped.
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You put the dish in the dish drain onto the next start act stop.
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And that's literally how I go through my day.
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Oh, go ahead.
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And then the one
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you So what you're trying to have people do is to stay present, really, like, as much as
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possible because and that's the main thing with the brain.
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Right?
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The brain is consistently I say the brain is super high level, but its main function is to
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protect us based on fear.
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If you think about a lot of people that aren't able to stay present, they're either and in my
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practice through the years as a psychotherapist is that was the biggest thing.
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People were either anticipating what's gonna go wrong or they're gonna revert back to what did
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go wrong.
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If you've been badly burned with a stove, you're not gonna put your hand on a stove.
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And in the future and, you know, in the past, if you've really, really had those bad
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memories, the brain's constantly, I will say shuttling and casing to ensure that basically
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we stay alive.
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So it's in a way unlearning or unlearning it, or I would say go back to the fundamentals of
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what it took when we were born, right?
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Like to learn to go back to that basic instinct, which I think a lot of times people
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get away from.
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It's interesting that you mentioned the issue of fear because, in my work I dealt with people
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who had pain or had balance issues.
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And certainly when you're trying to train them to walk again, fear is very present.
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Even people who have not had falls or injuries, take a look at many older people on the street,
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and they've got this fear of falling just because they've gotten older and they've maybe
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not as strong and flexible as they were.
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So my strategy, this is one of my strategies.
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I'd be walking with someone and my hands are over here because I'd be holding them by the
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pelvis, keep them secure.
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And I'd say, I'm not gonna tell you you don't have fear.
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I understand.
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It's normal to have fear in this situation.
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But what I'm gonna suggest is instead of letting the fear control you, which it's doing
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now, you tell the fear, you can come on this walk with me, but I'm in control.
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So that was my, that's one of my strategies for dealing with fear of falling, which is a big
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issue among physical therapy patients.
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Which is so true.
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My mom had a stroke and she obviously would have falls over the years.
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And I noticed that she would basically look down.
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You don't think about that fundamentally when you've never had that issue.
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And I would say, Mummy, you're looking down, you need to lift your head because and then I
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started to think about when I was walking or running or whatever.
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Where am I I'm not looking down.
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I'm looking forward.
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And it's so funny that a lot of times we don't think through the mechanics of what our body
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does until something goes wrong.
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And then you see it, like you said, with older people, that fear kicks in.
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They're afraid they're gonna fall again.
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And then the neurological elements of the brain just is anticipating, and then then it it ends
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up, unfortunately validating and then they end up falling again, which is so unfortunate,
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right?
11:28
Yeah.
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So I have another strategy.
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Again, I can mostly relate to working with people when they are walking.
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So I use as much mental imagery in my work as I can.
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In fact, for the postural alignment, I won't say sit up straight, chin in or chins in, chest
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out, whatever.
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I'd say think of lengthening, opening, let your crown of your head rise towards the ceiling and
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you get the core, you get the better posture, but you don't get that rigidity.
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But with the fear of falling, one of the other things I would do with patients is say, I want
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you to say the words, I am tall, strong and confident, but I'm not, I'm afraid.
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No, just say the words.
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And that's one example.
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I have another example, if you'd like, about the power of the words that we say to
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ourselves.
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But this, I guess you would use the term self talk also.
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It's a fabulous way to transform how the body's responding physically and mentally.
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The power of your voice, right?
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What we know through the research is you may not believe it at the beginning.
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Clearly, oftentimes when you're doing physical activity or I'm teaching someone a mental
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strategy because, like you said, we are our brains and our bodies, our bodies hold all
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emotion, which is, as a psychologist, I'm constantly teaching people about that to say
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you use the example of you're saying to the fear, you're gonna drive today.
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And I always say to the people when their prefrontal cortex or the executive part of the
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brain is off, I said, basically, you're stepping on in the passenger seat.
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And what you need to actually do is to turn on the CEO of the brain, and then you go back into
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the driver's seat.
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So it's not unlike the same kinds of ideas that we're talking about, Vicki, really, which is
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the body tells you certain things, the brain tells but truly, they communicate with each
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other ongoing.
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And I think, unfortunately, with the medical kind of model, which in North America we still
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work off, what happens is we will spend so much money when someone is not well, but the
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preventative element is something that, you know, when I was in corporate strategy, keeping
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somebody well would maybe be a cost to say $500 versus when somebody went off on short term
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disability.
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But guess what happened?
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Oftentimes, it took till they went off on short term that they could get help.
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And we know that when someone's unwell to get them well again, what that takes.
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Right?
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It's a lot.
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Yes, yeah.
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Want, it's
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a lot.
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Yeah.
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That's, I think that just brings back the idea behind the book which is prevention.
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Do these things, learn these ABCs so you can perhaps prevent some of the negative things
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that can happen as we get older.
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If you don't mind, I want to tell another story about I
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love stories.
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That's Oh, okay.
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I think stories just bring things alive because we are such visual creatures, so please share
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it.
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So this is another story about the power of our self talk.
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There was a very senior lady that was wheeled into the physical therapy department where I
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was working, and she's brought to the parallel bars, and it's gonna be my job to stand her up
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for the time to get her to start walking again.
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And this poor woman, from the minute she's wheeled into the department, is screaming and
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crying, I can't.
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And Roxanne, we both know that there are different strategies to use with our our
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patients, right?
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They're all, sweetheart, you can do it.
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Come on, just try.
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Or maybe, all right, you're going to get up and you're going to walk and you're going to do it
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now.
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And I used up all my strategies with this poor lady.
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I could not get her passed.
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I can't, I can't, I can't.
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So I said to her, alright.
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You win.
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I am going to let you go back to your room.
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I'm not gonna try to stand you anymore, but I do need you to say the words.
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I'll try.
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And, of course, the voice kept screaming and crying.
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I can't.
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I can't.
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I said, I promise you, I am going to let you back to your go back to your room.
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Will not try to stand you again.
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And finally, I heard this little voice.
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You can barely hear it.
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I'll try.
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I said, okay.
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Now I'm gonna keep my promise, and I'm gonna let you go back to your room.
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But would you like to try?
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At which point, she stood up.
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I barely held her.
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She walked the length of the parallel bars, turned around, and came back and sat down.
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And to this day, alright, this was back in the late seventies, to this day, the hair on my
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arms stands up.
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I get goose pimples because if anything can prove the power of the self talk, the things we
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say to ourselves, there's an example.
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So give me an ex
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so align how would I align?
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Like, if I were to okay.
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Let's go through that because I think that's this is powerful stuff.
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Okay.
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Give me an example of Well, actually we can do to align.
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Roxanne, close your eyes if you're willing.
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Yes.
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And everybody who's watching or listening, ideally you're sitting in a straight back
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chair, possibly even sitting at the front edge of the chair.
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Your feet are flat on the floor about hip width apart.
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Your arms either on the armrest or on your, on your thighs, whatever's comfortable.
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And now I'd like you to think, lengthen, and just let your body do whatever it does.
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Open.
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And I do want you to be aware of releasing tension in your neck and shoulders and maybe
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feeling your shoulders start dropping down and back.
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So you've lengthened, you've opened.
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Well, a former class a person in my class said, make space in your chest.
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And I like that because I found I straightened up even more.
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My shoulders dropped down even more.
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Now think of retracting your chin or just sliding your chin back, and you'll feel that
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your head's going back onto your trunk a little better.
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And finally, imagine the crown of your head rising towards the ceiling.
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So don't push it.
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Don't force it.
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Just imagine it rising.
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So you've lengthened, opened, made space in your chest, chin has retracted, crown of your
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head has risen up towards the ceiling.
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And if we stay here, so this is alignment, we might as well go on to the B for breathing.
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And the only thing to do here is to of all become conscious of your breathing, because
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it's such a, an automatic thing that you really could never think about your breathing and
18:27
you're, you will breathe.
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But now you're in good alignment.
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You turn your attention to your breathing, breathe in through your nose, let your
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midsection expand, let your diaphragm pressing down on the content in your abdomen, and the
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slow prolonged exhalations.
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So by doing this good alignment and conscious breathing, you are starting to become more
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centered and you can open our eyes at this point, because I could go on, but that's kind
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of an idea.
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And I guess what I'd like to say is I do a class here in the community where I live, and I
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recommend for everybody who takes classes or just as you're going through your everyday
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activities, remember these ABCs, lengthen open, space in your chest, and then proceed with your
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exercise, with your daily activity.
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And that's really a point I wanted to bring home, Roxanne, is that what I promote is not
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exercise per se.
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In fact, the tagline for my company is transforming the ways you move through life so
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that you don't you you are conscious as you are going through your everyday activities.
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You're conscious.
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You may suddenly become aware, oh, I'm a little slouched.
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Up you go.
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Oh, I've been holding my breath.
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I've been excited.
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I've been under tension.
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Conscious breathing.
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Centering.
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Start.
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Act.
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Stop.
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Focus.
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So that's that's in a nutshell.
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I like it because I think, you know, what's important, Vicky, is that most people think
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they have to stop to do something.
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That little exercise, which only took you a couple minutes with us, really, you can
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check-in with yourself throughout the day.
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It's something that I often say, little micro moments that you can actually reconnect.
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Like sometimes I'm back to back with clients and calls and those types of things.
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And I sometimes just stop and say, okay, where's my breath?
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And then try to elongate my breath because I recognize if I don't do that through the day by
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the, say, come four or 05:00, I I would have been go go go, and then I'm completely tired.
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And I may not physically be tired, but mentally and emotionally I'm tired.
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And then I go move, I guess what happens?
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I recover the energy that I should have been giving myself throughout the day.
21:04
Yeah.
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Oh, you said something and an idea just flew in and out of my head.
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That's okay.
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It'll come back or
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it won't.
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So I think I I love that because I think what happens is, like, most people will say, don't
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have the time.
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You know, I have kids.
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I have families.
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I have jobs.
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I have a commute, all those things.
21:24
And really what you're suggesting is even if you're stuck in traffic and you can actually
21:29
fix your posture like you just taught us and learn how to breathe, a little bit longer up
21:35
and down regardless if you're stuck somewhere.
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In fact, I guess to really bring home the point, the value of exhalation.
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So when you become conscious of your breathing, most people will immediately breathe in.
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I'd like everybody to think of becoming conscious of their breathing blowout.
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Start with your blowing out.
22:03
You're gonna be surprised because we have what I call stale air or in the medical profession,
22:10
the residual air that sits in the corners of the lungs that we don't breathe out because we
22:15
don't do full inhalations, full exhalations all the time.
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But when you get rid of that residual air with that slow prolonged exhalation, now when you go
22:27
to breathe in, there's more lung tissue for oxygenated air.
22:32
But I want to really emphasize becoming more conscious of your slow prolonged exhalations.
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Because I think, I'm not totally up on the research, but I believe this, the prolonged
22:47
exhalations and slow breathing actually stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system,
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which is the relaxing system.
22:58
So I'm repeating myself, but I'd like you all to just, when you're stressing or when you
23:05
think of it, exhale.
23:07
Don't wait to exhale.
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Okay.
23:12
And that's a conscious thing.
23:13
Right?
23:13
I've done a lot of yoga over my life, and that's the biggest thing that I find is that
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what happens is you think you know how to breathe.
23:21
Right?
23:21
Don't we all know how to breathe?
23:24
We breathe, but do we do it properly to the point and to your point, when we're going from
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thing to thing to thing, like I was talking that sometimes happens in my day.
23:33
I'm holding obviously, because you're holding your breath, because you're busy, and you're
23:38
activating the sympathetic nervous system, which puts that body into kind of fight,
23:43
flight, or freeze.
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And it may not be conscious, but you keep that up on an ongoing basis.
23:48
That's where you get dis ease of the body.
23:50
Right?
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Like you say, like, with the out of the alignment of naturally, the body knows.
23:56
Right?
23:56
The body knows what it needs to do, but it needs your help to facilitate that.
24:02
Yeah.
24:02
When you have certain tips or tricks or strategies that may help, I wanted to be
24:08
because this business of exhalation is so valuable for our well-being, there's an
24:16
activity you can do where you will actually be increasing your ability to exhale for longer.
24:24
And that strategy is to slow your hold on.
24:29
Excuse me.
24:30
No.
24:30
No.
24:30
Great.
24:31
Now I get congested.
24:32
Is to speak more slowly and get more words out on a breath.
24:40
So all these words and these sentences that I'm saying now, I'm done without breathing in at
24:46
all.
24:47
So speaking is an exhalation is is exhalation.
24:51
So here's another way to kind of slow yourself down, and nobody really has to know that you're
24:58
doing a breathing exercise.
25:00
So are you slowing down your speaking then?
25:03
You're saying
25:03
Well, I I did, but you could also speak normally and still get as many words and
25:08
sentences out on a breath even if you start even if you stop, I'm stopping, but I'm not
25:13
breathing in.
25:14
And Yeah.
25:15
Take another sentence.
25:16
So I can speak normally, but I'm doing it all on one exhalation, and I've just about hit the
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end now.
25:22
I hadn't thought about that.
25:23
Right?
25:24
But you're you're you're smiling.
25:26
You know?
25:26
And, again, it's the power of the unconscious mind.
25:29
Right?
25:29
Because we're not thinking I'm not thinking about seeing you or listening to you or, you
25:33
know, how my body's feeling.
25:35
It's just doing its thing automatically.
25:37
Then when you kinda start to think about it, you're like, oh goodness.
25:40
I I didn't realize I do that.
25:42
I do that because it's something that naturally we do.
25:45
Let's talk about the you said you had another ABC when we were talking earlier.
25:50
Yes.
25:50
I became so enamored with the idea of an ABC system for how we function physically that
25:56
eventually I said, I need another ABC system for how we function mentally.
26:01
And that became are you ready?
26:04
That became attitude, beliefs, and commitment.
26:10
And in the book, every element of the ABC systems, everything that's discussed in the
26:17
book is presented in the in a format of what is it, why is it important, how do you achieve it,
26:26
and sometimes the question is asked, where do you do it or when and where do you do it?
26:30
But I just knocked myself off track.
26:34
We were talk oh, the other yeah.
26:36
So so with attitudes, beliefs, commitment, we look at, of all, what's the difference between
26:43
an attitude and belief?
26:45
And the way I described it was that attitudes are things that we can change a little more
26:50
easily.
26:51
You're having a bad attitude today.
26:53
You're feeling rotten.
26:54
The scene in Moonstruck, if anybody has seen the movie, one of the characters is going he's
27:00
he's on a rant and Cher is his becomes his love interest, smacks him upside his head, snap out
27:08
of it.
27:09
So attitudes can be adjusted easily, more easily than beliefs.
27:16
The way I describe beliefs is that they are deep.
27:20
Are things that we are, I would say, given maybe even before we're born.
27:26
They're part of our culture, our upbringing, and they don't change so easily.
27:31
But what I suggest in the book is be willing to take a look at your attitudes and your beliefs.
27:39
And some of them are good.
27:41
Alright?
27:42
Positive attitudes, beliefs in the goodness of people.
27:46
Some of these attitudes and beliefs are good, and you wanna maybe acknowledge them and
27:50
nurture them.
27:51
Others may be more destructive to you, your relationships, and certainly there are beliefs
27:59
that, can really impact what you see possible for yourself, especially as an older woman,
28:05
older people, older women, blah blah blah.
28:08
So you wanna take a look and use the opportunity to explore your beliefs, see which
28:16
ones are really valuable and positive for you, which ones you may be better off transforming
28:24
or changing or even getting rid of.
28:27
And then the c is commitment.
28:28
Right.
28:29
Now that you've made these realizations and discoveries, what are you gonna do about it?
28:34
What are you committed to?
28:35
Absolutely.
28:37
And, I mean, it and it's a conscious thing.
28:39
I think we all have negatives and positive thoughts through the day.
28:42
It's really it becomes like which ones do you feed?
28:46
Right?
28:46
And not that I'm not saying that I'm not talking about unicorns and fairies.
28:51
Life is real and it can be tough at times, but it's kinda what are you investing in?
28:56
Because it can take, like you said, one event that can kind of shift things mentally for you.
29:02
Or you can kinda go, okay.
29:03
That's a bad situation today.
29:05
What can I do?
29:06
What's within my control?
29:07
How do I, like you said, stay present so that I can think I can make a shift based on what I
29:13
tell myself or something like that.
29:16
Yeah.
29:17
So in reference to habits, let's talk about let's say we have some people maybe that
29:22
haven't really they know they need to kind of do some physical things.
29:29
They're maybe getting a little bit older and, you know, they haven't really done too much to
29:35
take care of their body, but maybe they're not unwell.
29:38
But they know that as you start to age the body and the mind, it needs a little bit more work,
29:43
I would say.
29:44
So what kind of tips would you give to someone that hasn't, done much physically, Vicky, to
29:50
start kind of doing taking care of themselves?
29:54
Okay.
29:54
So Roxanne, probably the thing is to be conscious that you want to tune in to know how
30:02
your body looks and feels now.
30:06
And then for making physical change, there was something I heard many years ago, which was
30:14
draw a picture as detailed as possible of your ideal self.
30:22
And that goes more into your area of expertise, Roxanne.
30:27
From a physical point of view, becoming aware of your posture, there's a very simple activity
30:34
you can do while you're sitting.
30:37
So my recommendation is, could you go to the gym?
30:41
Yes.
30:41
But there are things you can do at home that are going to be in the context of your everyday
30:47
activities.
30:48
So for example, you're sitting on the edge of your chair or sit on the edge of your chair, if
30:53
you can do it safely, and you do your alignment, lengthen open, make space in your
30:59
chest, chin retracts, crown of the head goes up.
31:02
Now on top of that, you press down with your feet as hard as you can, slow and hard as as if
31:10
you were trying to press down to, let's say, the basement below, and the crown of your head
31:16
tries to reach up towards the ceiling.
31:18
So you can't tell right now.
31:20
I don't think you can tell that I'm actually working on my core muscles just by doing this
31:28
isometric activity.
31:29
The fact that I'm pressing with the muscles, trying to lift, so all the muscles are working,
31:35
but I'm talking to you, let you know that I'm breathing.
31:38
All right?
31:39
But this is a, an isometric exercise.
31:42
And now I'm gonna slowly relax and you may see me sink down just a little bit, but doing this,
31:49
what we call a foot press exercise, when you're sitting, just immediately is going to start
31:56
strengthening those muscles that support your posture.
32:00
You can do it in standing also.
32:02
So just in the process of standing or maybe even while you're walking, if you simply think
32:08
of getting taller as you take your steps or as you're standing still, maybe at the sink, I'm
32:14
back washing those dishes again, standing at the sink, standing at the sink.
32:18
And again, imagine yourself pressing the feet down, pressing the head up, make sure you're
32:23
not holding your breath.
32:24
Alright?
32:25
There's that conscious breathing.
32:27
And there you are, you're doing core conditioning as you go through your day.
32:33
Now the other activity that's really critical for us as we get older is being able to sit and
32:39
stand from a chair or toilet seat or getting up and down from your bed.
32:46
There is research that says there's a relationship between our ability to sit and
32:54
stand independently and to our ability to age well.
33:00
So, yes, many of you may need support in coming to standing, but here's a trick for
33:08
strengthening those sit and stand muscles.
33:13
You start from standing.
33:15
You gotta picture this now.
33:16
You start from standing and you keep that good alignment.
33:21
You start bending down and moving your hips back to the chair.
33:26
By the way, always make sure at least one leg is touching the chair so you know that the
33:30
chair is behind you, and certainly don't do this on a rolling chair.
33:35
So there you are.
33:36
You've aligned, you breathed, you're centered.
33:38
One leg is touching the chair.
33:39
You start to bow down.
33:41
Your hips go back onto the chair.
33:43
You start lowering yourself down.
33:46
Now if you've got weakness in your leg muscles, you know the pass the probability is you're
33:53
gonna plop into the chair.
33:54
Many of you may be ploppers already.
33:57
But if you start from that standing position, align, breathe center, start your sitting, and
34:04
just before you lose control, try to stay there.
34:08
Do not go all the way down and come back up again.
34:12
And eventually, alright, eventually, you wanna be able to lower yourself and be able to do a
34:20
soft landing on the seat of the chair.
34:23
It's gonna take longer for you to be able to come to standing without support, but to start
34:29
the strengthening process from the standing position.
34:33
So those are a couple things.
34:34
There's your core conditioning.
34:35
Like a that's like a little bit of a squat then, really.
34:38
Like It is a squat.
34:39
Yeah.
34:39
I think of when I to the gym, I went to the gym this morning and we were doing squats.
34:44
But Yeah.
34:45
Really, that's like a chair squat then.
34:47
It's a squat.
34:48
A I've heard I just heard this research, actually, Vicky, that what they say is and I
34:54
don't know the sources that they say that the sturdiness of your trunk is indicate indicative
35:00
of longevity of life.
35:03
Right.
35:03
So there and then so, you know, the trunk the core muscles are the muscles that support the
35:09
trunk.
35:10
And that's why it's wonderful for people to learn how to engage the trunk.
35:16
And just by thinking that, if you think of exaggerated, exaggerating, you're lengthening,
35:24
you're working those core muscles.
35:26
I wanna, you know what, Roxanne?
35:29
I wanna caution people that doing sit ups are not core muscle exercises.
35:36
And in fact, sit ups are dangerous for those of us who have any degree of osteoporosis.
35:42
That's, yeah.
35:44
So find ways to strengthen your core without doing crunches.
35:51
And if you ever need to know more
35:53
about that What is something that people can do if they can't do crunches?
35:56
That's what I'm saying.
35:57
The things we just said, the foot the foot press.
36:00
So like I just said, elongating and holding helps you just do and breathing.
36:06
That alone versus kinda the because, of course, yeah, you do that the wrong way, like you're
36:12
saying, and then there's people and I think sometimes they're saying that women are, you
36:16
know, starting to the osteopenia is kicking in with a lot of females a little bit younger now
36:23
than they you know, because of lots of different things.
36:27
Yeah.
36:27
And, you know, so the importance of of myself, like I said, to turning almost, I'll turn 60 in
36:33
January.
36:34
It's really really thinking.
36:36
I'd always kind of dump something physical over my life.
36:39
But as you're getting a bit older, you start to realize the importance of movement.
36:44
And then it's about I have to say it's about getting on the plane and being able to put my
36:49
luggage up high or being able to bend down and be able to pick up my nieces and nephews at
36:55
this point because I don't have grandchildren or just all those basic things, carry two bags
37:00
of groceries Mhmm.
37:01
And versus coming back just to take one and go into the house, all those functional movements
37:07
are so core.
37:08
And, really, like, what you're saying is it's being able to try to do that on an ongoing
37:14
basis and not feel like you have to, like, go to Pilates for an hour or the gym for an hour.
37:19
Right.
37:19
As a matter of fact, Roxanne, the, I think if people again, I'm gonna try to brainwash them.
37:27
If people really take align, breathe center to heart, and then everything they do, even
37:33
getting into bed, getting out of bed, rolling over in bed, if you stop, when you prepare,
37:39
even if it's just saying to yourself, ABC, because that's what happens to me.
37:43
That's how I go through my day.
37:45
It's just there.
37:45
It's become part of me.
37:47
But if you've if you be develop this consciousness as you're doing everything
37:53
throughout the day and for strengthening, if you do an activity, let's say you're reaching
37:58
something up and down, do it multiple times.
38:02
Lift a heavier can.
38:03
If you're doing sit and stand besides doing the slow motion sit, repeat the movement several So
38:11
you start adding repetitions, like I said, carrying a can or a bag of something, there are
38:17
your weights, and just go through your day, you know, and you'll have quite a workout.
38:23
So I know this has been this has been amazing.
38:27
So I want you to talk a little bit about what it's like to be an 80 year old, and I can tell
38:34
your vibrance.
38:35
You have a lot of energy.
38:37
And you what's it like?
38:39
And I want you to talk a little bit about energy at your age because I know that has been
38:43
a struggle that I have had to work on with energy.
38:46
So just share with us what it's like.
38:49
Well, just know I do like my naps.
38:52
Okay.
38:53
I'm like, you're talking my language.
38:55
I thought I
38:56
Oh, that reminds me.
38:57
That remind me if I may wonder the naps girls.
39:01
Are you talking at point?
39:03
Yes.
39:03
You did read my bio.
39:04
I went to Nabry Nabryma Girls Presbyterian School in Trinidad And Tobago.
39:10
Okay.
39:10
And that's what anybody that's from The Caribbean that listens to this or from
39:15
Trinidad, they and I'm also I'm also their vice president of their board here in Toronto.
39:21
So the Presbyterians went to The Caribbean and started off with the Presbyterian schools, the
39:26
Canadian missionaries, and that's that's what the NAP schools are about.
39:30
Oh, okay.
39:31
Thank you.
39:31
So now I'll tell you, I was so excited probably the whole year before I turned 80.
39:37
And I didn't wanna burden my husband with having to plan something special.
39:40
So I live in a lovely community in the foothills of North Carolina.
39:44
It's not an age restricted community, but there are a lot of us who are not not spring
39:50
chickens.
39:51
So I decided to throw myself an unsurprised eightieth birthday celebration.
39:57
So we we had a fabulous party, and that was just the idea of celebrating.
40:03
But what has lit me up about turning 80 is a degree of freedom and just going for it.
40:15
It, at this point, there's just really almost no concern about what somebody else may think,
40:23
you know, about what I could or shouldn't do.
40:27
It's a much, much greater sense of freedom.
40:31
And I think I had mentioned there, there's some other personal training programs that I've
40:37
done.
40:38
And one of them really helped me stop judging myself about, oh, here you've written a book,
40:45
but you're not doing enough to get it promoted, blah blah blah.
40:47
Those negative little voices and being able to let those go.
40:52
And before I forget, Roxanne, this goes back to something you were saying a little bit earlier
40:58
about not being able to do things.
41:02
I I wanna just quickly mention how important the, serenity prayer is for me, for everybody,
41:10
because it really does help keep stress levels down just when something comes up in your life,
41:17
whether you're 80 or not, the idea that you know what you can control, what you can't
41:22
control, and you're smart enough to know the difference.
41:25
Again, just I don't know if I answered your question, but there's just a greater freedom.
41:31
And as far as I don't do special exercise.
41:34
I'll be very honest with you, but I do my ABCs.
41:38
Okay.
41:38
Okay.
41:39
So what I hear is that your one thing that you also shared is that you always seized
41:44
opportunities in your life and you always moved.
41:46
And I think that clearly change sometimes makes us uncomfortable, but it also keeps us mentally
41:54
agile, I would say, because you try new things.
41:57
And I think we do, unfortunately, sometimes live in the society that we wanna stay
42:01
comfortable, and it's like the mind and the body.
42:04
I call it mental gymnastics, like when I try something new and I suck at it, which I suck at
42:10
a lot of things.
42:11
And then I feel uncomfortable and awkward and I laugh at myself because I think, oh, this is
42:17
bad.
42:18
And then I say a month later or something, I just start to play pickleball for instance, and
42:24
I'm getting better.
42:25
Right?
42:26
And then I don't laugh at myself.
42:28
I giggle because when I miss the ball and I'm playing with my friends that are 65 and over,
42:35
and they're whipping that ball and they're moving around.
42:39
It's so true.
42:40
It's about, I think, being kind to yourself too and like you said, not the shoulds and the
42:47
ought tos, which is the part that makes you think so difficult.
42:50
And like you said, that freedom to say, I really don't care what people think.
42:54
I know what's important to me.
42:56
That that values alignment and then making sure that your activities support what you want for
43:03
your own life.
43:04
It's not based on what anybody else wants.
43:05
You know, when I worked with patients who were down on themselves or feeling hopeless about
43:10
whatever their condition was, and what usually helped and keeps me going forward is having a
43:18
purpose in life.
43:19
Whether it's as small as being able to get up and get dressed and put your makeup on in the
43:26
morning or writing a book, whatever your purpose is, you know, when you define that, I
43:32
think that's also a for me, it's a great source of energy, my promise.
43:37
Absolutely.
43:39
Absolutely.
43:40
I completely agree.
43:41
Now, Vicky, this has been an amazing conversation.
43:44
I think you've shared a lot with many people that are probably half your age that will learn
43:50
some basic things that they should start doing now.
43:53
Now for anyone that wants to connect or learn more from you, where should they go and where
43:58
can they get ahold of you?
44:00
Okay.
44:01
of all, my website is thera,likeasintherapist,thera,then-fitness, and
44:09
it's therafitness.com.
44:11
And my email, they are free to email me, is vicki, which is v I c k I thera fitness dot
44:20
com.
44:21
I welcome hearing from people and welcome questions and comments.
44:26
They have on my website, they'll see the book.
44:29
There it is.
44:30
And they could actually order it from my website.
44:33
There's a book page.
44:34
So I hope people will be inspired.
44:38
You've given us some amazing tips from them, and I'm sure people are very curious to learn
44:42
more.
44:43
And again, I thank you for your time.
44:45
What am I walking with?
44:48
Think we're living so much longer and we can start today.
44:53
It doesn't matter where you're at.
44:55
Start today, get up and like you said, if Vicky says, try not to plop.
45:00
So that word is sticking in my mind because I think I flop into bed sometimes or plop onto
45:07
the couch.
45:07
Are some of the simple little things that you can do through your day?
45:12
Like you said, begin an activity.
45:14
Align breathe center.
45:16
Do their ABCs.
45:18
Align center.
45:19
Using your ABCs.
45:21
And using
45:22
slow motion.
45:23
Right?
45:23
So they
45:24
can, yeah, be more conscious.
45:26
Some basic, basic things.
45:27
And I'm I'm thinking that how I can apply the ABCs.
45:31
And I would challenge you to go out and think, what's one thing that you can do within the
45:36
next twenty four hours to apply that concept and start doing something to move that needle
45:41
with whatever you're wanting with your physical and or your mental health.
45:45
So, again, everyone, thanks for hanging out with Vicky and I.
45:48
This was amazing.
45:49
I loved it.
45:51
Just go to the podcast.
45:53
Give us a subscribe, and we'd love to hear feedback so we can give it to Vicky.
45:58
And as with myself, I I'm just in the process of launching my course and life coaching with
46:04
my book, the ROR.
46:05
If you're interested, we have a couple of spots left.
46:08
Would love you to connect.
46:09
Just reach out to me at Roxanne@RoxanneDurhodge.com, and we can give
46:14
you some more information.
46:15
Again, Vicky, thanks so much.
46:17
Everyone, thanks so much for hanging out with us, and we'll chat with you soon.
46:21
Take care.
46:22
Bye.
46:23
Thanks for tuning in to Authentic Living with Roxanne, creating the space for positive,
46:29
healthy change.
46:30
Roxanne is a keynote speaker, psychotherapist, and coach.
46:35
To work with Roxanne, visit roxannedurhaj.com/blueprint.
46:41
We'll see you next time on Authentic Living with Roxanne.