One of the most difficult  things that I have to deal with as a warrior arts teacher is people not confronting their age properly.

Now this problem needs to be looked at from two different points. First, there is the young person that just doesn’t think about aging at all. Almost denying that they will ever get old. Second is the person that is starting to confront bodily aging issues, often believing that they should still be able to do the same things that they could do twenty or thirty years earlier. Right now I am going to address the aging individual that has either given up on training or is contemplating giving up.

We all know that we must exercise as part of a healthy life .

So why do so many older adults quit training?

The answer is simple and it must become a part of a healthy internal dialogue.  Growing old gracefully means, in part, not denying  that are bodies are going to change, that we are going to age and that is okay. That we will not be able to kick as high or move as fast as we once could.

I have found,  in the warrior arts, that when a persons body starts to not function as well as it once did. Often, a slight depression sets in. Our ego gets in the way. And instead of adjusting the pace of our training to be able to stay as functional as possible, We end up trying to recreate our glory days. We push to hard. Injure ourselves, get depressed that we are not what we once where and give up. This, of course, leads to a downward spiral and aging sets in even more rapidly.

So what is the answer? I will give you a huge part of it right now.

Get over yourself.

As you age, you must mentally, emotionally accept that you will not be able to do what you once could. And that must not only be alright. it must be appreciated.

Aging at this time in history, where we put youth on such a high pedestal, is very difficult. We must change this paradigm. We need to shift from the negativity of aging to what my wife, Sue, calls (S)aging. And in the (s)aging process we must recognize our physical strength and weaknesses. And, with the wisdom of a sage, never give up on our warrior journey. Keep training to our highest capacity with the knowledge that we may not be what we once were. But we are absolutely being the best that we can be as we (S)age.

Train your Kung Fu to your highest capacity no matter what that is. If you do this, I guarantee a more dynamic and robust life in your later years.

My idea is to pursue kung fu until my last breath.