Niagara Falls

This past weekend my wife Sara, my 8 year old son Jimmy and I drove up to Buffalo for a family reunion for Sara’s side of the family—we were also to celebrate Sara’s Grandmother’s 95th birthday. Before things got going Saturday morning we went to see Niagara Falls. I had not been there since I was in college. I stood by the falls and was overtaken by the energy of the water. Sara commented that it felt like it pulls you in. I felt the same way. The metaphors of water are a big yogic concept. The falls are very powerful!

Later that morning we went to the nursing home. Sara’s grandmother worked until she was 89. The last time I saw her was at her 90th birthday and she was sharp and alert. She moved a lot and lived on her own. Shortly after my visit she broke her hip and things have gone down hill since. It was wonderful to see her yet hard not to notice the correlation between movement and life energy within the body. She was very sleepy and not very alert and her body has withered. After we left the nursing home there was not much talk about her grandmother. We headed off to the family reunion.

The next morning we went back to the nursing home and her grandmother was more alert. Although she is nearly blind her eyes were wide open and she was much more coherent. We had lunch and I could not help but look around and contemplate what I was seeing. Most of the people in the home where confined to wheel chairs and not very alert. Many showed signs of mentally not being there. What went first - movement or the mind’s alertness or movement of body?

I cannot help but correlate movement with brain function. When I take my arms overhead for a prolonged period of time or hold a yoga posture I am extending my range of motion strengthening the muscles and connective tissue while strengthening and opening up the joint capsule. When I release the posture I pause to feel the gush of blood flow into the body like Niagara Falls water rushing. If you have ever practiced yoga postures you know what I am talking about. If I don’t practice yoga for several days, which doesn’t happen often, I feel the energy of the body has slowed down—stagnation has set in. It is like water that is left in a glass—it starts forming mold and other yucky stuff. This is what happens inside of us when we stop moving.

Our bodies and minds are 70% water. They are ever changing and the mind and body requires continuous flow and movement. Replenishing the body throughout the day with water insures we don’t become dehydrated and brittle. Performing movement that allows us to maintain the range of motion in the joints is critical. I don’t think I can escape old age, disease or death yet I know how to do it gracefully. The nursing home was a beautiful place. A reminder that I too will grow old and eventually die—there is nothing that comes from this realization. Death comes to all of us and life is here and now. The question that I continually contemplate is, “What am I doing with this moment?” Am I using this body and mind to its fullest? A worthy contemplation on the path to Being Empowered.