The first step towards rejuvenation is to understand the difference between the chronological and the physiological ages of the human body. We cannot change our date of birth, but we can alter our physiological age – which refers to the condition of our bodies. In fact, there is nothing magical about reversing the biological clock! Ancient yoga and modern science finally agree that the body is capable of rejuvenation. By adjusting weight, reshaping the body, regaining flexibility and improving muscle tone, blood circulation, digestion and metabolism, we can add years to our life… in short, grow younger!

By learning the correct methods from an expert, like correct breathing, relaxation and constructive mental habits, any dedicated student can prolong the creative part of his life by up to twenty years… in many cases, one can reverse the ageing processes that has set in. It’s important to remember that rejuvenation is not an overnight miracle. It requires physical, mental and spiritual discipline, that must be built up gradually to have a lasting effect. Six to nine months of daily exercises, diet, breathing practices and meditation will begin showing positive results.

In ancient times, Yogic methods practiced for delaying ageing, were never printed but given via mouth-to-ear tradition by the Rishis and Munis. Older people, reaching their sixties and seventies, often feel that their lives are nearing the end of a grey tunnel and there is no light ahead, only the sensation of the inevitability of the end.

To be reborn means that they are suddenly aware of the tunnel opening again into the vast light, full of new and continuous life experiences and they are acquiring a certain mastery over the passage of time. For them, life literally starts anew. Young people, who regularly practice these techniques, prolong their youth into what is considered the middle years of life. Middle-aged people can knock-off any manifestations of premature ageing by getting back in touch with their youthful selves and prolonging their creative years.

With age, even the most graceful, supple and beautiful body gradually changes its shape. It’s texture changes. The smoothness and firmness of youth goes away. In ageing, the body goes through seven major changes – change in weight, loss of suppleness, change in texture, loss of strength, changes in respiration, digestion and elimination.

Is it possible to delay these changes? Or even to arrest some of them? A careful study suggests a positive answer. For example, the weight of the body, through diet, can be kept the same throughout one’s adult life. By regular exercises, suppleness in the joints can be retained. Although the body can’t retain youthful firmness throughout its lifetime, flabbiness and loss of strength can be delayed considerably by exercising various groups of muscles.

The two aspects of ageing – gaining weight and loss of suppleness – can be arrested by a normally healthy person. Flabbiness and loss of muscular strength can be delayed. That leaves us with the changes in the inner life of the body and loss of energy. To retain the efficiency of the bodily functions throughout life is the greatest challenge, but yoga has the answer. In many astonishing ways, the techniques of ancient yoga correspond to the most recent findings of modern science!

Modern science has discovered a factor related to rejuvenation and prolonging life in the ‘medulla oblongata’, which is believed to manufacture a youth factor hormone. This was also known to the Yogis of the past. With passage of time, the medulla got progressively lazy in the production of this hormone but now ageing can be delayed by administration of a mild electric impulse. Newer discoveries are also taking place in the West for prolonging youthfulness, but the main factor is the internal resolve in the human being to retain their youth.

Today, the natural and important contributions that age can bring to your life are artificially and cosmetically delayed or even denied. Men and women are going for laser-resurfacing, botox, face-lifts, eye-lifts, liposuction, tummy-tuck, breast augmentation and even buttock-lifts! Where’s the need for all this painful, invasive camouflaging when ageing can be creative, not catastrophic; when it can be liberating, not limiting!

Aging is a personal as well as a Universal process. You can’t stop your biological clock, but you can make it tick a little slower by constructing a daily regimen geared towards creating good physical and mental health. The last few decades of life are an opportunity to enjoy more. Old age is about growing, not shrinking, it’s about expanding and thriving.

Make the most of the life you have yet to live. ‘Youthen’ yourself by having wonder and curiosity and optimism. Indulge in traits like joy and humour. Laugh, joke, work, play, learn, have a hobby, surround yourself with friends who make you happy. Do something – ANYTHING that makes you happy! People who stay home, age very fast – both physically and mentally. We need physical and mental stimulation to ‘Youthen’ us! So, get out of that chair, get out of the house, go out and embrace the remaining years of your life with enthusiasm, love and joy!