Centenarian Active Health and Wellness

Lena Karaman, celebrated her 100th birthday on May 14, 2018.  Hers is a life of active health and wellness. Even at 100 she drives, walks, cooks and cleans without assistance.  You won’t find her sitting around doing nothing.  She’s always kept busy and worked hard and as a result she says she doesn’t even feel like she’s 100.  She’s never liked ‘lagging around’ and first started working when she dropped out of high school at at 16 and worked solid until age 75. Doing nothing scared her far more than working hard.  Her daughter-in-law describes how on the odd occasion when they get her to the doctor, she refuses prescribed medication and recommended procedures.  She also has a great sense of humor and claims not to have any secret concluding that:  “I guess I’m not good enough for God, or bad enough for the devil. They just don’t want me yet.”

Today’s centenarians have lived through World Wars, and The Great Depression, they value hard work and aren’t shy about getting their hands dirty.  Julian Bryson Wilgus, 99, of Talofofo in Guam isn’t shy of hard work, so much so that he’s retired there times.  He was a machinist in the Navy during World War II, worked in the department of highways and then the police department.  He believes that work and keeping busy is how he’s lived so long.  Bernice Sissy Jacobsmire, who turned 100 in 2018 says she reached the milestone by staying active her whole life along with a martini every night before dinner.

Francis Gill While when asked about her secret to longevity says it was hard work.  She grab up on a farm, chopped cotton and ripped cane.  They worked on the farm, chopped wood and milked cows and enjoyed it.  

The 94-year old Giuseppe from Acciaroli, Italy who appeared on CNN showing off his garden where he still works daily said his secret to a long life was to:  “Eat badly and work hard.” 

Encouraging active health and wellness 

If you study the lives of those people who live to over 100 - you’ll soon find out that one of the many things they have in common is that physical work is central to their lives.  Many truly never retire. Active health and wellness, run like a golden thread through their lives - keeping their bodies strong with daily physical work is something they enjoy.  

One of my favorite memories is of my grandfather who lives to 101, his old khaki sun hat firmly on his head, his long sleeved cotton shirt sticking out from his sleeveless cardigan with the fraying edge over it and his pants hitched too high, pushing the rotavator around our 10 acres, preparing the land for planting vegetable.  He was never one to shy away from physical work, whether it was painting, digging, ploughing up fields or (at the age of 80) climbing onto our double story thatch roof to do some repairs.  Active wellness was always a part of his life whether it was building a cottage along with his two sons or gold panning.  

And now you have the opportunity to join me for just such a workshop-retreat working on a little cob cottage,  and a pizza oven while you learn about the habits of those people who live to over 100 at this active health and wellness retreat.  

Active health and wellness and cob building

Active health and wellness through cob building is a beautiful way to live longer better, learn new practical skills that are sustainable and kind to our planet, and you'll live closer to earth and her natural rhythms.  

There are limited spaces at our April 6-11th 2019 retreat in New Mexico.  It's an active wellness-health-lifestyle retreat, designed around the lessons I've gleaned from people already living healthy lives to over 100 and natural sustainable building. These workshop retreats are small and intimate so register now to avoid disappointment.

At our 2018 retreat, we danced in the mud, worked physically hard building this pizza oven, we ate heartily and then dropped into bed feeling so deliciously tired it was ridiculous!  Yet, I’ve never felt more alive or healthier.  We enjoyed the great outdoors, the sun and wind on our bodies.  At night we sat around the fire pit,  shared stories, grew strong bonds, and watched the bejeweled sky and falling stars.  We learned new skills and revealed had this amazing sense of well-being.  You can join have active health and wellness like this at our 2019 retreat.

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