In 2007, I thought I was doing a pretty good job taking care of myself. I had been athletic most of my life. I ran. I lifted weights. I was strong. I was active.
And my body was falling apart.
I had seven different surgeries being recommended and had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Apparently being able to put a surprising amount of weight on a leg press wasn’t the comprehensive health plan I thought it was.
Maybe you’ve had your own version of that moment.
Maybe something hurts that didn’t used to hurt. Maybe you’ve stopped doing something you love because you’re not sure your body can handle it anymore. Maybe somebody handed you a diagnosis or told you, in one way or another, that this is simply what happens when you get older.
I don’t think that’s always the end of the story.
Peggy and I certainly didn’t know what our story was going to look like back then. So we started looking.
We studied, trained, experimented, found teachers, followed some strange side roads and tried a lot of things on ourselves before we ever asked anyone else to try them.
Some things helped enormously. Some didn’t. Some things we believed pretty strongly for a while and eventually changed our minds about.
We kept learning.
Eventually we opened our first RiversZen studio, where we could put all this stuff into practice with real people. For nearly two decades now, Peggy and I have been teaching, experimenting, watching what happens, asking questions and changing things when we find something that works better.
We’ve learned a hell of a lot. We’ve also been doing this long enough to be suspicious of the word always. People are different. Bodies are different. Lives are different.
But that doesn’t mean everything is a mystery.
There are things we’ve seen help people over and over again. Moving. Getting stronger. Eating in a way that works for you. Sleeping. Having people in your life who matter. Paying attention to what your own body and your own life are telling you.
And taking care of yourself doesn’t have to become another damn full-time job.
Sometimes I look at everything we’re now supposed to optimize and wonder when being healthy got so complicated. Sleep, steps, protein, glucose, VO2 max, microbiome, supplements, bone density.
Apparently we’re supposed to optimize our jaw now too.
More on that another day. It involves something called the Masticator Pro 5000™ and we’ve already gone too far.
After all these years, Peggy and I know a lot of complicated stuff. But we’ve also learned that living better can sometimes be remarkably simple.
Find things that help. Pay attention. Keep learning. Change your mind when you learn something better.
And let some of the bullshit go.
Somewhere along the way, this got bigger
RiversZen began because Peggy and I wanted to help people move and feel better. We still do. I love that work.
But somewhere along the way I realized I don’t actually care whether you can do a beautiful stretch.
I care whether being able to move helps you get down on the floor and back up, walk the beach, work in your garden, travel, play with somebody you love, or go wandering around some town you’ve never seen before because you want to know what’s around the corner.
I care whether your body gives you enough capacity to say yes when life gives you something worth saying yes to.
Health isn’t the destination. Life is.
That’s probably the easiest way to explain why Move Well Stay Healthy sometimes wanders all over the damn place.
I might write about movement or food or getting older. Something Peggy noticed. Something a student taught me. Something I got completely wrong. A medical study that made me curious. A person halfway around the world whose story I can’t stop thinking about.
Or my father. A drive-in movie. A bunch of pelicans.
Apparently, sauerkraut.
There isn’t a master plan hanging on the wall telling me what subject I’m supposed to write about next. There’s just a question Peggy and I have been asking in one form or another for a very long time:
What might help us live better?
We’ve already found quite a few answers.
We’re still looking for more.
If you’re new here, wander around
I’m not going to give you a syllabus. But if you’re trying to figure out what kind of place you’ve just walked into, here are a few places I’d wander next.
You Can’t Force Balance. Here’s What Actually Works.
Peggy and I have spent a lot of years watching people move. Balance is a pretty good example of why we don’t believe bodies respond particularly well to being bossed around. (Read the Story)
Where Did the Summer Go?
Not everything here is about fixing something. Sometimes it’s about noticing your life while you’re still in the middle of living it.
I Eat Carnivore-ish. Peggy Doesn’t. We’re Both Doing Fine…
I have opinions. Sometimes pretty strong ones. I also think we’d all be better off if we were a little more willing to question the arguments that happen to agree with us.
Pelicans
Because sometimes you come through a tunnel, there are pelicans everywhere, and that’s enough reason for a story.
Read one. Read all four. Ignore me completely and click something else that looks interesting. That’s allowed too.
You’re here. Stick around awhile.
You’ve already subscribed.
Thank you.
Everything we write on Move Well Stay Healthy is free. All our new articles, our practical advice, and the entire archive going back years.
We publish something new every day. Sometimes it’s something useful you can try. Sometimes it’s a story that made me laugh, something Peggy noticed, or a discovery that sent me wandering down another rabbit hole.
We’re not giving you three paragraphs and then saying, “Want to know the secret? Give me your credit card.”
There isn’t a secret.
Open the emails that interest you. Skip the ones that don’t. Wander around.
See what you think.
If you’d like to join us in person. Well, sort of.
There’s another side to RiversZen that I haven’t talked about nearly enough.
Peggy, our daughter Kim, and I teach 14 live classes every week, six days a week. And you don’t have to live anywhere near our studios to join us.
We have students joining us online. They can talk with us before and after class, ask questions, and sometimes they get to visiting with each other.
It’s not just watching three people on a screen. You’re part of the class. Part of the group.
We also have a large on-demand library organized by category, with hundreds of recorded classes covering stretching, strength, balance, Qigong, chair classes, and more. There are shorter classes for busy days and Body Fixes when you’ve got something specific you’d like to work on.
Some people love joining us live. Others prefer to choose a recording whenever it fits their day. You can do both.
On-Demand: $27/month or $270/year.
Live + On-Demand: $499/year, including 14 live classes weekly.
And if you’re perfectly happy just reading our stories, that’s wonderful too.
The writing is free, and you’re always welcome here.
We’re still looking
I don’t know exactly where Move Well Stay Healthy is going.
I hope I never do.
Not because Peggy and I don’t know what we’re doing. We’ve learned a tremendous amount over the years, and we’re happy to share it. But we’re still learning too.
We’re still experimenting, still meeting people who teach us things, still changing our minds when something better comes along. I’m still pulling the car over occasionally because something popped into my head and I don’t want to lose it.
After all these years, I remain convinced of something pretty simple:
Your life isn’t fixed.
Getting older doesn’t mean you have to quietly surrender everything you enjoy doing. There are things you can do. Things you can change. Things you may be able to get back.
And there are probably possibilities neither of us has thought about yet.
We’ve learned a lot about that.
We’re still looking.
Come with us.