Healthy Aging

Yes, you can have it all, really!

How you eat, think and exercise dramatically affects your mood. You can break the cycle of unhealthy habits and learn to have it all.

Nothing can stop a perfectly good yoga practice (or day, for that matter) in its tracks like a hurting back. And sometimes, the poses you might think would help your aching body could actually be making it worse.

While I was finishing high school, my mother worked as the manager of a woman’s clothing store in the mall. My mom is intense, and whatever she does, she does with gusto. Unfortunately for her, she would ring in orders on the cash register with the ferocity of a mad concert pianist. This left her with repetitive stress injuries in her wrists, which led to the dreaded diagnosis of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and ensuing surgery. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome implies that the median nerve that runs through the forearms into the wrist and hands has been compressed and is no longer functioning well.

Confused about what good nutrition is?

You shouldn’t be — we know what works and what doesn’t.

In a moment, I will share five simple tips to help you optimize your nutrition and achieve vibrant health, but first let me clear up a few misconceptions.

Yes, yoga is known for its healing powers and ability to transform your body and mind into a lean — yet much less mean — you.

Water workouts are the answer to beating the summer heat, adding low-impact variety to your workouts, and pumping up your summer fun!

Pools aren’t just for swimming laps. In fact, many of the physical activities we do on land can easily be done in the water — walking, running, aerobics, kickboxing and Pilates.

Most people don’t know how poorly they feel until they feel better. In fact, most of us don’t recognize that fatigue, digestive problems, aches and pains, allergies, headaches and more aren’t just annoying symptoms. They are early clues to impending diseases that can disable and kill us.

If you ever experience joint pain when you walk, run, jog or cycle, this is a need-to-know: Ice, rest and knee supports are not your only tools to ease and prevent that pain. In fact, research suggests that lower leg injuries are often attributed to weakness in the muscles that support the hips.

Gaiam shot this photo of Colleen about two years ago, when she was 48.

The time has come. I never thought I would ever be a half century old. I thought I would feel different when I got to this phase in my life. I am not sure what I thought it would feel like to be one of the old folks (as I used to call my parents and their friends), but here I am.

Honestly, I am not one to think that women need to have face-lifts and skin tighteners to be beautiful.But sometimes a girl just needs some help to feel good about her looks, and this simple mask does the trick. It comes from a Swedish woman I knew, a friend of my mothers who had the loveliest skin of any elderly woman I have seen. She used this mask every day.