“Use it or lose it,” a lesson from the Gods of dance...

That old cliché “use it or lose it,” in the case of both physical and mental activity, continues to prove true. A recent study from Queensland Brain Institute illustrates that the deterioration of a person’s skills occurs from their disuse. On the flip-side, practicing those skills, even just a bit daily, can prevent much of the decline in strength and stamina that is usually attributed to aging.

Whether it is exercise, dance, foreign language or social skills, activities are carried out through a series of nerve cell interactions in the brain. When you engage in activities, the neurons grow microfilaments to connect to one another. This produces what is called an aborization, a treelike branching of nerve fibers. When you learn new skills, (such as deep TVA engagement, postural and alignment cues, or movement patterns), your neurons secrete growth hormones that cause the nerve fibers to arborize, or to branch freely and repeatedly, stimulating their growth and the growth of neighboring nerve processes as well. Just think of activity, mental and physical, as the needed water for your tree of knowledge. Without continued practice and maintenance, the branches and connections of that tree wither away.

So, feel empowered! We do have some control over the aging process after all – giving us all the more reason to continue to strengthen our muscles, develop our mind-body connection, and work to improve our balance, core stability and posture!

Lee mentioned a perfect example of this principle in motion during one of last week's STL class, Eartha Kitt, the famous American singer, actress and dancer who performed well into her 70s.

In her 2008 obituary, the New York Times reported:

“As Ms. Kitt began the sixth decade of her career, she was still active. In 2000 she received her second Tony nomination, for best featured actress in the musical “The Wild Party.” Branching out into children’s programming, she won two Daytime Emmy Awards, this year and in 2007, as outstanding performer in an animated program for her role as the scheming empress-wannabe Yzma in “The Emperor’s New School.”

All the while she remained a fixture on the cabaret circuit, having maintained her voice and shapely figure through a vigorous fitness regimen that included daily running and weight lifting. Even after discovering in 2006 that she had colon cancer, she triumphantly opened the newly renovated Café Carlyle in New York in September 2007. Stephen Holden, writing in The Times, said that Ms. Kitt’s voice was ‘in full growl.’”

The videos of Ms. Kitt's performances and interviews, show her continued vitality and strength, even in her final years. What an inspiration!

As another amazing woman who understood and exemplified this philosophy, the famous Goddess of modern dance, Martha Graham, once said, “We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same.”