Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones (55 page)

SS:
Everybody’s stressed. Is yoga a destressor?

JC:
Yoga is a calming form of exercise. It has a calming effect. I divide thoughts into past, present, future. If you are thinking about things that you need to do later on or tomorrow, that’s future. If you are thinking about what was, that’s past. In yoga, we concentrate on being in the present. You focus your mind on the simple path of inhale and exhale. The definition of yoga, which means “yoke,” is the yoking together of the mind, body, and breath. There are moments in yoga even after practicing for a short while where all of a sudden you’ll say to yourself, “Wow, that was it! I wasn’t thinking about my shopping list or picking up the kids from school. My mind was really on the alignment or the breath or the flow, or the movement, and the noise in my head didn’t bother me. Nothing distracted me in that moment.” What we search to do in yoga is extend those moments of unity. Yoga is not merely exercise; it’s a practice that we do as often as possible, hopefully on a daily basis. It unifies our mind with our breath.

SS:
Yes, but the beauty to me is twofold: Yoga calms and focuses me while sculpting my body into a shape I’ve never had before, even when I was young. I have never had any exercise that I have enjoyed this much or seen better results physically. Initially, I found it difficult to focus and concentrate on each movement because of all the “noise” in my head. You know, all the “future” stuff.

JC:
A sensitive teacher will make it just hard enough to quiet your mind, but not so hard that you add stress. It’s in a range between being a couch potato and being a total overachiever. There is a delicate balance where you find the edge, and you have to focus enough that you won’t be wiped out by the next wave. I treat yoga as an extreme sport in that way, because I like to find a person’s edge, where there is no room for extraneous thought.

SS:
How long can a person do yoga? Could an eighty-year-old do yoga?

JC:
Yes: 103-, 106-year-olds do yoga, and pretty strenuous yoga at that. It’s a matter of knowing your body. It’s like anything; it’s a process of getting to know “who you are.” Your “self” is manifested in your body and in your strengths, weaknesses, and illnesses. Getting to know all that constitutes your “self,” including your hormones, your injuries, and your stage of life, will allow you to adjust your yoga practice to fit your level of ability.

SS:
Is there a danger for an older person? As we age (without BHRT), men’s and women’s bones get weaker. Could they hurt themselves?

JC:
Everything should be done in the context of that person’s overall health. I say it’s better to exercise than to risk getting diabetes and cardiovascular disease from doing nothing. A sensible yoga practice in the context of that person’s overall health is right for anyone at any age with any condition.

SS:
What has yoga done for you?

JC:
It has completely transformed me. It has made me a better mother and made me more present with my child and in my life. I am less anxious, and it has made me more joyful.

SS:
When you’re in the car, or temple, or at a school function, do you find yourself consciously breathing or adjusting your posture or sitting up straight as a result of yoga?

JC:
Well, I try to be aware of my posture. Of course, there are times I forget, but I do find I am more awake.

SS:
I find that I am also constantly adjusting my posture to breathe more deeply to relax and bring up my energy.

JC:
Yoga is an energy system. We’re extending the life force; we’re extending our breath. If we feel sluggish, we want to increase our energy. If we’re feeling hyper and manic, then we want to slow down, and yoga will help. Throughout your whole practice, Suzanne, we use a practice called Ujjayi. That’s a strong inhale, strong exhale, and even breath. When I say, “Empty all your air out, and then take in a breath into your lower lungs, hold it, then into your middle lungs, hold it, then into your upper lungs, hold it, hold it as long as you can, and then let it all out with control,” you can feel the breath working.

SS:
Yes. I swear, that is how I believe the fat that I couldn’t get rid
of literally melted off … through this kind of controlled breathing and stretching. To me it’s miraculous. Women my age have joint pain, watery eyes, sinusitis, allergies, and other conditions from the drastic drop in estrogen and progesterone. I believe yoga is a perfect complement to bioidentical hormone replacement. Yoga keeps you limber at a time when your body wants to stiffen up. It stimulates the hormonal system to counteract these conditions brought about by hormonal decline.

JC:
Well, hormones are your area of expertise. I am learning from you.

SS:
That’s how it works. We women help one another. What about men? Most men think yoga is for girls, that it’s a sissy sport.

JC:
Half of the people in my class are men. Things are changing. Some men come to me and say they want to do yoga because they are not flexible anymore.

SS:
Look at Alan, my husband. When he started he was very stiff …

JC:
And now he stands on his hands and does back bends in only two years of practice.

SS:
He loves yoga, and his love handles have melted away. Yoga has reshaped his body with no significant change in his diet (which has always been good) and lifestyle. We still go out a couple of times a week and enjoy our life immensely.

JC:
Love handles disappear because there is a lengthening of the waist and strengthening of the muscles that keep length there. When you stretch and elongate, this lengthens the spine, without congesting or compacting the area. A lot of men are dealing with heart disease, depression, high blood pressure, and stiffness of the joints. Yoga has helped people deal with those conditions. Did you know that yoga was done
only
by men until the 1930s? It was only meant as a practice for Brahman boys.

SS:
There you go. Once again, we women have had to struggle even for the right to do exercise. What do you say to the person who doesn’t want to do any kind of exercise? What would you say to that person in order to turn them on to yoga?

JC:
Eventually, everybody who has a consistent yoga practice
looks and feels remarkably better, and it has a positive feedback loop. That’s when people start saying, “Oh my God. You look so great, you look so much better. What have you been doing?” So the physical changes are stimulating and encouraging. But it’s the change in energy that really gets people turned on. You don’t realize how sluggish you can get until you take the steps to reverse it.

SS:
Yes. I find on the days I do yoga there is a spring in my step. I feel lighter, more joyful, and of course I love that my body looks so youthful as a result.

JC:
Yoga fills your brain with a thought of inhale/exhale, stretch, and contract. If you fill your brain with those thoughts but think about it as breathing in compassion, breathing out compassion, it leaves no room for negativity, worry, depression, anxiety, and stress.

SS:
What a lovely way to end. Thank you.

CHAPTER 31
B
EAUTY

I
t’s not easy to keep it all together these days. You’ve got to work at it, but at the same time there are so many wonderful benefits with new technology and advancements. This chapter will give you some of my personal recommendations for maintaining a youthful appearance. Today, we have available to us new techniques for youthfulness such as fillers like collagen and Botox. The face lifts of old look strange and outdated, and today’s advantages used in moderation can help you maintain a youthful appearance without looking “strange.” Even so, collagen and Botox injections are often grossly overdone, and the result can look grotesque: lips that resemble a duck’s or faces that appear frozen from overuse of Botox. The object is to look natural.

If you choose to use fillers as a beauty advantage, remember that it’s all about good taste. Anything overdone is not good taste. You have to go slowly, use less rather than more, and exercise good judgment. The outcome should look natural and refreshed. If it doesn’t, you will attract attention, and not in a good way. An overdone woman or man can get mocked and ridiculed. This reaction from people is never the intent of the person who has had the procedures, since anyone who sees a doctor for face work desires to look better. An overdone face does not look better!

When you have these procedures, be sure to go to a reputable doctor and never to a beauty salon or nurse’s office. Injectables and other cosmetic procedures can be dangerous stuff, so you want a doctor to
oversee the procedure you’re having, plus ensure the quality of the filler and the cleanliness of the environment. These things are a must.

That said, here are my tips on how you can have ageless beauty:

First and foremost, get a good haircut. This is what makes middle-aged women stand out. With a fresh, hip haircut, you can dress conservatively but still have a youthfulness about you. Nothing ages a woman more than an “old-lady haircut.” Color your hair or put in highlights to freshen your look. You don’t have to do anything drastic like punk red with blue streaks—that would be “desperate”—but highlights or a lighter color can do wonders for any woman.

Second, update your makeup to appear ageless. So many of us tend to keep doing the same makeup we did when we were younger. It was great then, but as your face ages, a different look and different colors are essential. Smudge shades of brown across your lids and in the creases to give a smoky effect and depth. Line your eyes with a brown/black pencil and then smudge it so it is not a rigid line. Add mascara, eyebrow pencil, and a light touch of blush either at the tops of your cheeks or to add depth at the bottom of the cheekbone. Experiment. See what looks best on you. You be the judge.

Third, have regular facials if you can afford them. It is dreamy to spend an hour every week or two having soft hands massage your face and neck, clean your face properly, tighten with masks, and moisturize. It’s an hour just for you to relax and relieve stress. This has a positive effect on your hormones. If you can’t afford to go to a facialist, then give yourself regular masks. They really do work. Also, use a daytime moisturizer with sunblock. At night, use night cream on your face and throat and décolletage.

Fourth, have your brows professionally shaped and tinted. This is a major beauty tip and one that all women in Hollywood know is a must. In fact, they stand in line waiting for Anastasia in Beverly Hills, who is known as “the definitive brow expert” because of the way she shapes and grooms brows. I go to Faith Valentine in Malibu. She does a great job, and I never have to stand in line. Great-shaped brows can change your face, making you look fresh and awake. By contrast, the wrong shape is a detriment to your face. A professional can shape brows that are perfect for you. Shaping gets rid of the gray
that has started to infiltrate your brows and promotes a natural look. If you need to add a little pencil to fill in the shape, match the color to your tinted eyebrows. Using too much eyebrow pencil will make you look old.

Fifth, have your eyelashes dyed dark brown or black. That way, you won’t have to wear mascara every day, nor will you look washed out without your makeup. Brush a little bronzing powder over your chin, cheeks, the sides of your forehead, and the tip of your nose—just enough to look as though you spent the weekend in the sun.

Sixth, to keep yourself ageless, lose weight. Your hormones are fighting you, yet it is a war you can win. The war starts with understanding good nutrition. I always say if it comes in a bag or a box, it is probably fattening. In other words, eat fresh delicious real foods, including lots of vegetables, and cut out the breads and desserts.

Most people go on a diet and immediately cut out taste by eliminating all the things that make food intriguing: salad dressings, olive oil, and butter. Your food can be great-tasting with butter sauces and wine-reduction sauces, and they will not make you fat. Chicken piccata, for example, is one of my favorite meals, dripping in lemon-butter sauce. Instead of a big plate of potatoes, pasta, or bread, I load up on the sauce, and this method has kept the weight off me for over a decade.

My next beauty tip for appearing ageless is to dress in clothes that accentuate your positives and cover up your negatives. A bare midriff, for example, is not going to serve you well, even if you are thin. You’ll never be as thin and as tight as the twenty-year-olds, so why put yourself in that position? I always tell my ladies to dress hip and sexy, but not desperate. You don’t want to look as though you’re wearing your daughter’s clothes. Don’t show skin that is no longer looking great. It is better to cover up and show off your shape. Solid colors work well, and unless you have a perfect figure, don’t chop yourself in half with one color on top and another on the bottom. This shortens you, whereas if you wear all one color, you’ll look thinner and longer. Overweight women often make the mistake of wearing two-piece print outfits, which makes them appear larger. Prints are difficult if you are carrying around any weight, so stick with solids.

Finally, the beauty tip that has served me so well over the last fourteen years is the FaceMaster, which is a nonsurgical face-lift. I will tell you right now that this is a machine that I manufacture, and I am reluctant even to mention it because it will sound self-serving. But honest to God, I have used this device almost every day for fourteen years, and I truly feel it has arrested the aging process on my face. The FaceMaster uses a microcurrent that pumps up the muscles under the skin to hold up the structure and, thus, keep the skin from sagging. My partner in this venture, Dr. Peter Hanson, likens aging skin to an old barn with a sagging roof. If you were just to replace the shingles, the roof would still be sagging. What you need to do is build up the supports of the barn to strengthen and hold it up; then your new shingles will look like a brand-new roof. Using the FaceMaster several times a week works your face the same way free weights work out your biceps. It takes only about fifteen minutes a day. I do it lying in bed in the morning while having my daily cup of perfect coffee made by my husband.