By Emily Fletcher
Let’s face it: we have access to the world’s most advanced external tools when it comes to skincare. We are well-versed in the creams and the serums, the oils and the lotions, the lights and the exfoliation.
But what if I told you that there is an internal tool you probably haven’t tried yet…and it can reverse your body age by up to 8 years.
What I’m talking about is meditation in general, and The Ziva Technique in particular. We’ve all heard how a meditation practice can give you better sleep, less anxiety and ore energy. But there are more and more studies coming out heralding its ability to reverse your brain and body age. Even better, it has no side negative effects and just may make it easier to commit to other health-boosting habits.
We all have two ages.
Our chronological age – that number that graces our birthday cakes – and our biological age which is measured by blood pressure, auditory performance, and visual performance. It’s essentially how old the body acts and feels.
Of course, we don’t have any control over our chronological age, but our biological age? That we can do something about.
Stress was making me gray at 26.
Before I became a meditation teacher I was on Broadway for ten years. My last gig was to understudy three of the leading roles in “A Chorus Line” which means I went onstage at a moment’s notice. It was so intense that I started going gray at the tender age of twenty-six, and I had been plagued with insomnia for over 18 months!
I am happy to report that on the first day of my first meditation course I slept through the night…and I have every night since (and that was eleven years ago). Soon after, I also stopped getting sick, I stopped getting injured and I even reversed my gray! More than a decade later, I’m thrilled to report that at 38 years old, they are nowhere in sight.
How meditation reverses your biological age.
While the benefits of meditation are seemingly endless (better sex, deeper sleep, more energy, and even weight loss to name a few…), what I want to dive into is the science behind how meditation actually reverses your body age.
We all know that stress is bad for us, but I’m here to break the really bad news: doctors are calling stress the Black Plague of our century. Chronic stress can lead to any number of psychological and physical problems, and your skin is not immune to stress. Case in point: there’s an entirely new, cutting-edge field called psychodermatology that focuses solely on the connection between human emotions and the health of our skin.
So, what does meditation have to do with it? When we get stressed the body produces acid to shut down digestion. That same acid seeps into your skin which accelerates aging and breaks down skin elasticity which expedites aging. There is a reason why your yoga teacher looks younger than her age. It’s the same reason every president seems to age a decade in only four years. Stress speeds up the negative effects of aging. Meditation is the most powerful stress-relieving tool we have. And the beautiful part about it is that once you have some training in a style you love, not only will you look more rested, your body will perform at the top of its game.
This thing is no joke. Here’s how to learn.
Once you learn to meditate at Ziva, you’ll have powerful daily practice that you can use for life. No clearing your mind or sitting in lotus pose. No relying on an app or dropping into a studio.
This piece originally appeared on ParsleyHealth.com.