Grow Younger, Live Longer: Ten Steps To Reverse Aging by Deepak Chopra, delivers on its promise of providing you with ten steps to achieving a long life, filled with joy and vitality.
Introduction
Deepak Chopra has written numerous books spanning over three decades and is well known as a pioneer in mind/body medicine. Co-authored with David Simon, Grow Younger, Live Longer was first published in 2001.
I first came across Deepak Chopra and his work in the early 90s. Living in London, I frequented a bookshop called Mysteries in Covent Garden. Spending hours in that wonderful bookshop over the years, I always came across the most fascinating books.
One such book was Perfect Health by Deepak Chopra. This is what led me to Ayurveda which has been an integral part of my overall health and wellbeing.
Ayurveda translates as ‘knowledge of life’. Providing real knowledge to know yourself so you can lead a long, healthy life. It’s about sustaining your health, preventing and healing dis-eases.
Since then I have read several of Deepak Chopra’s books including Grow Younger, Live Longer which is the first book in my book review series of blog posts.
Much of my knowledge and experience has been gleaned from books I have poured over and studied over the years, along with courses and programs I have participated in.
The aim of writing these book reviews is to share with you, what I have learned and successfully applied to my life concerning longevity, healthy aging, and mindset.
My wish is to inspire you to either delve deeper yourself by reading the book or simply to reflect on some of the key takeaways from my review.
Summary of Contents
The tools offered in Grow Younger, Live Longer, originate from the author’s decades of research and knowledge in the field of anti-aging and longevity. It gives you specific strategies for turning back the clock as much as fifteen years so you can feel, look, and perform better.
This quote from Grow Younger, Live Longer is from the Ayurveda system of healing and tells us:
To know a person’s experiences from the past, examine their body now. To know a person’s body in the future, examine their experiences now.
As something I have innately accepted for years and as my training in Rapid Transformational Therapy further reinforced: your thoughts and behaviors influence your overall health and well-being. This happens at a cellular level and the good news is, if you have aged before your time, you can reverse this using the power of your mind and the tools outlined in this book.
Grow Younger, Live Longer provides you with a ten-step program, that if you follow and commit to over ten weeks, will give you results that could quite possibly astound you.
I love the analogy the authors use of a baby elephant. If a rope is tied to the elephant’s leg and attached to a stake in the ground, it accepts the limitations of this rope for years to come, even when it grows to be a powerful adult. It is unable to break free.
Similarly, many people accept the limitations imposed on us in childhood without questioning their validity. How many of you believe that aging is irreversible and that growing older means declining in physical and mental ability?
What if you could change that belief and have a different experience? This book shows you how and guides you through what you need to do to make this a reality.
To draw from my own experience, I can testify that the tools shared in this book work wonders. I follow much of the advice in the steps provided as part of my everyday routine and have done for several years. I certainly feel much younger than my biological age and am often told that I look much younger too.
Think of Leonardo da Vinci who was drawing sketches in his sixties. Or Michelangelo who was sculpting in his eighties – both well past the life expectancy of someone in the 1500s!
In more recent times, Winston Churchill was active and productive until he died at ninety years old in 1965 – less than a month after I was born interestingly enough!
The book talks about the various measurements of age as listed below:
Chronological Age
This is what your birth certificate states and cannot be altered.
Biological Age
This is a measurement of how your physiological systems are functioning compared with your chronological peers. These measurements are known as biological markers or biomarkers.
Psychological Age
This is how old you feel. Again something that very much aligns with Rapid Transformational Therapy and the work that I do with my clients.
I have worked with several women who have been able to completely change the way they feel about aging and how young they look and feel (notice the subtle wording I used 🙂 )
Your attitude about aging will affect how you age.
Grow Younger, Live Longer uses solid research as you would expect from an author of this caliber. He cites studies done by Alexander Leaf in the 1970s and Ellen Langer in the 2000s. Both fascinating studies that, in a nutshell, reveals that expectations determine outcomes.
Here are the ten steps covered in this book to reverse your biological age:
- Changing Your Perceptions
- Deep Rest – Restful Awareness and Restful Sleep
- Lovingly Nurturing Your Body Through Healthy Food
- Using Nutritional Complements Wisely
- Enhancing Mind/Body Integration
- Through Exercise
- Eliminating Toxins from Your Life
- Cultivating Flexibility and Creativity in Consciousness
- Through Love
- Maintaining a Youthful Mind
Each chapter starts with three points around that particular step and a beautiful quote. Each point is then explored fully with various examples, analogies, and data. Often backed up by research and studies.
There are exercises involved in each step and an explanation of how the exercise works and its benefits along with suggested daily and seasonal rituals and routines to follow.
Tables and graphics are scattered throughout giving you a visual guide for further interpretation.
The principles of Ayurveda are weaved throughout the chapters offering you insight into this wonderful system of health and healing. It touches briefly on Panchakarma, the detoxification program of Ayurveda which I have discussed in previous blog posts.
There is so much practical knowledge shared in Grow Younger, Live Longer. Practices include meditation, breathing, visualizations, self-massage, mind-body techniques of yoga, tai chi, and qigong.
It also provides tips on sleeping, healthy food choices, supplementation advice, and recommended exercises such as strength and cardiovascular training.
If that’s not enough, it teaches you how to detoxify both physically and emotionally, how to break habits and form new healthy ones and how to nourish your mind and body through your five senses.
There is an additional section at the back of the book providing many delicious healthy recipes from all around the globe specifically created for aging well.
Final Thoughts
I want to leave you with one final thought from this book.
Most of us only experience such a small fraction of our vast mental and physical potential.
Although this book discusses focusing on your body through diet, exercise, and herbs, the real shift comes from consciousness.
When your awareness shifts, your body also shifts, and your interpretation of your life transforms. Once you recognize this, you know that aging is a choice.
I did consider doing a rating system for my book reviews yet deep down I know most books I would rate a 9 or 10. Although I read a ton of books, I’m pretty choosy about what I read and if something doesn’t resonate in the first chapter or two I tend to put it aside.
I’d love to know if you found this book review helpful and if it’s something that could be useful on your journey to living a long and healthy life. Please share your thoughts below and let me know if you’re inspired to add this book to your reading list.
Disclaimer: By recommending this book, this page contains an affiliate link. This means if you click on the link and make a purchase I will receive a commission.