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3 Habits That Make Me a LLAMA Student.


Before Peter Bowes approached me to do his podcast, I’d never heard of the expression “Live Long and Master Aging,” which translates to the LLAMA in the title above. You can listen to it here, but here’s the distilled version summed up into three habits.
  1. I wake up early every morning, meditate and write. My writer wakes up before my editor, so I find early morning writing and creative thinking enhanced because I have so few distractions or interruptions. This is my “flow” time when I feel like I’m channeling messages from the universe.
  2. I have many forms of exercise and one approach to sleeping. This is particularly true in Baja, where I have a lap pool right outside my bedroom door and access to a small gym that’s a 2-minute walk from our home. I also have the luxury of doing 1:1 yoga with Teddi or going for daily walks or hikes with our dog. We also have bikes on the MEA campus. And, yes, occasionally (very!), I will pull out my surfboard and catch waves at the Cerritos surf break. The value in having such a variety of choices means I’m working out various parts of my body. I also don’t get bored. Unfortunately, I don’t work out nearly as much when I’m in Santa Fe, and I can attest that my sleep isn’t as good when I’m there. When it comes to sleep, I’m religious about when I go to bed and my pre-sleep ritual, which involves prayer, reading, and nodding off to a bucolic, electronic stream in my ears.
  3. I get regular massages or bodywork. We’re lucky to have amazing massage therapists at MEA, so I try to get a massage about every two weeks. I also occasionally do Reiki healing, steam baths or Temazcales, and spiritual cleansing from Saul, our shaman. I also have an inversion machine and turn myself upside down 10 minutes daily. And in Santa Fe, I regularly seek out the plentiful local hot springs, including the world-famous Ten Thousand Waves.

In sum, my routine is pretty simple: an early get-up, a regular workout, and well-deserved bliss-out. It works for me, which, I guess, makes me a LLAMA.

What makes you a LLAMA?

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