When I first began the Where's Armand? series, I had it in the back of my mind to one day turn it into a blog that would promote productive longevity. To live up to the Armand Singer standard, one had to be over 90 years of age and still actively contributing to life.
Where's Armand? will continue to bring you vignettes of Armand Singer's incredible life and journeys but in keeping with his spirit, the goal is to now become a productive blog. We're going to "get out there in the world" as Armand strongly suggested.
Reader and friend, Mona Toyama, lives in Japan and makes regular visits to Kona Yoga. She submitted several names of highly productive Japanese nonagenarians and today we'd like to introduce you to Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara (96-ish).
Dubbed the guru of healthy aging, Hinohara seeks healthy 75 year olds to join his "New Old People's Movement". The doctor says:
When we reach 75 we should start something new in order to discover those unused genes and develop them. It could be painting, or making music, writing poetry, sports or volunteer activities. One of my patients in his 60's had been admitted to St. Luke's with cancer, and was getting neurotic with anxiety over the disease. So I suggested he try to find something he enjoyed, like painting. He tried to avoid the issue, saying he was too clumsy with things. But once he took up the brush, his talent came out, and 10 years later he was holding his own one-man exhibitions and winning awards.
Dr. Hinohara relies more on mental attitude than any special diet or exercise (don't you love it?) and you may read more about his 'keep on keeping on' lifestyle in this article from Nipponia. Be sure to click "next" at the bottom of each page for more amazing life stories.
Photo: Nipponia
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