As we age, in western culture especially, there is an expectation that the body will become less fluid, that we will have drier skin and brittle bones, that we will be mentally less functional, and our movement will become compromised. Is this a normal process of ageing? Or, are many of these attributes we ascribe to the ageing process not ageing, but a disease process that the body is going through?

We all have someone in our life that fits this image of getting older and tighter and decrepit, but this is not how we have to age. The limitations that we think are due to the lack of suppleness are the result of habitually contracted muscles that lead to unbalanced movement. This in turn, leads to new limitations on muscles, which we avoid using to preclude discomfort or pain. The vicious circle leads to deformation of the skeleton, spinal discs and so on.