Rest. This includes a good night’s sleep. Many of us simply don’t sleep enough, which is devastating for our health on the long run. It also implies relief from stress. Again, most of us are chronically stressed. That, too, is devastating. Rest includes leisure time, hobbies, meditation or any kind of mindful practice that brings you back to a calmer state.
The term Blue Zones has been used to describe places where people live long and healthy lives. What exactly does it take to live a long and healthy life? What is the science and the secret behind longevity and life extension? In this series, we are talking to medical experts, wellness experts, and longevity experts to share “5 Things You Need To Live a Long, Healthy, & Happy Life”. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Michael Landau.
Michael is a Feldenkrais practitioner, which means that his focus is on Mindful Movement and its contribution to health and well-being. He is dedicated to the exploration of movement as a means to learning and personal growth. During the pandemic, as he was forced to move all his teaching activities online, he developed an ongoing series of short daily three-minute sessions that are varied, entertaining and easy to do, and are meant to become a regular daily activity. This allows his students to stay on the path of improvement and growth. They report improved mobility, reduced pain and stiffness and better focus and attention. Michael was a professional musician for over 30 years, has shamanic training and a long Buddhist practice that add deeply ingrained spirituality to his teaching.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
I was born in Tel-Aviv and grew up in Israel. I moved to Vienna, Austria to study music, and specialized in piano accompaniment. This means that my job was to accompany singers and instrumentalists at the piano, working their repertoire with them, accompany rehearsals and concerts and help performers to shine and be at their best on stage. I taught at the Vienna Conservatory, and then at the Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile, when I’ve been living in the last 20 years.
The Feldenkrais Method® has accompanied me throughout my career, and now that I’m retired from professional musicianship I dedicate myself to it full-time. I’ve graduated the first Jerusalem training with some of the best Feldenkrais trainers in the world. Keen and precise awareness of how I move and how I use my body to play the piano, and, well, to just be alive, allowed me to survive many daily hours at the piano, and thrive in other areas of life. It became a doorway to permanent growth and lifelong learning.
I don’t see movement as separate from being alive. When I observe myself in movement I pay attention to myself as a whole. Any small improvement makes me a better person. I show up more fully and constantly become a better version of myself.
When I teach, I aim at my students’ potential for greatness. It’s always there, and it often requires a wake-up call.
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
Like so many of us, I started paying attention to my body when I was in pain. On my first paying job as a pianist I was hired to accompany a 10-day masterclass for singers. Each singer had their daily voice class, and then there were some group rehearsals. I was sitting at the piano many hours a day. And my back was killing me. I was just beginning my career, and I had to lie down between sessions. I could hardly sit. I was desperate. Devastated. I thought this job wasn’t for me and that I wouldn’t survive it.
This was during my first year of the Feldenkrais training, and well, to make a long story short, I didn’t have an acute back pain episode since. That intensive exploration of how I organize myself to move changed everything, not just the way I use my body. If improved my piano playing, my expressiveness, my presence on stage, the way I worked with my students. Really, everything.
The takeaway? I don’t take my health for granted, I don’t think that if nothing hurts I can just forget about it. Paying attention to my body, listen to its messages and satisfying its needs has become a second nature to me.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Oh, they are too many to name them all. There were so many friends, colleagues and teachers along the way. But if I had to name one, I’d choose my wife Andrea. She is neither a musician nor a movement expert, but she gave me so many nudges, and an occasional kick in the butt in the right moment. She is an acute observer, and she doesn’t tolerate problems shoved under the carpet. She never let me play dumb for long. Whether issues between us as a couple, issues with our kids or my own issues, she helped me face them as they arose.
When you don’t let problems sit and grow intolerable and you deal with them as they arise, you stay light. You make little course corrections along the way, and you don’t need that big painful hit in the head that turns your whole life upside down; you stay always close enough to the right direction. I’m really grateful for this, because I’m rather good at playing dumb, and without her I’d probably let problems sit and ignore them for much longer.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Leadership doesn’t come naturally to me. I tend to hide in the shadows and make myself invisible. The first essential trait that comes to mind is persistence. I had to teach myself to show up in spite of my own resistance, and it didn’t happen overnight. I had to keep going, keep insisting. I still do.
Another essential trait is willingness to learn. As I said, I have found a doorway to constant learning in awareness to movement, in paying attention. Awareness is a skill, you practice it and you get better; you notice more, your perception becomes subtler and more acute; it becomes a second nature. And it’s the same skill of awareness that I use with my clients. It’s the same skill I used with my music students and colleagues. You become more awake, more there, in the here and now. In Buddhism it’s called beginner’s mind. You look around with a willingness to learn something new.
One more trait that is connected to this is humility. I never thought of myself as a big shot, a maestro. I’m just doing my best, as everybody else. I guess this desire to stay on the path of learning and growth doesn’t encourage arrogance. If I think I’m right, I stop listening. If I believe I have all the answers I don’t ask questions any more. I just don’t go there. There’s always a different point of view, something new to learn. This may also be the result of being part of a family for over 20 years. After a while you get it that what’s in your mind is just your own point of view, and other people around you will have their own, and we all think we’re right. I’d say humility is simply recognizing this fact. Why would I be more right than anybody else?
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of our interview about health and longevity. To begin, can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority in the fields of health, wellness, and longevity? In your opinion, what is your unique contribution to the world of wellness?
It’s curious. Everybody knows exercise is good for you. Everybody wants more focus, less stress, less distractions. But these two things are addressed by different specialists; they are considered two separate fields. You go to the gym and hire a trainer for exercise, and you meditate for calmness and better focus. Or, if you’re less inclined to practice mindfulness, you drink a beer or watch TV to let off some steam.
For me, these two areas are one and the same thing. Treating the body like a machine is an insult to our magnificent brain. I do movement with attention because movement is our way of manifesting ourselves in a physical body, and it is worthy of attention. Physical and mental well-being are two aspects of the same thing. I use movement to create a learning space where we can grow and thrive as human beings.
In the wellness industry you’ll find infinite talk of exercise and diet. A lot of information on muscles and calories. The body is treated like a car that must be well maintained. There’s something essential missing in this point of view. Movement is what makes us alive; it’s the reason we have a brain.
This is not a philosophy I’m trying to preach. It feeds a very concrete way of teaching and exploring movement. This way is almost non-existent in public consciousness, and I feel it’s my duty to try and change that.
Seekers throughout history have traveled great distances and embarked on mythical quests in search of the “elixir of life,” a mythical potion said to cure all diseases and give eternal youth. Has your search for health, vitality, and longevity taken you on any interesting paths or journeys? We’d love to hear the story.
You can’t guarantee longevity. You can’t be sure to be as healthy next year, or even tomorrow, as you are today. But you can make it much more probable if you treat your whole self, your body-mind-spiritual being, as the sacred thing that it is. If you remember your divine essence, taking care of yourself comes naturally. I have been trained as a professional musician, I took the Medicine Wheel shamanic training, I’ve held a years-long Buddhist practice, I took the Feldenkrais practitioner training, and I see it all as steps on the same path. I try to maintain a healthy lifestyle in all areas of life because not doing it feels like a betrayal, not because I want to live forever.
Modern medicine does an excellent job of prolonging life, but a lousy job at creating a healthy lifestyle. A serious revision of our values is long overdue, the values that constitute our lifestyle, the way we relate to our planet and the community of life. It’s a big theme for a separate conversation, but I think it is closely related to living a life that is worth living. Otherwise, why would we want to live longer in the first place?
Based on your research or experience, can you please share your “5 Things You Need To Live A Long & Healthy Life”? (Please share a story or an example for each)
I’ll start with the most obvious, things that everybody knows but are still quite difficult to sustain in our modern environment. The “civilized” life we have created is unhealthy on so many levels that it takes real effort to live a healthy life.
I’ll leave the one I’m most passionate about to the end.
Number one: Rest. This includes a good night’s sleep. Many of us simply don’t sleep enough, which is devastating for our health on the long run. It also implies relief from stress. Again, most of us are chronically stressed. That, too, is devastating. Rest includes leisure time, hobbies, meditation or any kind of mindful practice that brings you back to a calmer state.
And something else that belongs here and is a good reminder to myself and to everybody else. We can all use an occasional examination of our values. What are we chasing so fervently, how important is it, does it make us happy, and how much of it we could just cross out from our to-do list without serious consequences. Being at rest would probably mean being content with less, at peace with what we have right now.
Number two: Diet. What is the quality of the fuel we’re giving our body to run on? For most of us it’s much easier to grab a quick junk rather than plan and cook a good meal. Too much sugar, too much alcohol, a lot of processed food, too little good nutrition. We all know it, and we tend to ignore it. Just remembering to treat our body as a sacred temple will make us think twice before filling it with junk.
Again, this means swimming against the current of civilization, and it’s not at all easy. Maybe some other time I’ll talk some more about the change of culture and mindset we need as a species in order to survive our own disasters.
Number three, and here I’m leaving the strictly materialistic part of our humanity: Gratitude. I get up in the morning, look out the window –I’m lucky to have a tangerine tree in my back yard– and I practice gratitude. I say practice because it’s so easy to forget. I often have to remind myself to really look out and see that tree. It’s unique; there’s no identical tree in the whole universe. And it looks a little different each day, depending on the light, the weather, the season… When I look at it this way I’m filled with awe, I feel and appreciate the precious gift of life, I cherish it; I’m grateful for it.
It only takes a few seconds, but it reminds me that this day is precious and unique, it won’t come back, and I might as well live it fully.
Number four, and it’s getting warmer for me: Focus. If you haven’t read “Stolen Focus” by Johann Hari, you should. It’s a study on how modern life is designed to steal our focus, and the price we pay for allowing it to be stolen. The quantity, frequency and power of stimuli we’re exposed to at all time are literally crazy making. ADHD is the norm; we can hardly sit back and spend an hour reading a book; we’re not having undistracted conversations anymore; we are on call 24/7, and we accept it as reality. This is crazy; it makes us crazy and it’s detrimental to our physical and mental health.
What can I recommend? As a first choice, throw your cell-phone to the ocean and go live on a high mountain with some goats. If that’s not a real option, dedicate a few minutes in the morning to meditate, in any way that works for you. Ideally, before turning on your phone. I try to meditate 11 minutes each morning. Sometimes I keep it up for some days in a row, sometimes I let it go for a while… I try not to beat myself up. One does what one can.
Why 11 minutes? I don’t know. Because it’s more than 10, and it’s still doable, even on the busiest days. And when I stick with it for a while, I notice the difference. I’m calmer and more focused the rest of the day.
Number five: Mindful Movement. This is the area of my professional interest and passion. Movement, of course. It could be number one on this list. We don’t move enough. Again, modern life… Move more, in any way that makes you happy. Go to the gym, walk, run, play basketball or tennis, find some friends who’d do it with you — that always helps. But what I’m talking about here is Mindful Movement, which is something else. I don’t mean exercise. I’m talking about observing yourself, practicing awareness, paying attention to yourself in motion.
This actually brings together some of the things I mentioned before: treat yourself as the sacred being you are; treat your body as a temple, not as a brain taxi; focus and try to stay focused. It’s not about moving to stay fit, it’s not about mechanical repetition. I’m talking about going back to the basics. What makes you tick? How do you hold yourself upright? How do you keep your balance? How do you breathe? And how can you improve all these things? I mean, improve your breathing by 1% and you’ve improved your life exponentially! Improve how you turn, how you take a step, how you tie your shoelaces, and you make your life better.
If you create this mindset and consider everything you do in your daily life as material for observation and learning, you become a seeker. You don’t give in to your automatic pilot without noticing. You are willing to try new things. You are curious. You are willing to change. You don’t just go through the motions, the same motions, day after day.
This attitude makes you healthier, and keeps you on a path of learning, improvement and growth. It’s not really about movement as a separate object. It uses movement as a doorway to self-knowledge and learning. It will help you live a longer and healthier life, and what’s more, it will make this life worth living.
Can you suggest a few things needed to live a life filled with happiness, joy, and meaning?
I could blabber forever on this. But I think we can leave it at that with those five things. There’s enough there for a lifetime. Maybe I could add a footnote to my suggestions. Go small. Or should I say, very very small. If you go to bed just 15 minutes earlier, eat an apple instead of a muffin just once a day, look out the window and say thank you, take one minute to focus on your breathing in the morning, and notice which foot you lift first to put your pants on, that’s good enough. You want to practice success and not put some more load on yourself, get frustrated and let it go. Create very tiny new habits in the right direction, things you can accomplish even on the busiest days. You’d be amazed how tiny, non-spectacular, doable new habits add up over time to create real change, make you happier and give meaning to everything else you do.
Some argue that longevity is genetic, while others say that living a long life is simply a choice. What are your thoughts on this nature vs. nurture debate? Which is more important?
You can do all the right things and die in an accident. You can be a careless ass and live to be a hundred. But if you live with quality, your life will be worth living. You can’t guarantee longevity, but longevity can be the result of living well.
Genetics certainly play a role, but if you look at medical statistics, most of the chronic conditions nowadays are lifestyle related: heart disease, diabetes, obesity, chronic stress. If you can create a healthier lifestyle you are much more likely to live a longer and healthier life, and you are much more likely to find joy and meaning in it.
Life sometimes takes us on paths that are challenging. How have you managed to bounce back from setbacks in order to cultivate physical, mental, and emotional health?
I’ll give you one example. I was an employee for 30 years, first at the Vienna Conservatory, and then at the Catholic University of Valparaiso, Chile. I enjoyed my work. When I turned 60 I decided to quit and dedicate myself to working with Feldenkrais and teaching Mindful Movement. It has accompanied me throughout my musical career. I thought to myself, “I know how to teach this, I’ve been doing it for years, what can go wrong?” I had no idea that I was becoming an entrepreneur. I had no idea what that meant.
It took much longer than I thought. I had to learn lots of stuff of which I didn’t have the faintest idea. When the pandemic hit I had to move all my teaching online. Another huge learning process. I’m still on it. I’ve created online courses, I have to deal with online tools and applications that are new to me. I find that, everything always takes longer than I expect, and I’m busy much of the time with things I’m not passionate about.
I’m still learning to deal with this new reality, and I’m still not where I’d like to be. And it takes work. Not just actual work; it takes mental effort to find healthy ways to do what I’m doing, to know when it’s enough, to be content, patient, curious; to take a rest; to get up and do some movement; to stay focused. What helps me stay positive is my disposition to learn. New things fascinate me. I like challenges. When I get frustrated I find my way around it. I stop, I do something else, and I go back to learning.
I’m still in the learning process of becoming an entrepreneur. It has forced me to grow, to face my inner resistance, to become better, to show up. I am grateful for this new beginning.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
I’ve just finished rereading a book that influenced me enormously in my youth, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert Pirsig. Here’s one quote from it that still makes a lot of sense to me:
“The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.”
This quote reflects what I see as my task these days. I know we need a revolution, a serious, profound change of consciousness on a global scale. It is urgent, and it’s coming too slowly. We may end up destroying our planet before reaching that necessary change.
And yet, I teach movement awareness. In my classes you are asked to do very small things, with very little effort, and pay close attention. And then take a rest. It looks absurd, so small, so insignificant on the large scale of things. But I see it as a necessary step toward great changes, maybe the only possible step right now. We must learn to pay attention, and we must start with ourselves.
When we become more aware we may stop destroying. A revolution of consciousness will happen in people’s minds, not as a result of a political plan.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
My previous answer may give you an idea of how I see the possibility of change on a global scale. I’d introduce a 3-minute awareness break in any possible context: in working places, offices, schools, on TV, radio, anywhere.
Stop what you’re doing. Just stand, or sit still.
Observe your breathing.
Lift one arm, slowly. Put it down, slowly. Lift it again. Notice how your ribs open on that side. Try to feel your shoulder blade moving. It’s sliding on your ribs when you lift the arm.
Breathe in when you lift your arm. Breathe out when you put it down. Slowly.
Rest. Observe your breathing.
Did you do it? Did anything change? Maybe your mind slowed down a bit. Maybe you breathe more calmly. Do something like this for three minutes and something small shifts. Do it every day, or a few times a day, and you’ve started a revolution.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
My website can tell you some more about my work. There you can sign up for my newsletter, and you’ll receive a free series of 3-minute sessions from my Persistent Growth practice. It looks something like what we’ve just did, and it only takes three minutes. I’m trying to start a revolution here.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
Thank you. You made me think. I’ve enjoyed it!