“When you throw a pebble in a pond, the circles slowly radiate out, and then, slowly back in again,” said Deborah Szekely last night during her weekly fireside chat at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. And that’s the way things work in our bodies and our environment too, she went on to say. Pollute the oceans and you’ll pay for it….contaminated seafood or no more seafood at all. Eat McDonald’s and Taco Bell every day and your body will let you down – with such problems as excess weight, hypertension and lethargy.
Szekely (pronounced Say-Kay), the 88-year-old founder of the first spa on the North American continent (she opened Rancho la Puerta with her husband Edmond Szekely in 1940), went on to expound on what she calls “the new 3Rs….respect, responsibility and regeneration.”
Respect your body and it will, in fact, pay you back….with renewed energy, spirit and strength. Respect the world around you and the reward will be an environment that nourishes this generation and those to come. In addition to her words of wisdom about the Three Rs, Szekely shared her thoughts about waking up in the morning. Nothing earth-shattering, mind you. But, in my opinion, “right on.”
First, she says, "wiggle around a bit" as soon as you wake up. Move your body around in bed, be aware of how it feels, be grateful that you are, indeed, waking up to experience another day.
After she gets out of bed and shoos her two puppies out the door, Szekely says she sets the time on, and winds up, the antique clock that sits on a shelf in the room. The daily task reminds her that a new day and more time on this earth is something to be cherished and not taken for granted. “Treasure time,” she told me during an earlier conversaton. “It is our most valuable possession.”
Szekely, who also created the famed and pricey Golden Door spa in Escondido, California in 1958, is considered to be the guiding light of the body/mind/spirit fitness movement, and the godmother of spa cuisine. Attractive, trim and exuding a quiet sense of joie de vivre, the octogenarian credits her good health to daily exercise – she does Pilates four times a week and walks two miles every day -- and a dynamic involvement with the people and world around her. She’s also an ardent spokesperson for the importance of enjoying good food that’s also good for you. “Eat sensibly,” she advises. “Don’t be always measuring and counting. It’s like measuring love or kisses. If you start counting calories, you lose the fun of it all.”
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