The 98-Year-Old Massage Therapist Grandmother

In today’s article on Longevity, meet Evelyn Blackburn: She’s a 98-year-old grandmother who is Britain’s oldest massage therapist, with 60 years in the profession.

Evelyn Blackburn was first granted her license to operate in 1949 and recently renewed it.

Mrs. Blackburn, of Pinner, north London, has treated tens of thousands of people since a friend’s sore neck prompted her to learn the techniques of massage six decades ago.

But she has kept abreast of developments, embracing alternative treatments such as cupping – made famous by celebrity enthusiast Gwyneth Paltrow – and radiesthesia, which treats people’s energy or auras.

Mrs Blackburn said, “I have massaged thousands of people over the years – from mothers and grandmothers to builders and scientists. Back when I started, I used iodine-based oil called Dragon’s Blood. Nowadays, I use the modern substitutes. You have to move with the times.

“I still maintain the best treatment is a pair of hands.

“I don’t think anything can replace massage. I have used lots of therapies and machines, but nothing is quite as effective.

“A massage is much better than all these advertised creams to put on your face and body, although the companies making the cream wouldn’t like to hear that – but it’s the truth.”

Mrs. Blackburn used to treat up to eight people a day at the clinic where she worked in Nower Hill, Harrow, but for the past 24 years has worked from home in a room adapted into a studio.

She stated that, “I started in 1949 and now I’m 98. It has been a long time but I enjoy my work because I help people feel better. I love the contact with people and sharing their problems.

“Now I take on work as it comes. I’m available seven days a week.”

Explaining how she has kept so active, she said: “While you cannot determine how long you live, I have been a vegetarian since I was 20 and never get angry and depressed. When you feel down in the dumps, you must pick yourself up.”

Evelyn Blackburn, the 98-year-old massage therapist grandmother, is another model of longevity, and a model of someone living a Low Density Lifestyle.

One of the common threads you may have noticed amongst all the people featured so far in these articles on longevity is diet: they have all either proclaimed that they are (or in the case of Joe Rollino, was) a vegetarian, or that they ate very little animal foods.

That really is a very important part of it, as eating an animal-food based diet will shorten your life, as the article I wrote not too long ago on The China Study pointed out.

Another thing all of these people have is a sense of purpose, and having a sense of purpose is something that has been shown to help contribute to longevity.

For Evelyn Blackburn, her sense of purpose is in helping people feel better, and she truly loves to be able to do so. As she said above, she’s available seven days a week.

So next time you find yourself in Pinner, in north London, give Evelyn Blackburn a call and make an appointment for a massage from her. You’ll learn a thing or two about longevity along the way.

The Yogi Grandma

Over the last few days in this series on Longevity, I’ve told you about two amazing masters of longevity. One was Joe Rollino, who unfortunately passed away on Jan. 11, 2009 (having been hit by a car) at the young age of 104; and then I told you about the amazing Jack Lalanne, who at 95 has proclaimed that he plans to live to 150.

So let’s look today at another person who is an amazing example of someone who is experiencing a long and vital life, and has not allowed age to slow her down.

This person is the Yogi Grandma, 83-year-old Australian yoga instructor and grandmother Bette Calman, who is still bending over backwards to spread the benefits of the ancient Indian discipline.

Bette has been teaching yoga for 40 years, and still is extremely flexible. She’s the author of three yoga books, including one called Yoga for Arthritis.

She can do all the difficult moves including the agonizing “peacock” where the body is held in a horizontal position by the strength of the arms alone; she can also pull off a tricky raised “lotus,” “bridge,” and a headstand with ease.

She can also put her head between her knees and hold her ankles, putting her inflexible grandchildren to shame.

On top of all that, she still teaches up to 11 yoga classes a week

“I’m proof that if you keep at it, you’ll get there. I can do more now than I could 50 years ago,” Bette Calman said.

And she has no plans to give up and retire anytime soon. “You’re never too old. The body is a remarkable instrument. It can stretch and stretch, and get better all the time. Forget age,” she says. “Even a basic posture, or just going to a window and breathing deeply, can have big benefits.”

It’s that spirit that has made Bette Calman a legend in her native Australia.

She was a pioneer of yoga in the 1950’s, ran yoga centers for 33 years, and made regular TV appearances in the 1970’s.

She then thought she would retire, and moved to be closer to her daughter, but the call of yoga was just too much for her to ignore, and here she is now, teaching 11 yoga classes a week, and looking like she’s not planning on stopping anytime soon.

Living a Low Density Lifestyle – especially as a longtime yogi/yoga teacher – has made Bette Calman a model of longevity. As she says, “Yoga keeps you young.

“Never have I gone to a yoga class and wished I was somewhere else, because I know I’m going to come out feeling on the top of the world. There’ll always be yoga.”

Goodbye Joe, You Left Us Too Soon at 104

As I continue with this series on Longevity, I want to tell you about Joe Rollino.

Sadly, Joe Rollino died this past Monday morning, Jan. 11, 2010. He was out walking near his home in Brooklyn, NY when he was struck by a van.

The above video has the news report. There’s a 15 second commercial at the beginning, so be patient, as it’s worth the wait.

Joe had his morning routine. He would go out early, while it was still dark, and buy the newspaper and a lottery ticket. Then he would walk 5 miles. After his walk, depending on his mood, he might go for a swim. In the ocean. The Atlantic ocean. No matter what the temperature was.

Joe Rollino was 104 when he died, and his 105th birthday would have been in March.

Joe was a lifelong vegetarian – his mother was a vegetarian, which was unusual in that time – who still had all of his own teeth, and ate oatmeal every morning. He never smoked or drank alcohol, he walked five miles every morning, rain or shine, and he also exercised everyday.

People called him the Great Joe Rollino, the Mighty Joe Rollino and even the World’s Strongest Man, for he was a man of extraordinary strength.

Joe Rollino once lifted 475 pounds, using neither his arms nor his legs but instead, his teeth. With just one finger he raised up 635 pounds; with his back he moved 3,200. He bit down on quarters to bend them with his thumb.

At his 103rd birthday party, he put a quarter in his teeth and then bent it. He apologized for his act, saying he used to be able to do it with dimes.

At this same party, retired NYPD detective Arthur Perry met Rollino for the first time, and didn’t believe Rollino was the celebrant – he looked too good for a centenarian.

“It was astonishing, how he was smiled upon by nature,” Perry said. “If you would’ve said to me he was 80, I’d have said he looked younger. And when he started shadow boxing, I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

He was a member of the Coney Island swimming society, the Iceberg Athletic Club. Members of the club swam into the icy waters of the Atlantic in Coney Island. But Joe was the leader of the pack: he holds the record for swimming everyday for 8 straight years.

The Iceberg members actually swim in the ocean three or four times a week, and attribute the habit to enduring good health. It is called “winter bathing.”

The water temperature, they insist, is often warmer than the air temperature. If they stay in for 5 or 10 minutes, they believe the cold water kills germs that fester inside one’s body. All the members of the club have attested to the fact that since they started winter bathing, they have not been sick.

When asked at his 103rd birthday party, Joe Rollino couldn’t recall the last time he was sick.

One winter, the police asked Joe Rollino to see if he could find the bodies of two people who drowned in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, because the police did not have the necessary protective equipment and it was too cold for anyone else to jump in and bring them to the surface. Joe went in and recovered the bodies.

If it wasn’t for the car striking him down, Joe would still be with us. Even at 104 years young, Joe left us too soon.

Joe Rollino was a role model for what longevity is all about. We all have a lot to learn from Joe Rollino.