I started this at 63, after a lifetime of my body quietly breaking down. Flat feet, a forward-leaning frame, and triglycerides that had run above 300 for fifty years. Carrying a laundry basket up the stairs was a chore.

I didn’t join a gym, take a supplement, or fill a prescription. I started with a few minutes a day on the floor, lying on two balls. It grew from there: floor, then an upright lean against a counter, then everyday movement.

Now, at 66, I’m a different structure. My arches came back after a lifetime of flat feet. I stand three centimeters taller. My triglycerides fell from 358 to 149 — in range for the first time in my adult life. My weight went from 214 to 170 without dieting. But the change I feel most is the one no lab measured: I run up the stairs now without thinking about it. My body finally holds itself — and lets me forget about it.”

— Steven Talerico, author of The Signal to Thrive