Use Of Body Management Practices Such As Following A Diet And Exercise Schedule To Arrest The Somatic Expression

Please contact oscar.xiao@wecistanche.com for more information

Repurposing age: Everyday body practices

Akin to earlier studies on aging and the body (Bennett et al.,2017; Hurd Clarke 2002a), participants in this study reported a reprioritization of bodily attributes. For instance, on being asked about any physiological attribute that he would like to change, Mohan (65)noted:

Please click here to know more

M: I do not want to change anything about my body...Nothing. what is a cistanche I am happy with the way I look...maybe the knees. Yes, the knees; if I could, I would like to get new knees. Not replaced, artificial but you know, like when I was younger, without pain and all. I could move around.

AD: So, what would you like to change(about your appearance or body)? Use of body management practices such as following a diet and exercise schedule to arrest the somatic expression of aging has been widely reported in sevveral studies (Laz 2003; Slevin 2010). Our participants too described efforts to manage their changing bodies through dietary changes, exercise and yoga regimes, and medications and health supplements. For instance, Vandana (74), who had migrated from Tanzania in the 1970s, emphasized a positive association between fitness in later life and maintaining an active lifestyle:

I am74 years old. I still go to work. I also takes care of the house. buy cistanche Igo for walks during my lunch break and also attend yoga classes three days a week...Do not stop working if you want to stay fit. She further mentioned that several other activities, such as taking public transit to work, looking after her grandchildren, and regularly driving to religious gatherings all formed an integral part of her active lifestyle. Many male interlocutors also reported taking active care of their health with increasing age. For instance, Nitin (64) took health supplements and carefully monitored his health status. He said: (I take) Only supplements...As you get old you take 50+ one pill a day supplements or vitamins, proteins, etc. We (he and his wife) are just careful with food. I mean we do have regular checkups at the doctors about our heart rate and blood sugar, cholesterol level, and weight.

At the same time, unaffected by the popular media propagation of beauty and body products, most older adults reported refraining from using any anti-aging topical products or surgical/non-surgical corrective measures. This finding aligns with earlier findings on the Indian diaspora (Sarah Lamb et al. 2018). bioflavonoids The cultural belief in maintaining the sanctity of the body often influenced the age-managing measures adopted by them. Several participants subscribed to the idea of aging 'gracefully' or 'naturally' as opposed to adopting invasive, age-corrective, clinical, or surgical methods. For instance, Vinita (62), who had migrated from East Africa ir the 1970s after her marriage, expressed her lack of trust in pharmaceutical products and a preference to age" gracefully"——a term commonly invoked by most older men and women. With her formal training in chemistry, she said that she had "scientific" reasons for not believing in the efficacy of these anti-aging products. She noted emphatically the following:

Cistanche can anti-aging

I do not believe in it (anti-aging products). What pharmacies do is sell products. But I don't know, after certain years what's going to happen. If they are not taking either that medication or injecting themselves, what could happen. It could be worse than natural aging. So, I don't like to do those things. I would rather age gracefully than do those things.

Growing old in a foreign land: Dependence, isolation, and loneliness

The biggest source of anxiety reported by the older adults was increased dependence with age. Preeti (56) illustrated this "dependence anxiety"7 (Vatuk1990,65). She had migrated from India after her marriage, and, at the time of the interview, both she and her husband were working professionals in Canada. She described herself as independent and ambitious since childhood and expressed her fears about becoming dependent in the future, especially for household chores:

The only apprehension I have about growing old is having to depend on someone else. cistanch.I go to Vaishno Devi8 (temple) every time I visit India. I ask my friends to join but they always have excuses: "Who is going to look after the house?; I can't leave the family unattended" and all... We are more independent here.

For the eight women and two men who did not stay with an extended family, the prospect of becoming unable to take care of everyday household chores such as cooking and cleaning was a major concern. Even among older adults who resided with extended family, especially females, expressed concern about their inability to help with household chores/grandparental duties with age and increased dependency on younger family members. For instance, Sangeeta (70), a zero-generation migrant, resided with her extended family. She enthusiastically mentioned that she kept herself busy with domestic chores and grandparental duties and did not like to sit idle. She said:

I fear that I might not be able to help around in the house later...grandkids are there. They will grow up. But in the kitchen, there is work. I love cooking for the family. I make a lot of Gujarati snacks and fritters even now. I don't sit idle at all.

Four older women, Nirmala (64), Sushma (78), Sangeeta (70) and Mitsubishi (70)], two first-generation migrants and two zero-generation migrants, respectively, drew a comparison of the ease of taking care of household work in India because of availability of cheaper labor and joint living arrangement. For instance, Mitsubishi, who had migrated from India after the birth of her grandson, said with a heavy heart:

It was easier there...A servant (domestic help)used to come every day. I also had my elder sister-in-law (my husband's brother's wife). We used to get things done together... Sometime after coming here I developed cancer, she helped (daughter-in-law), but she has her work. She still helps in the kitchen...but...

While the older females were mostly concerned with the inability to take care of domestic chores, most of the older men expressed fear of increased dependency on others for taking care of their bodies and mobility or loss of cognitive capabilities. For instance, Jethalal (65) and Manohar (70) both feared the possibility of developing dementia in later life. Jayesh (55)and Bhagwan (69), both living with extended family, feared that they will not be able to take care of their bodies with old age and will have to depend on others for meeting their daily needs.

Interestingly, though most of the participants were anxious about the increasing dependency with age amidst the absence of strong familial support, long-term institutionalization did not seem to be a widely chosen option for later life care. Only a single female brought up institutionalized care facilities during her interview. cistanche Australia Her deceased husband had been put in a care facility, and she was not keen on finding her way into one. The rest of the twenty-five participants did not discuss the idea of assisted living as an option for later life support. At the same time, all the twenty-six older men and women mentioned that they were happy with the Canadian health care system, old age pension plan, and the transportation service for older people with mobility restrictions.

Several participants also reported feeling lonelier with increasing age, especially after retirement. This feeling of loneliness, they believed, was more profoundly felt when being in Canada than in India. For instance, Dilip (82), who loved traveling, but rarely did so anymore as he preferred not to do it alone, had this to say:

If I go to India, I have lots of friends and relatives. So, it is not a problem. Somebody will come and pick me up. If not, then I can go by taxi and go to their house. So, we are with the family. So, there is no problem. But here if I have to go somewhere, then I have to stay in a hotel, then I would like to have somebody. Because there is a fear if something happens, something goes wrong, you know health-wise. Though there is insurance and everything, you cannot maneuver yourself. As you know, if I have to order a taxi, or Kaha khana khane Jayenge (where would I go for lunch/dinner), you know, to look for a restaurant and all these things, that information is there but still feel alone, lonely.

Like all the others in this study, Dilip too had great faith in the Canadian healthcare system. He had narrated an incident where he believed a critically ill acquaintance of his in Canada could not have been saved had he been in India. However, with increasing age, as evident in the excerpt above, he felt the need to be with familiar people in case of a medical emergency to call for help and take care of initial official procedures. This reflects the tension that most of the respondents felt in navigating old age in Canada. While they praised the government health care system, they also lamented the scarcity of readily available familial support to take care of them in case of a medical emergency (which was believed to be available in India because of stronger network ties). Twenty participants made comments similar to that of Sangeeta (65), who described loneliness as an important concern for older persons in the diaspora, in the absence of strong familial support and limited social interaction with the larger community: The only...bad thing is, that there is tremendous loneliness here. When people get into their senior ages, children are gone, they are doing their own thing, and nobody comes to visit them...In the last years of their lives, they need loving, caring people to look after them, to be there, to listen to them. Their last memories and experiences that they want to relate. Nobody is there to listen to them... Whether it is true in India or not, I don't know. But here that is the biggest hurdle. Interestingly, not linguistic barrier9 but the weather was cited as a major cause in restricting social interactions. Several older adults commented that the harsh winter and incessant rains in Vancouver affected their social participation. Distance also emerged as a deciding factor in fostering social interactions. Since the Gujarati community in the Vancouver area was scattered, often, most of them had to travel some distance to attend community events. Six participants reported an inability to drive (two had medical conditions; four did not own a car, did not know how to drive, and relied on public transport or their children for commuting). Five of them stated that distance was a limiting factor for social interaction since they had to travel to meet people in their community. Three other older men who had access to vehicles and could drive around also mentioned that their social interactions had reduced with increasing age because they started finding it difficult to drive long distances to attend community gatherings and events. Two older women were enrolled in community centers/support groups for older adults and did not report feeling lonely. One of them, a zero-generation migrant (had no language barrier), interacted only with fellow Indians at the old age center, while the other participant, a first-generation migrant, had friends of Canadian as well as Indian origin. One older woman who was actively involved in a spiritual organization did not report feeling lonely either since she mentioned being"busy with office work" throughout the day. Additionally, two older men and one older woman, who lived in a joint household setulo with young grandchildren did not mention feeling lonely.

In the face of these age-related apprehensions and fear, many participants stressed the importance of acceptance and preparedness. For instance, ten years ago after her husband in India passed away, Nirupa (64)migrated to Canada to be close to her only son. She lived in an apartment close to her son's house and spent several hours every day at a senior center where she enjoyed spending time with other women. Although there were non-Indian old persons in the center as well, Nirupa's group of friends comprised only Indian older females, mostly Punjabi speaking. She liked coming to the center not only for socialization and recreation but also because of the informative sessions on nutrition, exercise, and yoga for seniors by trained professionals, which could prepare her for physiological changes that accompanied aging. Nirupa noted:

I have had really bad knee pain and...felt like okay I have to look after this, I have to get it back on track that was my thought...fears are just another way of telling yourself to make sure that you have made arrangements for yourself...I joined this center because of a Punjabi lady near my house. She comes here too. She told me about the activities here... We have restorative yoga classes...medical experts come once a week to talk about handling things, you know, like falls, and pain.

Fitting into two worlds: The quest to belong

In this final theme, we examine our participants' everyday dilemmas of negotiating nostalgia, identity, and the sense of belonging. This is significant since the social process of growing old reflects the intersections of micro-processes and macro-level forces of individual aging experiences (Estes, Biggs, and Philipson 2003). In our study, many older adults reported that with reduced familial and professional (post-retirement) responsibilities, they had time to travel. This, coupled with the Canadian winters, and reportedly reduced physiological abilities to cope with it (with advancing age), encouraged many of them to spend time in India from October-November through February-March to escape the biting cold. This resultant seasonal migratory pattern is not new in gerontological scholarship.10 Several respondents mentioned that they owned residential properties in their"native place"(often in Gujarat, India) which served as retreat homes as well as routes to forge local social ties. For instance, Manohar (70) had bought a house in his hometown:

(I go) every year because it's cold (in Canada) and when you come back it would be nice again. So that's the main thing. As soon as I returned (after retirement), we built a very nice house... it is not big and in the heart of the city. It takes five minutes, rickshaw takes five minutes to take us from my place to the city. So, we built the house and this house like all bedrooms has an attached bathroom and toilet seat. Nice yard in the back. So, we'd like to relax there.

Several gerontological scholars have noted that memory is an integral part of constructing identities (Hoods 2011; Jenkins 1996; Woodspring 2016). Indeed, many of our respondents described how their memories of embodied experiences in both cultural contexts shaped their later life identities. For instance, 64-year-old Hiral, while talking about her dietary preferences, shared that her preference for "Canadian" food over"Indian" food was influenced by racial prejudices that she had faced in public and professional spaces during her younger days. Hiral recounted how a racially, discriminatory public environment led her to feel pressured to learn English, acquire professional culinary skills, and take up work at a Canadian restaurant. She said that the fear of smothering her clothes with the smell of garlic and other spices with strong aroma(often used in Indian cooking), which at times, drew harsh comments and stigmatization(Goffman 1963)from-Indian Canadians, compelled her to change the dietary habits of her family to incorporate more(Canadian dishes. Her sartorial choices were also influenced by the practicalities of everyday life and included mostly "western" trousers and blouses. Though she enjoyed dressing up in colorful Indian traditional attire, she reserved those outfits for special, traditional occasions and celebrations.

Finally, clothes formed an important aspect of an attempt to fit in or belong in both Canada and India. The professional versus the casual (or traditional) divide was sharper for the older women. For instance, Preeti (56) had this to say:

I love wearing sarees... But there is no occasion to wear sarees often here. Plus, the weather...I wear pants and shirts, tops to work. You want to fit in right, you don't want to stick out. I find it more comfortable to wear at home...I wear Punjabi suits and sarees when I go to India.

Similarly, Sangeeta expressed a strong desire to fit in through appropriate dressing:

Occasionally I will dress up. But I am not like I have to look perfect. Like you will see my daughter, who is in journalism. For her, you know, she looks very often in the mirror and "How do I look, my hair and my.." No, I don't do that, but I do dress up. I wear my outfits for every occasion, whether it is Christmas or Halloween. For our Indian occasions, I wear nice sarees or Anarkalis or whatever dress, whatever I want to wear, whatever people are wearing there.

Taken together, expressions of identity are situational and contingent upon the shifting notions of home. Fitting into Canadian society was often achieved by a simultaneous (studied) masking of their ethnic identities. At the same time, demonstrating belongingness in their ethnic community was asserted through everyday practices and rituals such as donning traditional Indian garments and making yearly trips to the country.

Discussion

Building on the theories of embodiment, we have examined how our respondents described and experienced their transition into old age. In particular, we have analyzed how the meanings they attributed to aging and oldness reflected cultural norms that associated later life with a loss of physical and social vitality. While the participants equated youthful bodies with physical functionality and social worth, they defined old age in terms of physical decline, increasing dependence, and diminished social roles. At the same time, similar to previous studies that have found that growing old entails contradictory emotional reactions to bodily changes and social roles (Bennet et al. 2017; Gilleard and Higgs 2018; Laz 2003; Simpson 2016), many of the participants articulated conflicting feelings about their changing physical and social realities. On the one hand, the participants were accepting of the inevitability of age-related bodily changes and deals. On the other hand, they also conveyed annoyance, if not discontent, at their perceived inability to mitigate those changes. Like the older Korean immigrants in the United States in Tae-Ock Kauh's (1999)study, our participants too reported feeling both reliefs as well as a sense of rejection resulting from their altered familial and social roles. These paradoxes were embedded in a culturally contextualized and prescribed performance and construction of gender with associated norms and ideals concerning masculine and feminine bodies, comportment, and social roles. The women in our study interpreted their experience of growing old primarily in terms of bodily changes. In contrast, the men tended to emphasize how aging was undermining their economic and social power. While both male and female participants expressed some reluctance to accept these physical and social changes, all the participants had reprioritized the importance of their physical attributes; functionality often trumped appearance in later life(Bennett et al.2017; Jankowski et al.2014, Reboussin et al.2000)body.12

An ambivalent perception of the home was observed among the participants in our study. Most participants, though not always consciously, referred to both Canada and India (and often Africa while talking about their childhood), as home. Using Marco Antonsich's (2010) concept of belonging as the description of "the feeling of attachment to a symbolic space of familiarity and 'home.' Lena Nare uses belonging to refer to "the sense of being a part of and' fitting in' to a particular locale or place, which can refer to a neighborhood or to a community, or to a wider national entity"(2017, 628). Belonging not only is limited to feelings but also translates into ways of living and everyday practices such as food habits and sartorial choices (Bennett 2015; Nare2017). Although such duality or ambivalence in experiencing belongingness among diasporic younger adults has been well researched, not much has been explored among aging diasporas. What distinguishes the older diaspora in terms of their connection with their homeland is the increased opportunity and enticement for them to visit India post-retirement (especially during winters). These increased proximities to their homeland contribute significantly to the reshaping of their later life identities. Unsurprisingly, this push and pull of belonging and nostalgia were less likely to be incumbent on the age of the participants than the type of migration. Irrespective of their age, the participants who had migrated directly from India demonstrated a stronger pull towards their homeland than the twice removed and the second-generation migrants.

We found that most participants experienced a sense of duality in their everyday construction of self. We argue that the sense of selfhood (as seen in studies by Bauman and Raud 2015; Coupland and Gwyn 2003) is intricately related to the embodied experiences of aging among the participants. These embodied experiences, in turn, are contingent upon spaces (homes, culture) and temporality occupied simultaneously by the participants. To be sure, this duality in the embodied experience of aging, expressed by the participants in their ideas about the physical and social markers of age as well as with the fluid idea of home in later life, is reflected in their everyday beliefs and practices. For instance, as noted earlier, the ambivalence between accepting bodily markers of age and a will to resist aging is starkly evident in our study. Coupled with (a reluctant) acceptance of reduced energy, agility, and flexibility as well as the slowing down with advancing age, the participants also demonstrated a firm belief in an ability to delay aging or 'becoming old(defined often in terms of functional limitations of being able to do everyday chores and activities) by remaining physically active and continuing to do their own work."3 Such coexisting contradictions were also evident in the mixed emotions induced by the change in the roles and anticipated status in the family and the society at large. The relief perceived by transferring responsibilities to the younger members was also tainted with the accompanying loss of social worth (in the form of reduced respect and diminished participation in decision-making). These physiological and social changes in later life were accompanied by uncertainties and insecurities and required new coping mechanisms. A similar tension was evident in the participants' appreciation for the Canadian health care system, and, at the same time, the fear of the unavailability of social support for mobilizing health care facilities during a medical emergency. Finally, coping with the apprehensions of growing old in a cultural context that places a huge emphasis on individualism, the idea of aging well becomes automatically linked to a healthy body and (economic)independence. Most of our participants, irrespective of their ages, expressed apprehension about their increasing dependency on adult children due to loss of physical or cognitive functionality. Participants across all age groups, younger old (55 years-70years), as well as the older old (above 70 years),

expressed equal concern regarding loss of physical/cognitive function and increased dependence with age. Hence, it is not surprising that study participants noted the cultural importance of health management practices, even though they were not actively using such techniques. Apart from the fear of dependence, loneliness in later life emerged as a major concern among those growing old in the diaspora. Along with the physiologically limiting influences of age, the relatively smaller population of diasporic Gujaratis in the study region and the limited social interaction with people from outside the Gujarati community further increased the possibility of alienation and loneliness in later life. To combat loneliness and social isolation, the senior community associated with the Gujarati Society of British Columbia often found ways to get together and celebrate festivals to practice' both age and identity. Laz's (2003) contention that age and embodiment are both mutually constituted is illustrative of our participants' negotiations of the dualities of body and the experience and meanings of home.

Limitation

Certain caveats remain. Due to time constraints associated with the duration of the fellowship, a majority of the participants could not be interviewed multiple times which, we believe could have helped us to offer deeper insights into our participants' perceptions and experiences of identity, integration, and belonging. We were also unable to pay specific attention to the sociological differences in caste identities. While we are acutely aware of the heterogeneity in diets, lifestyles, everyday practices, and belief systems by caste affiliations, a careful investigation of those dimensions remained outside the scope of the current study. Moreover, due to the restricted nature of the sample recruitment (relying on the snowball method), all our study participants belonged to the middle class. This limited our ability to examine how age remains interlocked with other forms of social ordering such as social class. Despite these limitations, by focusing on a diasporic community and bringing to the fore the cultural construction of aging bodies and aging self, this study expands the scope of aging research. In the process, we have complicated the notion of"home'' among aging immigrants and have broadened the possibility of multi-sited gerontological inquiry around questions of the body, embodiment, and everyday subjectivities.

This article is extracted from Anthropology & Aging Vol 42 No 2 (2021) ISSN 2374-2267 (online) DOI 10.5195/aa.2021.304 http://anthro-age.pitt.edu