A common sight where we live in Chiang Mai: older men and women—likely in their eighties—bicycling around town, often laden with fresh produce and groceries.

More generally, physical activity is woven into work and daily life here, creating a rhythm that feels deeply expansive and vastly different from my experience in the U.S. and Canada.

While this is likely less common among the middle and upper classes in Thailand, in my neighborhood, people engage in intense physical activity well into elderhood. The result is remarkable strength and fitness—and, I imagine, a profound impact on both body and mind.