Finding the Mind-Body Balance
Posted on May 15th, 2007 by garyPosted in Fitness
One of the hottest trends in the exercise industry is Mind-Body Fitness. Mind-Body exercises like yoga, tai chi and Pilates are practiced by about twenty-five million Americans. Classes are being offered not only at fitness centers but at hospitals, resorts, schools and senior homes.
More than half of fitness professionals are creating hybrid programs blending principles of yoga or Pilates with other forms of exercise. Free flowing movements are mixed with core exercises, yoga and Pilates with controlled breathing and music. This gives some people a sense of freedom-letting go of stress and tension.
Mind-Body exercises take you to a different place. They are a form of meditation, relaxation and spiritual growth. As in ancient days, exercise is not only used to burn calories it is also a way to harmonize and energize the mind, soul and body. It can restore balance into your life.
Research has shown mind-body exercises can improve balance, mental health, emotional well-being and reduce stress. These exercises power down the sympathetic nervous system and turn on the parasympathetic system which induces rest and relaxation. You a concentrating on movement with focused awareness which affects your heart rate and respiratory rate and increases your mind-body connection. Mind-body exercises include a few fundamental elements like deep breathing, precise form, and mindfulness.
Controlled deep breathing is an essential step to calm and focus ourselves that is used in all mind-body exercises. We become more aware of what is going on in our minds and bodies. Research has shown that slow, controlled breathing can calm our heart rates and nervous systems affecting out usually involuntary responses.
Breathing consciously, slowly and deeply creates a feeling of relaxation. Increasing the length of exhalation relative to inhalation tends to immediately shift us into parasympathetic mode. A person who is nervous might inhale for three seconds then exhale for six and feel calmer within a half a dozen breaths. This relaxation response has the heart rate slowing, muscles relaxing, blood pressure decreasing and metabolism shifts into its restorative mode. The relaxation response could be elicited from a variety of techniques with common elements: diaphragmatic breathing, repetition of a word, phrase, prayer or movement; and disregard of everyday distractions.
In Mind-Body exercises you are totally focused on the task at hand. You are mindful and exist only in the present tense. You focus on your breathing, body and movement. You can not think about the past or future. You must free your mind from other things. It is a discipline.
For those that can reach a Zen-like state, evidence shows that mediation is capable of brining about changes in the brain that science is just beginning to understand. A study was done by the University of Wisconsin which showed that long term mediators altered the activity and structure of their brains through intensive mediation. Electric sensors were placed on the heads of eight Buddhist practitioners who mediated for 10,000 to 50,000 hours over 15 to 40 years. For comparison, researchers also used a control group of 10 healthy college students who were lightly trained in mediation. The practiced mediators’ brain activity produced gamma rays far more powerful that the students and more powerful than virtually any ever seen in a healthy person.
This shows that mediation exercises can integrate the mind and body in a variety of beneficial ways. This kind of training can deepen your awareness and connection with the body. You can learn how to relax which is very important in our culture where we are always so stressed.
Mind-Body exercises emphasize precise coordinated movements. You have to focus on what you are doing. You are forced to slow down. These micro-movements are beneficial to the mind and body. Some movements improve proprioception which governs our sense of joint position and balance, as well as posture and efficiency of movement. Proprioceptors help to communicate information to the central nervous system about the body’s position in space.
Tai chi enhances coordination and balance and reduces the risk of falling. One study by the Emory University School of Medicine found 200 people age 70 and older who took a 15 week tai chi class reduced their risk of falling by 47.5 percent. The highly conscious, deliberate movements leaves people feeling more coordinated and in control of their bodies.
The core elements of mind-body exercise deep breathing, mindfulness and precise movements work together to create a synergetic effect. If you stick with a mind-body discipline it will get more effective over months, years and decades. Research and science have told us the benefits but most importantly we can feel the benefits. Mind-body exercises made us feel better and force us to relax and not stress.
For a long time the mind and body was seen as separate. Physical exercise strengthens the body. Mental exercises improved the mind. Now the two are slowly combining. Focusing and calming the mind can strengthen heal and transform the body in ways physical exercise can not. Mind-body exercises allow us to reduce stress and protect our health and sanity. The connection gives us permission to slow down.
Mind Body options include:
Tai Chi: Also called mediation in motion. It is a Chinese martial art discipline based on the tenets of Taoism. It emphasizes slow and deliberate movements; deep breathing, posture alignment and the integration of mind and body in complete focus.
Yoga: Yoga involves directing your attention and breath in a series of poses. It can be vigorous or gentle. It blends physical, mental and spiritual traditions that began in India.
Qigong: Qigong is a set of slow, fluid postures and movements performed while breathing from the diaphragm.
Pilates: Pilates is a whole-body conditioning program that is effective for developing the core muscles. The exercises emphasize breathing, form and posture and increase flexibility, strength and mobility.
Combination classes: A popular new trend is the mix of traditional mind-body exercises with other activities such as dance or aerobics.
Popularity: 6% [?]
