What Mind-Body Exercise Can Do for You
Along with wanting to look and feel good physically,
many of us want to increase our mental and spiritual
stability. Mind-body exercises combine awareness with
movement to enhance both physical fitness and mental
well-being.
Editor's Tip:
Choosing Your Workout “On-Demand” Helps You Stay Motivated
Whether you’re busy traveling with your career and frequently stuck in airports or hotels, or you’re a stay-at-home mom with many domestic responsibilities for your children, husband, and household, fitting in time for yourself and for working out and staying fit is not easy.
If there was a way to get organized workouts that you could either follow from online recommendations, or better yet, download to an MP3 player and fit in when your schedule allows. Today’s Internet technology allows you to workout exactly how you’d like to, and to do it whenever you want. Don’t worry about class schedules at the gym, you can still get proven workout routines delivered right to you online.
Download some great online video workouts or iPod workouts that go with you…
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In fact, the most ancient traditions all have a mental and
spiritual focus. Modern activities may also engage the mind
in different ways—helping us actually obtain better physical
results by our mental focus. Professional athletes use not
only videotapes to increase their prowess, but also
visualization techniques that help them achieve greater
athletic feats. We're talking about the mind-body connection
here: mind-body exercises come in a variety of styles.
What are your goals? Presumably you have a set of physical
goals you want to meet, either for fitness, increased
health, decreased pain or illness or weight loss. What are
your internal goals? Do you
want to feel more relaxed, more intensely focused? Do you want
to improve your balance, endurance or flexibility? Are you
worried about your posture; your musculature? Considering what
you want to get out of a new workout will help you make the best
choice.
Posture
One popular mind-body exercise focuses more on generating
awareness to change habitual behavior than it does on burning
calories. In the Alexander Method, teachers work with students
to improve the way they hold their bodies, the way they breathe
and sit and walk. People don't realize how important these
everyday, "natural" postures are, but your breathing, walking
and sitting can affect your health and well-being in dramatic
ways. If your body isn't properly aligned, it can affect your
breathing and the way your whole body uses oxygen. The Alexander
Technique helps people discover correct posture and replace old
habits that may have been getting the in way of healthy
movement—and stillness.
Balance, Smoothness and Calmness
Tai Chi and Chi Gung (or Qi Gong) are two ancient, movement
based, meditative techniques that originally came from China and
are practiced there by millions of people every day. They are
considered martial arts, and can be taken to a martial focus,
but most people use the exercises to enhance strength and
well-being. The focus is on learning a series of gentle
movements that gently stretch the body while also massaging the
internal organs and joints. Senior citizens and people with
joint disorders like arthritis find Tai Chi and Qi Gong help
ease the pain of their illness while providing strength and
balance to the muscles of the body. You learn a series of
movements which become a sequence to be practiced each time you
exercise. The movements are like a slow dance; very pleasant and
relaxing once you’ve learned them. Simply doing the movement
slows the mind, calms it and makes you feel happy and content.
Chances are you'll be feeling like you're onto something very
good.
Stretching and Balance
Yoga is the way to go if you want to increase your flexibility
and give your muscles and joints a good stretch. It's also great
for building strength and balance, since you hold poses for
longer and longer periods of time. It takes a lot of strength to
stand still, especially if you're standing on one leg! Yoga
includes standing postures but also postures done on a mat,
including shoulder and head stands. The added benefit of Yoga is
its emphasis on breathing. You'll learn when and how to breathe
to reap the maximum benefits of the exercise.
Core Strength
Pilates isn't a mind-body exercise in the meditative way that
Yoga and Tai Chi or Qi Gong are, but it does use your mind to
influence and improve your body. The Pilates' concept of the
core is important, as it teaches students to become aware of the
muscles of the torso. When you are aware of a particular muscle,
you can find ways to use it to greater advantage, so that even
thinking about how your core works can improve your physical
fitness. |
