The Mind Body Connection And Exercise
Mind-Body Exercise
‘Mind–body exercise is a form of multicomponent exercise that combines movement sequences, breathing control, and attention regulation, which is different from traditional physical exercise. It is also referred to as movement-based contemplative practice, or mindful movement, which emphasizes moving mindfully, commonly including Tai Chi Chuan (TCC), Qigong, and Yoga. TCC is a form of mind–body exercise incorporating physical, cognitive, social, and meditative components. Qigong involves a set of relatively slow exercises through coordinated physical movements, breathing, and meditative state to cultivate one’s internal energy called “Qi” to achieve body healing, and Baduanjin (BDJ) is one of the most common forms of Qigong.
Yoga is believed to be an ancient mind–body exercise which focuses on the present moment, consisting of physical postures (asanas), control of breath (pranayama), and the use of meditation (dyana), and the most common form is Hatha yoga. Compared with aerobic or resistance exercise, mind–body exercises are relatively low in intensity and slow in pace, particularly suitable for the elderly and groups with chronic diseases’ source credit
We can clearly see there is a strong belief in the connection between the mind and body when it comes movement, however when it comes to more traditional exercise like running, lifting weights, swimming, football, walking etc… we tend to become less focused on the movement and more focused on the aim or goal of the movement.
When I attended my Personal Training course we focused very much on exercise physiology, anatomy, and coaching the client, when I left and entered the real world of training and coaching clients I decided to learn more of my trade by training with a few lifetime body-builders to understand things like nutrition, muscle adaptation and mind-muscle connection. Cutting my teeth here as a Personal Trainer really helped me to understand training and exercise mindset as well as learn and experience the mind-muscle connection which is what training for physical adaptation is all about. Mind-body exercise connection can therefore be extended beyond a simple well-being and movement practice to improve performance. But how does this work?
Improving Performance
Performance is about awareness this is across the board, in exercise specifically the more aware and ‘connected’ you feel to the movement and intensity of exercise being performed the more you can influence adaptation in the body, which is why body builders train in front of mirrors and will concentrate on the muscle they are using when lifting weights. It is then argued that having that extra layer of focus in training sessions helps increase desired muscle adaptations. This would be hard to prove scientifically to that extent.
Next time you go for a run, play a sport, train independently, join in a class, or even go for walk; focus on the movement you are performing, think about how it happens;
What muscles are being used?
How does it feel?
Would you like to change or improve something?
becoming mindful over your physical movement can lead you to all sorts of interesting and exciting places, so you can get joy from exercise and movement and get the added health benefit of that too.
I hope you enjoyed this article and took some useable knowledge from it to help you understand your biology and meet your needs in relation to your goals. Please leave a comment, press the heart button and share it to help more people take control of their health, well-being and fitness.
Samantha