"How To Apply Labyrinth: Walking the Path of the Heart"

Could this centuries-old meditation help you or your clients explore the body-mind connection?

On the messy road of life, it is often challenging to determine what your next step will be, what direction you will take, which way you will turn. Perhaps that is one reason why walking a labyrinth as a meditation is so appealing: the journey is clearly marked, unobstructed and in full view. Although it twists and winds its way to the center (you do have to pay attention if you don’t want to wander off), there are no tricks, wrong choices or dead ends. To reach your destination, all you have to do is follow the path.

A labyrinth was used as a meditation tool at the 2007 Inner IDEA^® Conference, and labyrinths can be found today in spas and retreat centers, churches, medical centers, schools, parks, hospitals, prisons, memorial gardens and people’s backyards. Typically, labyrinths used for meditation are based on patterns that date back thousands of years and have roots in many cultures and spiritual traditions, including those of the Celts, Mayans, Greeks and Native Americans. The labyrinth pattern is similar to the Medicine Wheel in Native American tradition and the Kabbalah in mystical Judaism.

The labyrinth commonly consists of a circular path that moves clockwise from the entrance to the center, traveling through all four quadrants. The same path is used to walk in and out of the labyrinth. The geometric structure for most labyrinths is designed to recreate archetypal patterns associated with numerous cultural and spiritual symbols: the four quadrants representing the four gospels or the four elements, seven circuits representing the seven chakras, eleven circuits plus the center representing the 12 months of the calendar, and so on. The most famous labyrinth pattern is the eleven-circuit medieval labyrinth found in Chartres Cathedral in France, inlaid into the stone floor in 1201. Labyrinths can be constructed elaborately and permanently or made quite simply, as with a portable canvas or with a dirt path marked by rocks or masking tape.

Regardless of the design or the materials used, the process of walking the labyrinth involves three phases: walking toward the center, the stage of releasing or letting go of thoughts or cares; reaching the center, the stage of receiving new insight or spiritual grace; and walking back out, the stage of union or of returning to the world with new awareness. The labyrinth can be walked individually or as a group (single-file), and is often done slowly, in silence or to soft music.

Where the Psyche Meets the Spirit

“You are taking a pilgrimage of sorts when you walk the labyrinth,” says Phyllis Pilgrim, director of body-mind-spirit and specialty week programs at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico, and presenter of the walking labyrinth meditation at Inner IDEA. “When you go on a pilgrimage, you walk to a sacred place, such as Lourdes or Mecca, in search of spiritual grace or enlightenment. The labyrinth is a metaphor for taking that journey—traveling to a destination of spiritual teaching and then going back home.”

In fact, labyrinths have a history of being used for pilgrimages, particularly during times when it was difficult or treacherous to reach sacred destinations. In the past, seekers even traveled labyrinths on their knees, praying continuously.

“I think of the labyrinth meditation as a journey of the heart,” says Pilgrim. “You walk a seemingly convoluted path that ends up at the middle, or the center of your heart, and then you want to be open to what it has to say to you. Hopefully, when you’re through, you’re perhaps a little bit more open to change, and a more peaceful, loving being.”

Pilgrim has been guiding labyrinth meditations for spa guests at Rancho La Puerta for more than a decade. In honor of the millennium in 2000, the destination spa installed a permanent labyrinth, sheltered in an oak grove. Till then, guests had used a canvas labyrinth designed by the Reverend Dr. Lauren Artress, known to many as the foremost name in labyrinth meditation practice.

Artress is founder and creative director of Veriditas, the World-Wide Labyrinth Project, and author of several books on labyrinth meditation (see “Resources” on page 83). She created the well- known labyrinth at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, modeled after the one at Chartres, and is responsible for much of the resurgence of labyrinth use around the world.

Says Artress, “The labyrinth is a spiritual tool that has many applications in various settings. It reduces stress, quiets the mind and opens the heart. It is a walking meditation, a path of prayer, and a blueprint where psyche meets spirit.” Artress teaches labyrinth workshops around the world, and her organization also offers training for labyrinth facilitators.

Pilgrim notes that the labyrinth experience is ideal for many types of people, regardless of their spiritual background or experience with body-mind practices. “It is very well received by most spa guests, though it is usually a completely new experience for them,” says Pilgrim. “They can do it as part of a guided group or on their own. It works really well because many guests don’t want to sit still for a meditation twice a day, but they like the idea of a walking meditation. This is a bit more of a ‘doing,’ rather than just an experience of being. For fitness professionals or their clients who are more comfortable being active than still, the labyrinth is a nice opportunity to meditate, or [to] make the transition to seated meditation.”

Experiencing the Labyrinth

Labyrinths are currently being used worldwide in a variety of ways: to seek spiritual guidance, to quiet the mind, to cope with problems or loss, to reduce stress or develop more balance, to ease transition, to increase creativity or simply to be self-reflective.

Pilgrim advises labyrinth walkers to clear their minds for the experience, have no expectations and just be open to their thoughts and feelings as they walk. “You make of it what you want,” she says. “People often describe the experience as very pleasant, calming and centering. There are many different approaches you can take. For example, you can think of something specific, like peace, at every step. Or you can write down or think of a question or problem and see what answers come as you walk. There does seem to be something powerful about walking back and forth in the concentric circles of the labyrinth, and there are a variety of theories about how it works. Some experts believe it activates both left and right sides of the brain.” (In fact, as Pilgrim points out, the labyrinth looks a little like a brain.)

The benefits of labyrinth walking have been explored in psychotherapy. In “Off the Couch: An Introduction to Labyrinths & Their Therapeutic Properties,” licensed clinical professional counselor and certified Veriditas facilitator Neal Harris, LCPC, DAPA, writes: “There is anecdotal research by a psychiatrist, Dr. Wayne London, which indicates that a labyrinth positively effects the brain wave activity and neurological responses of some of its users.” Adds Harris, “This research shows a short-term increase in mental clarity in some people with Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia and dyslexia, as well as greater mobility in some who are suffering with Parkinson’s disease. These effects, however, have not as yet been studied long-term” (Harris 1999).

Like Pilgrim, Harris notes that people who find it difficult to sit still and meditate or pray will find a perfect outlet in the moving contemplation that is the labyrinth experience. “It is both kinesthetic and introspective, a complete mind-body integrative activity,” he says.

Ultimately, the experience of walking a labyrinth is entirely individual, unpredictable and even a little mysterious. “What the labyrinth means for you or your clients is open,” says Pilgrim. “It’s nothing didactic. Each time you walk it, you discover something new. You experience the twists and turns of life in a new way, and you change consciousness. When you walk with a group, for example, you’ll find yourself face to face with someone for a moment, then you both turn in another direction, and you may meet again later on the path. That experience reminds me of my own life as I meet guests who come and go in my classes, just as people come and go in my life.”

Pilgrim adds that intention is an important part of the process. “You can walk a labyrinth carelessly, just as you can do anything in life carelessly. But if you walk with openness and mindfulness, you’ll learn and make discoveries from the experience. Your heart will teach you.”

Resources

www.geomancy.org/sacred-space/labyrinths/about-labyrinths/construction/index.html: instructions for building a labyrinth; information on sacred geometry, chakras and music as they relate to labyrinths

www.gracecathedral.org/labyrinth: Grace Cathedral labyrinths, online “finger meditation” labyrinth

www.labyrinthcompany.com: labyrinth purchase and rental

www.labyrinthsociety.org: labyrinth information, worldwide labyrinth locator

www.lessons4living.com/labyrinth.html: ways to use a labyrinth and other information

www.relax4life.com/articles.html: information on psychology and the labyrinth

www.veriditas.net: workshops with Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress, labyrinth facilitation training, worldwide labyrinth locator, products

Books

Artress, L. 1995. Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Tool. New York: Riverhead.

Artress, L. 2000. The Sand Labyrinth: Meditation at Your Fingertips. Boston: Journey Editions.

Artress, L. 2006. The Sacred Path Companion: A Guide to Walking the Labyrinth to Heal and Transform. New York: Riverhead.

Curry, H. 2000. The Way of the Labyrinth: A Powerful Meditation for Everyday Life. New York: Penguin.

West, M.G. 2000. Exploring the Labyrinth: A Guide for Healing and Spiritual Growth. New York: Broadway Books.

Sidebar: Tips for Using a Labyrinth

There is no right or wrong way to walk a labyrinth. The process is open to your creativity, and you or your clients may find that you respond to different methods at different times in your life. Here are a variety of ways to explore the possibilities of labyrinth meditation:

• Take some time to reflect before entering the labyrinth. You can concentrate on a specific topic or question or on a particular person, event or situation in your life. You can also develop a specific intention to use in your meditation, or just take time to relax and clear your mind as much as possible.
• Maintain awareness of your breath as you walk. Pay attention to your thoughts as they come, and then gently let them go.
• Consider walking barefoot, if safe and appropriate.
• Think of the journey of your own life as you walk, asking yourself what your labyrinth experience represents in your life.
• Pay attention to the experience of your senses as you walk. What are the sights, sounds and smells? What are the physical sensations of touch?
• Create individual or group rituals. For example, have one person wait at the center and let others greet that person and share a moment with him or her, one at a time, as they walk the path. Rituals can celebrate events, say good-bye to something or someone or commemorate experiences or emotions.
• Share your labyrinth experiences with others after you walk, through talking, writing or drawing.
• If you don’t have a labyrinth in your area, consider making your own. Instructions are available on a variety of labyrinth websites. See “Resources” on page 83.
• Whatever you experience, relax and enjoy it. Focus on the journey, not the destination.

Sidebar: Experience it Yourself

Want to find out what the experience of a labyrinth is like? Try the online “finger meditation” labyrinth exercise at www.gracecathedral.org. Of course, it’s not the same as actually walking a labyrinth. To find out if there is a labyrinth located in your area, see the labyrinth locater service at www.laby­rinthsociety.org.

References:

Mary Monroe

By, Natalie Pyles

Fitness & Nutrition Expert

"How To Use EFT For Weight Loss"

Almost every trainer can relate with the frustration of wanting their clients to lose weight. As you encourage and support your clients to the best of your ability, they can often infuriate you by saying they blew their nutrition over the last week and never made it to the gym.

When this happens, it is obvious that the problem does not lie in the exercise program or nutrition plan but in the mind of your client. The only solution for most personal trainers to this problem is to continue offering encouragement and hope the client makes that change.

Psychological Influences

Any change in life brings both positive and negative consequences. Even something such as winning $8 million on the lottery will bring some negatives (e.g., people befriending you for the money, publicity, etc). However, regardless of the negative aspects, not many people would turn down this if given the choice.

Losing weight is not as clear cut as choosing to win $8 million. For one, it is not luck but an effort that will allow a client to achieve his goal weight. The next major factor is that the benefits of not achieving your goal weight often far outweigh the benefits of achieving it.

Here are a few examples of the pros and cons of losing weight:

Positive Consequences	Negative Consequences
Feel good	People will judge you
Feel attractive	Unwanted attention
Regain confidence	Need to buy new clothes
More energy

It is the relative balance of the positive consequences versus the negatives consequences that determines how much “motivation” the client shows.

The Key to the Mind: Your Subconscious

The mind and how we think is very complicated, but it can be simplified to being comprised of the conscious and the subconscious. The conscious mind is the thoughts and things that come to your awareness. The subconscious mind is the activity of the brain you not aware of. It controls and processes all of the information you receive, and it runs the body.

For success in any endeavour, the subconscious mind must be in tune with your conscious desires. It is the role of the subconscious that will determine the outcome. If the conscious mind determined success, then any goal you said you wanted to achieve you would easily attain, provided you knew how. This is not the case.

The subconscious is where all your previous experiences and beliefs are held. These can be thought of as the writing on the wall of your mind. Whenever you try and act consciously, the subconscious first checks with the writing inside the mind to see that this is something you really want to do. For example, if you thought, “I am going to jump into that fire,” the subconscious would check with what it has written down in your mind about fire and influence your decision. This is obviously vital in this example, and the writing in your mind on this subject is fairly clear, “Fire burns, burns hurt... do not jump in.”

However, what happens when a more neutral thought occurs that has conflicting writing on the wall? For example, if you said, “I want to lose 10 pounds of fat,” the subconscious writing on the wall may read, “You need to do this, you'll feel great,” but at the same time, there may also be thoughts saying, “You cannot lose weight,” beliefs saying, “You will become unpopular among your friends at work” and memories saying, “Thin people are arrogant” and “You don’t deserve to be thin.” These would all conflict with the conscious, and ultimately, these thoughts, beliefs and memories would determine your behavior.

The Subconscious and Losing Weight

When someone is trying to lose weight, there are many factors influencing his goal. For the majority of people looking to lose weight, especially long term overweight people, you will find the subconscious has a number of reasons why it feels it is best for them to stay overweight.

These can be for all sorts of possible reasons, but they will mostly stem from events in the past. An example could be if the client has experienced a previous trauma with the opposite sex (e.g., divorce), they may protect themselves in the future by staying overweight. Sometimes people may be punishing themselves for something they did.

Another common factor is that people find an emotional comfort in foods, which causes them to gain weight. If this is the case, you will find they will struggle greatly when you take this food away, because you have taken away their emotional support. This equates to taking a smoker’s cigarette away.

Whatever the influence may be, and the list is almost endless, it is important for you to not guess at the cause but to help clients identify it for themselves, and then apply EFT and other strategies to resolve the problem.

Emotional Freedom Technique and Other Techniques

To develop the mind set, first identify possible blocks. From this point, the application of Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is the fastest way to removing these.

EFT is a branch of energy psychology, the fastest growing aspect of psychology today. It was discovered in 1980 when Dr. Roger Callaghan was treating his patient for an intense water phobia. She complained in the session of stomach pain, so he told her to tap under her eye as knew the energy meridian of the stomach ended there (from acupuncture theory). To his surprise, the lady’s fear of water disappeared.

From that point on, he began studying this phenomenon and went on to create a new branch of therapy called energy psychology. A student of Dr Callaghan, Gary Craig, a Stamford engineer, trained under him and then advanced the theory and made it accessible to all by creating EFT.

EFT is a system that involves tapping on certain acupuncture points with your fingers while tuning into specific negative thoughts. The system is based on the premise that “a disruption to the electrical patterns of the body is the cause of negative emotion,” so EFT works by realigning your electrical energy system associated with different thoughts by tapping on the point of the body used in acupuncture.

When your electrical pattern is disturbed, you could talk about an issue until you are blue in the face, and it will not resolve the problem. Similarly, this explains why sometimes illogical thoughts can prevent people from achieving their goals.

EFT can be used on any thoughts and memories from the past that still cause negative emotions when you think about it now. Using EFT, you can now remove the emotional charge on those thoughts. As well as using EFT for this, you can also apply it to present/future issues and emotional connections. When the mind is cleared of these blocks, your clients will be able to go on and lose weight.

The success of EFT is due in part to the startling results that can be achieved using the technique and also by the fact that the processes involve no pain or need to bring up any painful memories.

The Theory Behind EFT

The premise of the theory is summed up by its discovery statement: “The cause of all negative or unwanted emotion is a disruption to the body’s electrical energy system.” This is inherently different to the way traditional psychology would view emotions. They would see it as: distressing memory -> negative emotion.

EFT would say there is a vital intermediate step: distressing memory -> disrupted electrical energy system -> negative emotion.

To dissolve the negative emotion associated with the memory, you do not need to treat your memory but instead realign the energy in your body. In EFT, you are tapping on the meridian points on the body (see below). The meridian points are where an electrical pathway that runs through the body ends. Think of it like an electrical lead going from one part to the other. This can be easily imagined as if you bent your finger right now. To do this, an electrical signal is sent through your nerves from the brain to move your finger.

EFT and Losing Weight

To ensure the electrical system associated with the negative emotion/issue is being balanced, you will need to say certain statements before the tapping and during. To lose weight, your client must resolve the emotional blocks. Picture the problem of losing weight as a table top. The many blocks contributing to the problem can be thought of as the legs to this table. The tabletop may have many table legs underneath, which represent different emotional contributors. The idea of EFT is to collapse the emotional issues, or the table legs, to the point where there are not enough to support the table. In other words, if you collapse enough emotional issues under your problem, you will resolve it.

Some of the table legs are thicker than others and thus more important to resolving the issue. Sometimes there may be just two or three legs, and sometimes you may need to break down more than 20.

Many of the table legs to a problem are previous memories of events that happened to you. These show up in your behavior today by influencing your thought processes. These may be rational or irrational thoughts. Being scared of a tiny spider that couldn’t hurt you is a very real fear to many people, but it is also irrational. Your previous memories (table legs) can also be irrational and will affect you today.

An irrational thought is in your mind because there is a disturbed electricity field associated with it. Therefore, you must use EFT to resolve the issue as it will likely not respond very well to conscious rationale because the cause of the problem is in the electrical pattern within the body.

One of the great benefits of EFT is that it can be done on your own, and clients can often make great progress from just a few minutes a day.

Once the negative blocks are removed, you can include techniques that develop the positive aspects of success. This includes using visualization techniques, positive self talk/language and activating the Law of Attraction. Please note these techniques will be useless unless the negative blocks have been broken down first. Only when this is done will clients be able to successfully overcome them.

Using EFT with Clients

Trainers who are interested in ensuring their clients get results should look to visit the referenced articles and websites below. This will allow you to broaden your knowledge about the topics covered. It is highly recommended to download the free EFT manual by Gary Craig.

For immediate use with your clients, ask them the questions below. They are designed to get clients thinking about their current situation and their thought patterns. They are not intended to solve their problems or unearth specific table legs but simply to get them thinking. Please refer all of your clients to a suitably trained professional for any sort of treatment or therapy.

1. When did you gain your excess weight, and what was going on in your life at that time?
2. What is the downside of achieving your goal weight?
3. What s the upside of staying where you are?
4. Why are you struggling to achieve your goal? Why are you letting this stop you?

References:

1. Callaghan, Roger. PhD. Originator of Thought Field Therapy, http://www.thoughtfieldtherapy.com
2. Craig, Gary. Emotional Freedom Technique, DVD. www.emofree.com
3. Craig, Gary. Emotional Freedom Technique: The Palace of Possibilities, DVD.
4. Craig, Gary. Emotional Freedom Technique: Theory of Past Memories Influence Upon Current Day Goals, DVD. www.emofree.com
5. Ben Wilson
   

* Many of the concept discussed come from Neuro Linguistic programming (NLP) principles. Please see relevant NLP sites including those of the original creators John Grindler http://www.johngrinder.com and Dr Roger Bandler http://www.richardbandler.com

By, Natalie Pyles Fitness & Nutrition Expert, Author, Speaker

Speed Eating And Fat Loss: Diet Advice Your Mom Was right About All Along

A new study just published in a recent issue of the journal Obesity has revealed that thin people eat very differently than heavy people at all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants.

Researcher Brian Wansink and his team from the Cornell University Food and Brand Laboratory observed diners at 11 different Chinese buffet restaurants across the United States.

Their goal was to find out whether the eating behaviors of people at all-you-can-eat buffets varied based on their body mass.

Trained observers recorded the height, weight, gender, age, and behavior of 213 patrons. The various seating, serving and eating behaviors were then compared across BMI levels.

The heavier (higher BMI) patrons:

* ate more quickly * chewed more per bite of food * used forks * sat facing the food buffet

The thin (lower BMI) patrons:

* ate more slowly * chewed less food per bite * used chopsticks * sat facing away from the food buffet

This study confirms earlier research from the University of Rhode Island published in the journal of the American Dietetic Association which found that eating slowly leads to decreases in energy intake.

Scientists even have a name for this now:

"TIME-ENERGY DISPLACEMENT"

Time Energy Displacement means that the more time you take to eat, the less energy (calories) you are likely to consume. The faster you eat, the more energy (calories) you're likely to consume.

But wait, there's even more! A study from the University of Alabama looked at satiety (how full a food makes you feel), energy density (calories per unit of volume) and eating time of various foods. To maximize the effects of Time-Energy Displacement, it was found even more advantageous to choose foods that FORCE you to ingest calories more slowly.

This includes choosing more:

* Foods that have a high satiety factor such as high fiber and high water foods (so you feel fuller more quickly) * Foods with a high "chew factor" (so you can't eat them fast if you tried; you have to chew them thoroughly) * Foods with a low energy density such as high fiber vegetables and lean protein (so you'd get tired of eating before you took in a lot of calories).

These results also confirm all the studies that have been advising us not to drink our calories. Liquid calories, especially soft drinks and desert coffees are two of the biggest sources of excess calories in the typical American's diet.

The problem: calories in liquid form can have a very high caloric density and can be consumed very quickly. Liquid calories also do not activate the satiety mechanism in your brain and gastrointestinal tract the way solid food does.

"Don't inhale your food" used to be an admonishment about proper eating etiquette you heard from your mom. It is now scientifically-proven fat loss advice.

By, Natalie Pyles

Fitness & Nutrition Epert, Author, & Speaker

References: Tom Venuto

"Fitness, Nutrition, And Wellness Secrets Revealed"

Okay, Maybe they're not secrets - but they are keys to health and fitness Success.
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1. The Secrete To Making A Simple Committment To Your Exercise, Eating, And Esteem Program


The big companies taking your money want you to believe that a pill, fad diet or special machine will solve all your weight loss and fitness problems. The real "secret" is quite simple and I'll boil it down for you right here: eat 4 or 5 small healthy meals per day and perform a combination of aerobic and resistance training exercise for 40 to 60 minutes at least 3 times per week. Take out your calendar right now and mark off three days each week for the next 12 weeks when you will commit to exercise. Then do it. Your consistent commitment will bring you the results you want. If you don't really know what a healthy meal is, then get my FREE REPORT. I'll show you what a healthy meal is and coach you on how to get started. If you need assistance with your program, call me immediately for your initial consultation.

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4. The BIGGEST secret Of All: Accountability.

In a recent study at Virginia Polytechnic University, researchers divided people starting a walking program into two groups. Every week, each individual in one group got a phone call asking how the exercise program was coming along; the other group was not called. At the end of 24 weeks, 45% of the individuals who got phone calls were still walking compared to just 2% who did not receive calls. The results show that weekly accountability increases the likelihood of sticking to your exercise program by 2200%!

That's it. What you've just read is possibly some of the most valuable information on how to lose weight and get fit. And having the RIGHT information is critical. But understanding what should be done, and actually doing it, are two very different things.

Think of all of the time you spend at your job, or taking care of your children or your household. Think then of carving out a piece of time for yourself. Is it too much to ask of yourself to set aside 5 or 6 hours per week to improve and protect the most important thing you have - your health?

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"Tips On How To Apply The Mind-Body Medicine: A Balanced Approach"

Inner IDEA: Dr. Herbert Benson and colleagues talk about the Relaxation Response and the current role of mind-body techniques in wellness and medical care.

“My goal has always been to promote a healthy balance between self-care approaches and more traditional approaches—medical and surgical inter­ventions that can be magnificent and lifesaving when appropriate. However, self-care is immensely powerful in its own right. The elicitation of the Relaxation Response, stress management, regular exercise, good nutrition, and the power of belief all have a tremendous role to play in our healing.”

—Herbert Benson, MD
The Relaxation Response

Herbert Benson, the doctor who defined the Relaxation Response, is hailed as a visionary, a pioneer, a dedicated cardiologist who has devoted much of his nearly 40-year career to the fields of behavioral medicine and mind-body studies. Director emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine (BHI) at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School’s Mind/Body Medical Institute, he continues to teach and lead cutting-edge research on ways to counteract the harmful effects of stress. Dr. Benson recently agreed to an interview with IDEA Fitness Journal.

Seeds of Change

Benson’s own journey establishing the mind-body connection began, as he recalls, “in the middle 1960s, when I noticed that people’s blood pressures were higher during visits to my office than at other times and wondered whether stress wasn’t causing that rise. Stress wasn’t on the radar then, so I began investigating a connection between stress and hypertension.” To this end, he returned to physiology research at Harvard to develop a model for stress-induced hypertension using biofeedback technology with monkeys.

On hearing of Dr. Benson’s work on stress and hypertension with animals, a group of Transcendental Meditation (TM) practitioners met with him, stating that they could lower their blood pressure simply by meditating. After what he terms “considerable hesitation,” he agreed to study them. “I collaborated with Robert Keith Wallace of the University of California, Irvine, who was performing similar experiments.” After compiling the data, he and Wallace found that “with meditation alone, the TM practitioners brought about striking physiologic changes—a drop in heart rate, metabolic rate and breathing rate—that I would subsequently label ‘the Relaxation Response.’” [Drs. Wallace and Archie F. Wilson simultaneously conducted similar studies with TM practitioners in California. Later, Wallace joined Dr. Benson at Harvard, where they continued their collaboration.]

Coincidentally, it was in the very room where Benson studied the TM adherents that 60 years earlier Harvard physiologist Walter B. Cannon discovered the “fight-or-flight” response, also known as the stress response. Human beings developed this primitive physiologic response as a mechanism for surviving stressful situations. As Benson explains, “Our bodies release hormones—adrenaline and noradrenaline, or epinephrine and norepinephrine—to increase heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, metabolic rate and blood flow to the muscles, gearing our bodies either to do battle with an opponent or to flee.” Benson’s own research showed that the polar opposite was also true: “The body is imbued with what I termed the Relaxation Response, an inducible, physiologic state of quietude.” Teaching people why that quietude is important and how to induce it has been a major focus of Dr. Benson’s work ever since.

“The world is so fast-paced, and it is excitatory,” says Benson. “People think they need more and more excitement to shut their minds off. But, in truth, it is just the opposite. They have to find periods of quietude to rejuvenate, to rebuild their resiliency. People are undergoing changes in the way they think, . . . cognitive restructuring, because they are always looking for [something] new and exciting.” What they really need is to find a balance in their lives, he says, and one of the most effective means of doing that is by incorporating the Relaxation Response into their daily activities.

It has to be something they do daily, he explains, to have “its long-term effects, to have the physical changes in the body—such as brain thickening, such as changes in metabolism. . . . It is what people used to do. Think of our parents or grandparents—they used to pray regularly or they used to do routine exercise. This has left our modern world.”

For instructions on Dr. Benson’s method of relaxation, see the sidebar “How to Elicit the Relaxation Response.”

Integrative Health Care: The Three-Legged Stool

When Dr. Benson founded the Mind/Body Medical Institute in 1988 at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, his goal was to enhance traditional medical approaches, such as pharmaceuticals and surgery, by cultivating people’s natural capacity to heal. The BHI (at Massachusetts General) opened on December 1, 2006, an important next step that Benson’s colleagues say provides huge growth potential, especially for cutting-edge research in behavioral medicine. The institute’s current literature describes it as a nonprofit scientific and educational organization dedicated to research, teaching and the clinical application of mind-body medicine and its integration into all areas of health. The “Henry” in the name is John Henry, principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and a member of the BHI’s board of trustees.

Benson likens his ideal model for optimal health care to a “three-legged stool.” This model provides a means of achieving better, more balanced care for the patient, he believes. One leg of the stool represents pharmaceuticals; a second represents surgery and procedures; and the third is self-care, the strategies the patient uses to enhance his or her natural capacity to heal.

“Health and well-being is an end-point,” he says, “and to achieve that, most people believe that drugs and surgeries are necessary steps, but there has to be a third leg to that stool, and that is self-care. Self-care is so important because 60%–90% of visits to doctors are related to stress and [are] poorly treated, if treated at all, by drugs or surgeries. So you need that self-care leg, and within self-care you obviously have the Relaxation Response, nutrition, exercise and socialization, and we also have belief and spirituality. What we have to do is learn to respect [self-care’s] importance and then integrate pharmaceuticals, surgery and self-care together.” Benson firmly believes that self-care “is a vital next step” in our current medical environment.

An important key to adequate health and well-being, Benson emphasizes, is integration. “There is no substitute for good surgery, there is no substitute for appropriate drugs, and there is no substitute for helping yourself help yourself. They work together. This is a vital point because it would be inappropriate and inaccurate to believe there is a one-legged stool, where self-care was all you needed.”

Could the self-care approach save the patient and the medical system money? “Oh, without question,” Benson says. “Why should you be spending for drugs that you don’t need or surgeries that you don’t need? But you need a doctor making that decision. I mean it would be tragic if one believed only in self-care and gave up, for example, penicillin that could save your life.”

For patients’ views on how BHI programs are applying the principles of integration, see the sidebar “A Sustainable ‘Whole-Life’ Approach.”

Stress and Resilience

In Benson’s view, understanding stress is a critical element in self-care and mind-body medicine—and a necessary step in learning to appreciate the healing capacities of the Relaxation Response. He defines stress as “any situation that requires behavioral adjustment, whether it is good or bad. A marriage is stressful; so is a divorce. In other words, [stress] is anything to which you have to adjust, and sometimes those changes to which you have to adjust are life-threatening: to avoid an accident, to avoid an attack by another; sometimes they’re worries about your health, your family’s health, worries about your financial situation, which means an adjustment. They all require behavioral adjustment.”

Nurse practitioner Peg Baim, MS, is the clinical director of the Center for Training in Mind/Body Medicine and a researcher at the BHI. As part of Harvard Medical School’s department of continuing education, she teaches classes and seminars with Dr. Benson on the science of stress and how self-care strategies work. Baim says, “If you think about the stress system, it’s the physiology within the body that gets recruited to bring it back into balance whenever it has been challenged. So, if we are too cold, or hungry, or if we are experiencing anxiety or sadness, all of that is going to change the body in such a way as to activate the stress system, which then works harder to get the body back into the narrow parameters of health.”

Baim explains that we have an intricate network of communications “within our hormones, our neuropeptides, and within ourselves.” (Neuropeptides—some of which are endorphins—influence neural activity or functioning.) She describes the communication network as a delicate system of checks and balances that, if taxed too much, depending on our biology, our inherited features and our environmental vulnerabilities, “becomes ‘disregulated,’ and we lose those extremely delicate feedback loops and start expressing illnesses or symptoms.” Allostatic systems allow our bodies to remain healthy by their capacity for change and adaptation; they include parts of the nervous system that control heartbeat, blood pressure and similar functions, as well as glands that collaborate to produce hormonal responses. The wear and tear that results from chronic overactivity or underactivity of allostatic systems, says Baim, is called our allostatic load.

On the other hand, she notes that allostasis is the equivalent of resilience. Resilience, Baim clarifies, “is adaptation through change. That’s really what our body is doing; our body is constantly adapting. We’re adapting to our signals of hunger, low blood sugar, inactivity, or to an individual’s anger, or to being cut off in traffic. When we adapt successfully and we can still stay within the narrow parameters of health, that’s referred to as allostasis or resilience.”

To support resilience, Baim says, people need recuperative sleep, stress man­agement in terms of cognitive re­struc­turing, stress management in terms of methods that elicit the Relaxation Response, a healthy diet, physical activity and social support. She says the Relaxation Response fits into the health equation because “you can’t be psychologically activating the stress system when you are in the Relaxation Response. So it is as if you can’t be hot and cold at the same time.”

When you practice the Relaxation Response, according to Baim, you are actually activating the areas of the brain that have been positively conditioned, rather than those that have been negatively conditioned. “You tend to feel compassion, forgiveness and oneness as opposed to the stress response, where you feel hatred, resentment and [separation]. It is as if we have two different brains.” She says people can elicit the Relaxation Response, using a variety of serviceable techniques, including contemplation, imagery and mindfulness (see the sidebar “How to Elicit the Relaxation Response”).

Baim thinks that many people have lost the positive behaviors that promote resilience, leaving them vulnerable to their negatively conditioned habits and beliefs. The result is chronic activation of the stress response: “It is amazing to me how easily people get angry, how quickly people become impatient; you see, people are really living off their last nerve. The more you live in this stress response, the more you are depleting your serotonin, your dopamine. There is less activation of the cells that secrete serotonin, dopamine and your endogenous opiates, and so it doesn’t feel good to be alive. I think it is very telling that we have an epidemic of depression in school-age children in the United States, for example; that’s a scandal.”

At the BHI, therapeutic cognitive restructuring techniques [changing the way we think and perceive a given event] are taught to assist people in beginning to think positively again. Therapists suggest that the best way to do this is first to identify thoughts and beliefs that are irrational and self-defeating; next to learn about new ways of thinking; and finally to practice them until they become second nature.

The Role of Exercise in Allostasis

Exercise, Baim says, has always played a major role in bolstering the resilience we need to keep stress in check. “Exercise is in and of itself an antioxidant, and stress is an oxidant. Stress is wearing and tearing the body down with more inflammatory molecules, and exercise is actually allowing the body to release molecules that will deactivate that inflammation.”

Jim Huddleston, MS, physical therapist, exercise physiologist and researcher at the BHI, says the idea is for people to find their own balance in the realms of exercise, diet, relaxation and dealing with life stresses. “It is about trying to develop a good homeostasis and balance. That’s why I like yoga, tai chi and Pilates so much; they really help you physically, emotionally and spiritually get better balance. Applying the Relaxation Response to exercise also brings you to that better balance. There is always some new inherent learning experience in a mindful exercise practice.

“The Eastern traditions have that inherent mindfulness built in,” he says, “but you can do it with aerobic exercise, with resistance training; as long as you have the mindset, you can do it with any type of exercise. I like adding that other mindfulness element because [it makes exercise] about total health rather than just fitness, because you are involving the whole body in the process.”

Huddleston notes that there are two criteria for eliciting the Relaxation Response during exercise: focus and an open attitude. These can be accomplished by paying attention to either the breath or the cadence of the activity. “If walking, [people] can focus on the cadence, and if they need to make that more concrete and objective, they can count their steps,” says Huddleston. “People can develop a mantra that they say over and over to themselves in the rhythm of the breath and the rhythm of their walk. This can be accomplished with a standard four-beat count or, if their mind tends to wander, a three-beat count, which puts them off a bit—as long as they have something on which to focus their awareness, so they are not caught up in the extra thinking that we always do, either in the past or in the future. That tends to get us into problems.

“The other criterion, open attitude,” he adds, “is about the experience they are having—not being judgmental or critical or setting certain expectations for themselves about the experience. It is observing what happens with the experience.”

Partnering for Prevention

An integral member of the BHI’s Cardiac Wellness and Lighten Up: Weight Management programs, Huddleston reiterates Dr. Benson’s belief in integration as the foundation for their philosophy. “It is really about helping the [patients] become more responsible for themselves,” he says.

He believes that the healthcare habits people develop can help them maximize their potential. Raising their awareness of what’s healthy and what’s not is a theme that underlies all the BHI programs. “When [people] are more aware, they have more control, and when they have more control, they can make better choices,” he says. Huddleston adds that the medical system needs to “move more into a preventative mode and out of the reactive mode. It is not a healthcare system; it is a sick-care system. We need to concentrate more on being a healthcare system and encourage people to be more responsible for taking care of themselves.”

Asked whether mind-body medicine is presently an equal, fully respected partner in Western medicine, Dr. Benson responds: “No, but it is on the table, and many people are accepting it as an important feature within the medical profession. We are now part of Mas­sachusetts General [the oldest and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School], and that shows where [the BHI] should be based—within a medical establishment. Mass General is world-class with respect to its surgery and with respect to its pharmaceuticals. This institution has now recognized that they want to be experts in self-care.”

For four decades Dr. Benson has stayed true to his goal of changing our concept of health and well-being, using evidence-based medicine. “I’m emeritus director, but I am still working,” he says. “It’s a title. I still put in a full day, and I am delighted with the way things are evolving.” Harvard Medical School has honored his many contributions with the establishment of the Herbert Benson Professorship in Medicine, which will be activated upon his retirement.

SIDEBAR: How to Elicit the Relaxation Response

Two basic components are involved in eliciting the relaxation response:

1. repeating a word, sound, phrase, prayer or muscular activity
2. passively disregarding everyday thoughts that inevitably come to mind and returning to your repetition

The actual steps necessary to evoke the response are as follows:

1. Pick a focus word, sound, short phrase or prayer that is firmly rooted in your belief system.
2. Sit quietly in a comfortable position.
3. Close your eyes.
4. Relax your muscles, progressing from your feet to your calves, thighs, abdomen, shoulders, head and neck.
5. Breathe slowly and naturally, and as you do, say your focus word, sound, phrase or prayer silently to yourself as you exhale.
6. Assume a passive attitude. Don’t worry about how well you are doing. When other thoughts come to mind, simply say to yourself, “Oh well,” and gently return to your repetition.
7. Continue for 10–20 minutes.
8. Do not stand immediately. Continue sitting quietly for a minute or so, allowing other thoughts to return. Then open your eyes and sit for another minute before rising.
9. Practice the technique once or twice daily. Good times to do so are before breakfast and before dinner.

Techniques to Elicit the Relaxation Response

diaphragmatic breathing

meditation

body scan

mindfulness

repetitive exercise

repetitive prayer

progressive muscle relaxation

imagery

Permission to reprint these instructions was granted by Dr. Herbert Benson.

SIDEBAR: A Sustainable “Whole-Life” Approach

A graduate of the BHI’s Lighten Up: Weight Management program, Mary Hardy weighed more than 200 pounds and suffered from some major life stresses when she started at the institute. She believes the program provided her with a sustainable “whole-life” approach. “There was no ‘cookie cutter’ prescription. They didn’t have answers. Instead they modeled the process of personal exploration and seated it in the most up-to-date research in nutrition, exercise and stress reduction,” she says.

Now in her mid-50s and perimenopausal, Hardy says she feels better than she did in her 30s. Her blood pressure and cholesterol are now normal. She is well rested, has lost 60 pounds and says, “I am doing things I haven’t done in years—like hiking, snow shoeing, distance swimming and biking. [BHI] helped me tap into what had personal meaning and frame it in a healthy way of living.”

Mary Hadley, a 50-year-old who completed the BHI’s 13-week Cardiac Wellness program as an outpatient and still attends bimonthly sessions, is also definitive in her praise of the institute’s methods: “That program is lifesaving. It completely changed my quality of life, absolutely 100%. It taught me a new way to think.”

Hadley—who suffers from heart disease, has had two surgeries for chronic back pain and has two children with medical problems—was bedridden when she found the BHI with the assistance of her physician. She says the institute not only helped her manage her pain but got her moving again: “I started on the treadmill for only 3 seconds with my cane and kept working my way up. Now I can go on the treadmill for 30 minutes without help and without my cane. Believe me, it was a painfully slow process.”

Reflecting on her experience, Hadley affirms, “It is an integrative program, a holistic approach; the chronic pain, the cardiac problems and the anxiety are all considered just as important. You’re a person with all kinds of issues, and they are there to help you with each one.”

SIDEBAR: Resources

• Benson, H. 1979. The Mind/Body Effect. New York: Simon and Schuster.
• Benson, H., with Klipper, M.Z. 2000. The Relaxation Response. Updated and expanded edition. New York, HarperCollins.
• Benson, H., & Proctor, W. 2003. The Breakout Principle: How to Activate the Natural Trigger That Maximizes Creativity, Athletic Performance, Productivity, and Personal Well-Being. New York: Scribner.
• Benson, H., with Proctor, W. 1984. Beyond the Relaxation Response. New York: Times Books.
• Benson, H., with Stark, M. 1996. Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief. New York: Scribner.
• Benson, H., & Stuart, E.M. (with the staff of the Mind/Body Medical Institute). 1992. The Wellness Book: The Comprehensive Guide to Main­taining Health and Treating Stress-Related Illness. New York: Citadel.
• Casey, A., & Benson, H. 2005. The Harvard Medical School Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Casey, A., & Benson, H., with MacDonald, A. 2004. Mind Your Heart: A Mind/Body Approach to Stress Management, Exercise, and Nutrition for Heart Health. New York: Free Press.

Reference: Rosalind Gray Davis

By, Natalie Pyles

Fitness Expert, Nutritionist, Wellness Coach, Lifestyle Consultant, Author, Speaker

Recipe Of The Week/ Natalie Pyles/ 10/26/08

Just in time for the holidays! A healthy, low-fat treat to enjoy with the whole family.

Pumpkin Custard

Ingredients: • 2 cups canned pumpkin • 3 egg whites • 12 ounces evaporated, non-fat milk • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves • 2/3 cup Splenda or sugar Instructions: 1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. 2) Whisk all of the ingredients together in a large bowl and pour into a greased, 1-quart baking dish. 3) Bake for 15 minutes. Then turn the temperature down to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and continue baking for 40 to 50 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Makes 9 servings Enjoy! Natalie Pyles Fitness & Nutrition Expert

"Why You Should Follow Traits Of Successful Dieters"

Food for Thought:

According to researchers from The Miriam Hospital and Brown University, those clients of yours who manage to lose pounds and maintain a healthy weight have a lot in common with each other. This has proven to be true for both myself and my clients through out the years.

At a meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine held in March in San Diego, researchers distinguished “long-term weight loss maintainers” from the “treatment-seeking obese.” Those who shed the most pounds had these five traits in common:

* self-monitoring

* high-intensity physical activity

* lowered fat intake

* scant amount of time spent watching television

* fewer meals eaten in restaurants

Enjoy!

Your Friend in Health & Fitness,

Natalie Pyles

"How To Slow Down Aging With Interval Training"

Slow Down Aging With Interval Training
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The key to keeping strong and healthy as you age lies inside your fitness shoes....

As we age, our hearts beat more slowly and pump less blood. Our lung capacity also decreases. These changes result in decreased maximal oxygen consumption, which causes less oxygen to reach muscles. Oxygen is the life fuel for muscles; without it, they simply cannot work. The decrease in muscle oxygen consumption is one of the main reasons why we slow down, grow weak and lose stamina as we age. Without speed, strength and stamina, we cannot do the basic activities of daily living that allow us to enjoy life, maintain health and remain independent. Maximal oxygen consumption peaks at age 35 and begins to decrease between 50 and 60 years of age, with the greatest decrements occurring after 60 (Tanaka & Seals 2008).

All of us will age. However, recent research shows that regular aerobic exercise can decrease biological age by 10 years or more (Shephard 2008). One of the ways aerobic exercise decreases biological age is by improving mitochondria function (den Hoed et al. 2008). Mitochondria in cells are organelles that are responsible for energy production. They transform energy into a chemical form that the cells can use. Cells can produce more energy when mitochondria are efficient. To illustrate this principle, consider when a person gets cut and new skin grows to cover the wound. A wound that heals quickly is an indicator of good health, just as a wound that heals slowly or not at all is an indicator of poor health or disease. The same principle can be applied across all cells: where mitochondria function is enhanced, the corporeal cells turn over, regenerate (where applicable) and function at a higher level for a longer period of time. Furthermore, activity level correlates with improved mitochondria function. The harder a person exercises, the greater are the mitochondrial changes, leading to a bigger reduction in biological age over the life span.

Interval training is one of the most effective ways to exercise at a high enough intensity to significantly increase oxygen demands and ultimately slow aging (Wright & Perricelli 2008). (See this issue’s Research column—“Yes, Resistance Training Can Reverse the Aging Process” by Len Kravitz, PhD—for more on this topic.) Intense exercise is defined as “going all out.” Interval training consists of short bursts of going all out followed by brief periods of active recovery. In contrast to steady rate training, defined as exercising at a steady heart rate, interval training allows us to exercise briefly at a high intensity in order to force the body to adapt in ways that slow aging. Typically, high-ntensity exercise is associated with high-impact exercise, like jogging, rope jumping or high-impact aerobics. But high-impact exercise is associated with musculoskeletal injury. So the dilemma for fitness professionals is how to exercise clients at a high enough intensity to slow aging, yet do so safely and within each client’s limitations. One study addressed this dilemma by looking at the risk of injury during fast versus incline treadmill walking. Results showed that injury risk was associated with fast walking (speed), not incline or overall exercise intensity (Carrol et al. 1992).

Incorporating Interval Training

The key to incorporating interval training into workouts is to manipulate a few simple variables that fitness professionals work with every day. Here are the variables:

Speed. Increasing speed, or the velocity of movement, is an obvious way to boost intensity. However, speed can cause injury and should be used to increase exercise intensity only with conditioned clients who are free from musculoskeletal injuries.

Incline. Adding incline, along with resistance, is an alternative way to increase intensity on most cardiovascular equipment. A change in incline changes the mechanics of movement by incorporating additional muscles or increasing output, both of which increase how hard the heart works and what the maximal oxygen consumption is.

Resistance. The greater the resistance, the harder the muscles work to move the bones. This variable can be manipulated by increasing resistance on cardiovascular machines or by incorporating load, which is added weight. For example, a squat without weight is unloaded; in a squat with dumbbells, the load is the weight that the dumbbells add. The greater the load, the harder the muscles work and the more demand there is for oxygen.

Relationship to Gravity. One of the most effective ways to train is to use body weight against gravity; for instance, by incorporating jump push-ups or squats into a workout.

Range of Motion (ROM). A muscle works harder with a full- versus a small- ROM movement. For example, given the same weight, a biceps curl is much more difficult when it is done through full ROM than when it stops halfway at 90 degrees of flexion. Another example is step climbing; it is much more difficult to climb three steps per stride than it is to climb one step, and much harder to step up 12 inches versus 6 inches. At the greater height, the leg ROM is fuller, requiring more muscle work and forcing the heart to work harder.

Impact. Impact is most commonly associated with sustained, high-impact activities like jogging, but plyometrics (explosive movements such as hopping and jumping) are effective for adding impact moves in a nonsustained manner. Including a plyometrics component can increase the intensity of almost any exercise. However, incorporating plyometric moves calls for the same care that is needed when speeding up an exercise.

Lower Alternating With Upper. A simple way to increase intensity and then recover is to alternate a lower-body exercise like a lunge with an upper-body exercise like a dumbbell shoulder press. This strategy is particularly effective for deconditioned clients. The lower-body exercise increases the heart rate, while the upper-body work allows a brief recovery.

The best way to interval train is to keep it simple by changing one variable at a time; for example, increasing resistance on the elliptical trainer and maintaining speed, or increasing incline on the treadmill and maintaining speed. The key to remember is that it makes no difference to the body which variable changes. All that matters is that the muscles work harder, oxygen demand increases, the heart rate goes up and thereby aging slows.

The big issue with interval training is how long to spend in the all-out phase versus the recovery phase. All-out efforts cannot be maintained for long; how long each all-out interval can be maintained depends on intensity and heart rate. The goal should be to sustain high-intensity exercise for 30 seconds to 1 minute. “High-intensity” is anything that makes the heart work at 85% of maximum or higher. However, 85% may not be feasible for all clients, and you may need to modify intensity levels. The recovery time is proportional to the intensity and the length of the all-out phase. For example, 1 minute at 85% should require 2–3 minutes of recovery. Sticking to the exact time increments is not nearly as important as simply incorporating short bursts of high-intensity exercise in training sessions.

Factors to Consider

Age and Weight

Aging is associated with many changes in the body. Particularly relevant to fitness professionals are the mechanical factors that change with age and influence how intensely a person can safely exercise. Age-related musculoskeletal changes include decreases in muscle mass, joint cartilage, bone mineral density (BMD), and elasticity of tendons and ligaments. All persons over 40 show some sign of degenerative joint disease (National Council for Physical Activity & Disability). This is due to cartilage deterioration with age and normal wear and tear. The severity of joint disease varies from person to person, based on lifestyle and genetic factors. Notably, being overweight contributes greatly to joint disease because there is greater total force and stress acting on joints during exercise.

Since physical activity itself contributes to joint deterioration, another factor to consider is the total force acting on joints during different types of exercises. For example, a common popular treadmill allows exercisers to walk downhill (on a decline). It is attractive to users because a decline makes the exercise easy to do at higher speeds, but this ability comes at the expense of the knees. Loading the knees on a decline should be avoided, as this can exacerbate knee joint deterioration. When designing interval exercise programs, it’s important to bear age and weight in mind and, when appropriate, to use equipment like seated cardiovascular machines and exercises that minimize joint stress.

Gender

According to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, two of the most significant industry changes between 1987 and 2005 were the growth in the population of members over 55, and the fact that by 2005, women accounted for 57% of all members. These data indicate that a significant portion of personal fitness clients will be women over 55. This population is the most susceptible to injury from high-impact activities, given the general loss in BMD associated with aging. With this in mind, it’s critical to know the health history of clients, and to choose an interval training program that is congruent with their joint and bone health.

Motor Coordination and Balance

Typically, to increase the intensity of an exercise, the movement will become more difficult, requiring total body coordination, greater core work and better balance. To illustrate this point, think about the difference between exercising on the step climber while leaning on the handles versus doing the same workout hands-free. The exercise is more difficult without support because maintaining the step pattern requires coordination, core strength and balance. Also, if a client has a problem walking on a treadmill without touching the front or side rails, it won’t work to increase the speed or incline; instead he can move to a recumbent or standard bike or a seated elliptical machine to safely increase intensity.

Regular, high-intensity exercise can slow aging by more than a decade. Interval training is the easiest and most effective way to incorporate high-intensity exercise into any exercise program. The key is to choose exercises that use large muscles, are done in a way that is biomechanically correct and will get the heart pumping to increase maximal oxygen consumption.

SIDEBAR: Tips to Guide Your Clients’ Interval Workouts

Use correct biomechanics to increase exercise intensity. For example, jogging on the toes is biomechanically incorrect and displaces force from the largest muscles of the body (quadriceps, hamstrings) to the toes. The same is true if clients lean forward on the elliptical machine. By standing up straight they use the large gluteal muscles.

Use basic, simple movements to decrease learning time and reduce the like­lihood of incorrect biomechanics.

Use gross movements like step climbing to work the largest muscles, which consume the most oxygen.

Use compound movements for your intermediate and advanced clients; for example, combine a lunge with a biceps curl or a squat with an overhead press.

Use the building blocks principle. To illustrate this principle, start with a stationary lunge, then move to a walking lunge, and from there add dumbbells or even plyometric drills to escalate the level of difficulty.

By,

Natalie Pyles

Fitness & Nutritional Expert, Author, Speaker

References:

Amy Ashmore PhD

"How You Can Manage Your Stress with Eastern Arts"

"How You Can Manage Your Stress with Eastern Arts"

If you haven’t noticed by now, stress is everywhere. The way your clients perform and respond to your exercise programs will depend on their ability to cope with stress.

In my own personal research, I have found that many of the top strength and conditioning facilities are monitoring stress levels of their athletes through adrenal stress tests. This is actually a very simple process, and the information gathered with this test is the cornerstone of any strength and conditioning program. Typically, the results of such tests are given in a graph as well as hard numbers that correspond to statistical norms. These are always nice to have for a couple of reasons: they will dispel any doubts your client may have, and you will be able to easily monitor success.

The only real way to monitor stress levels is through a 24-hour saliva test. In this test, the subject submits saliva into a vial at specific times of the day. Usually, the subject is required to make this submission four or more times a day with each submission in its own vial. The test is designed to measure hormone levels in the saliva at various times in the day (for more, see my article on circadian rhythms, under "related articles" at right). A great web site for locating laboratories that do saliva testing and a list of doctors familiar with the test is www.adrenalfatigue.org. It is best to get help with these clients at first.

Once you have successfully identified your client's stress response cycle, you are now ready to help them heal themselves. This is where holistic knowledge of stress management is essential, in the forms of Qigong, Tai Chi and yoga.

Qigong

Pronounced “chee-gung,” Qigong is a 3,000 year old system of self-healing developed by the Chinese. It is a gentle exercise that combines breathing, movement, posture and mental energy in a process designed to balance and unify the body, mind and spirit. Qigong is based on “Chi” or lifeforce/internal energy. “Qi” naturally flows throughout the human body, and it is this idea that lifeforce flows through the entire body that is the cornerstone of Chinese medicine, martial arts, acupuncture and medicine. “Gong” is loosely translated as “work” or “effort.” By channeling this energy, it may be used for stress management or virtually anything else for that manner. There are millions of people worldwide who practice Qigong who serve as empirical evidence for its power.

The Chinese practice Qigong daily to help a variety of diseases including but not exclusive to chronic pain, diabetes, cancer and high blood pressure. Furthermore, possibly the most important aspect of Qigong is that it involves the whole person unlike Western medicine, which typically treats only the disease. After one case study involving a man with multiple maladies, all of which were improved after an intensive Qigong workshop, the investigators concluded that the simultaneous recovery from so many conditions and symptoms could not be explained by known medical theory.

According to the Chinese, good health stems from well-balanced qi that flows freely. When qi is not in harmony, physical and mental disease results. Qigong uses the mind, breath and movement to restore the flow of qi to a healthy balance. The focus of Qigong is improving one’s ability to access, use and move qi throughout the body. There are thousands of Qigong exercises, and different exercises may focus on certain body parts or achieve a specific purpose.

Qigong can be learned through books and videos or from a teacher. In the beginning, it is recommended to find a qualified Qigong instructor. There are no national standards for Qigong instructors, so do your research. Learn about your (potential) instructor’s background. Is he or she a member of any national or international Qigong organizations? Has he or she trained with a well known Qigong master? How established is the practice of the instructor?

A typical Qigong class might start with a gentle warm up, followed by Qigong exercises. The Qigong exercises consist of movements, breathing techniques and visualization techniques, ending with deep relaxation.

Tai Chi

Tai Chi (Chuan) is a very similar form of exercise with many similar benefits. It is generally considered to be less simple and less specific than Qigong. Tai Chi is a series of movements that are either performed slowly for health and healing or quickly for self defense. The Chinese characters for Tai Chi Chuan can be translated as the "Supreme Ultimate Force." The notion of "supreme ultimate" is often associated with the Chinese concept of ying-yang, the notion that one can see a dynamic duality (male/female, active/passive, dark/light, forceful/yielding, etc.) in all things. "Force" (or more literally, "fist") can be thought of here as the means or way of achieving this yin-yang, or "supreme ultimate" discipline.

Tai Chi, as it is practiced in the West today, can perhaps best be thought of as a moving form of yoga and meditation combined. There are a number of so called forms (sometimes also called "sets") that consist of a sequence of movements. Many of these movements are originally derived from the martial arts (and perhaps even more ancestrally than that, from the natural movements of animals and birds), although the way they are performed in Tai Chi is slowly, softly and gracefully with smooth and even transitions between them.

For many practitioners, the focus in doing them is not, first and foremost, martial but as a meditative exercise for the body. For others, the combat aspects of Tai Chi are of considerable interest. In Chinese philosophy and medicine, there exists the concept of "chi," a vital force that animates the body. One of the avowed aims of Tai Chi is to foster the circulation of this "chi" within the body. The belief is that by doing so, the health and vitality of the person are enhanced. This "chi" circulates in patterns that are closely related to the nervous and vascular system and thus the notion is closely connected with that of the practice of acupuncture and other oriental healing arts.

Another aim of Tai Chi is to foster a calm and tranquil mind, focused on the precise execution of these exercises. Learning to do them correctly provides a practical avenue for learning about such things as balance, alignment, fine scale motor control, rhythm of movement, the genesis of movement from the body's vital center and so on. Thus, the practice of Tai Chi can in some measure contribute to being able to better stand, walk, move, run, etc. in other spheres of life as well. Many practitioners notice benefits in terms of correcting poor postural, alignment or movement patterns that may contribute to tension or injury. Furthermore, the meditative nature of the exercises is intrinsically calming and relaxing.

Because the Tai Chi movements have their origins in the martial arts, practicing them does have some martial applications. In a two person exercise called "push hands," Tai Chi principles are developed in terms of being sensitive to and responsive of another person's "chi" or vital energy. It is also an opportunity to employ some of the martial aspects of Tai Chi in a kind of slow-tempo combat. Long time practitioners of Tai Chi who are so inclined can become very adept at martial arts. The emphasis in Tai Chi is on being able to channel potentially destructive energy (in the form of a kick or a punch) away from one in a manner that will dissipate the energy or send it in a direction where it is no longer a danger.

Tai Chi also has a long connection with the I Ching a Chinese system of divination, particularly among Eastern practitioners. There are associations between the eight basic I Ching trigrams plus the five elements of Chinese alchemy (metal, wood, fire, water and earth) with the 13 basic postures of Tai Chi created by Chang San-feng. There are also other associations with the full 64 trigrams of the I Ching and other movements in the Tai Chi form.

Yoga

Yoga is the oldest system of personal development in the world encompassing the entire body. By definition, yoga is a means of joining. It is the union between a person’s own consciousness and the universal consciousness. Yoga combines breathing, meditation and exercise as a means to unify the mind and body.

Breath control is used to improve health, and the exercise is designed to control the glandular system. Once the mind is properly prepared by exercise and breath, it is ready for meditation. The achievement of a quiet mind is essential for freedom of stress and able body. Yoga is composed of five principles, and there are six branches. The principles are relaxation, exercise, breathing, nutrition and meditation. The six branches of Yoga, Hatha, Bhakti, Raja, Jnana, Karma and Tantra. For all purposes, these branches and principles should not be looked at as mutually exclusive as each has an important role in this entire process. This process is really quite simple. Consider your client, the stressed out office employee. With yoga, his first step is to become relaxed. Because stress is positively correlated to disease, relaxation must be the first step in restoring energy. Breathing exercises (pranayama) and meditation/visualization are cornerstones to relaxation. What follows next are the Asanas or postures of yoga. These are designed to help balance the mind and body by multiple processes.

First, they increase blood flow. Second, the postures are designed to apply pressure on organs and glands, creating a massage effect. Finally, the breathing and visualization assist in energy direction. Furthermore, by assisting in and maintaining proper spinal range of motion, nerve supply to the body is optimized.

Behavior Modification

From the aforementioned strategies of stress and lifestyle management, many of the practices in Western society were born. At any major bookseller, one can find a plethora of self help books discussing various protocols for stress reduction and management. Typically, this is a three step process. Each step has many components, but the foundation remains. These steps are: Change your thinking, change your behavior and change your lifestyle. They do not need to be followed in that particular order. In fact, I have personally seen many clients not be able to change their thinking until they changed their behavior. Sometimes, the cart has to go in front of the horse, but for simplicity, I will discuss each in the presented order.

For an individual to change his thinking, typically a lot of repetitive work is involved. Eastern philosophers of yoga certainly recognized this in their methods of meditation. Now Western therapists use the same techniques. Learning a new way of thinking is akin to any learning experience. Practice, practice, practice. Your clients have to tell themselves how they want to think over and over again. If they want to be relaxed when they are stressed, then they need to tell themselves that they are relaxed, and they need to visualize their own relaxation.

An important notation is something I learned from Paul Chek: “Only perfect practice makes perfect.” Make sure when your clients are practicing thought process modification, they do not allow themselves to get distracted. Distraction allows the cleansing waters to become muddy. One technique to remedy this is to visualize and speak out loud (your client may want to do this in private!). If your client becomes distracted, then his speech will be altered. It is almost impossible to think about one thing and talk about another.

Behavior modification is easier than thought management in that the evidence as such is, well, evident. Either your client has changed or he has not. However, the process can be very difficult. Ask any smoker who is trying to quit. It’s easy to tell, though, the smoker who is successful in his efforts to quit: he doesn’t smoke anymore.

There are five categories to behavior modification: be assertive, time management/organization, ventilation, humor and diversion/distraction. When your client is beginning a behavior modification process, the first stem is to recognize that he is responsible for his behavior. One has to know how he got into a mess to get out of a mess. If your client accepts the responsibility of the problematic behavior, he then has the power to change the behavior. Be warned, however, that this is a very, very difficult process for most people. I strongly suggest you get help from a qualified, licensed therapist with this.

Finally, there is lifestyle management. In many ways, lifestyle management is a hybrid of thinking and behavior modification. It also most closely mirrors the philosophies outlined in Qigong, Tai Chi and yoga. For example, when your client begins eating according to his metabolic type and drinking adequate amounts of water, life will likely become more manageable.

Some final words on stress management and its associated strategies: don’t let your clients let their strategies become sources of stress. More than once, I have had to explain to a client that these are guidelines for when they became stressed because they, for instance, woke up late and could not meditate one morning. Also, you as the hired fitness professional need to walk the walk. If you are not a testament to your own teachings, your clients will see the insincerity in your eyes and failure is certain. Be able to show them how well your theories work!

By,

Natalie Pyles


Fitness & Nutritional Expert

References:

1. Chen KW and Turner FD. A case study of simultaneous recovery from multiple physical symptoms with medical qigong therapy. J Altern Compliment Med. 2004 Feb; 10(1): 159-62.
2. www.qigong-alliance.org
3. www.abc-of-yoga.com
4. www.holistic-online.com
5. www.healthexcel.com



If you haven’t noticed by now, stress is everywhere. The way your clients perform and respond to your exercise programs will depend on their ability to cope with stress.

In my own personal research, I have found that many of the top strength and conditioning facilities are monitoring stress levels of their athletes through adrenal stress tests. This is actually a very simple process, and the information gathered with this test is the cornerstone of any strength and conditioning program. Typically, the results of such tests are given in a graph as well as hard numbers that correspond to statistical norms. These are always nice to have for a couple of reasons: they will dispel any doubts your client may have, and you will be able to easily monitor success.

The only real way to monitor stress levels is through a 24-hour saliva test. In this test, the subject submits saliva into a vial at specific times of the day. Usually, the subject is required to make this submission four or more times a day with each submission in its own vial. The test is designed to measure hormone levels in the saliva at various times in the day (for more, see my article on circadian rhythms, under "related articles" at right). A great web site for locating laboratories that do saliva testing and a list of doctors familiar with the test is www.adrenalfatigue.org. It is best to get help with these clients at first.

Once you have successfully identified your client's stress response cycle, you are now ready to help them heal themselves. This is where holistic knowledge of stress management is essential, in the forms of Qigong, Tai Chi and yoga.

Qigong

Pronounced “chee-gung,” Qigong is a 3,000 year old system of self-healing developed by the Chinese. It is a gentle exercise that combines breathing, movement, posture and mental energy in a process designed to balance and unify the body, mind and spirit. Qigong is based on “Chi” or lifeforce/internal energy. “Qi” naturally flows throughout the human body, and it is this idea that lifeforce flows through the entire body that is the cornerstone of Chinese medicine, martial arts, acupuncture and medicine. “Gong” is loosely translated as “work” or “effort.” By channeling this energy, it may be used for stress management or virtually anything else for that manner. There are millions of people worldwide who practice Qigong who serve as empirical evidence for its power.

The Chinese practice Qigong daily to help a variety of diseases including but not exclusive to chronic pain, diabetes, cancer and high blood pressure. Furthermore, possibly the most important aspect of Qigong is that it involves the whole person unlike Western medicine, which typically treats only the disease. After one case study involving a man with multiple maladies, all of which were improved after an intensive Qigong workshop, the investigators concluded that the simultaneous recovery from so many conditions and symptoms could not be explained by known medical theory.

According to the Chinese, good health stems from well-balanced qi that flows freely. When qi is not in harmony, physical and mental disease results. Qigong uses the mind, breath and movement to restore the flow of qi to a healthy balance. The focus of Qigong is improving one’s ability to access, use and move qi throughout the body. There are thousands of Qigong exercises, and different exercises may focus on certain body parts or achieve a specific purpose.

Qigong can be learned through books and videos or from a teacher. In the beginning, it is recommended to find a qualified Qigong instructor. There are no national standards for Qigong instructors, so do your research. Learn about your (potential) instructor’s background. Is he or she a member of any national or international Qigong organizations? Has he or she trained with a well known Qigong master? How established is the practice of the instructor?

A typical Qigong class might start with a gentle warm up, followed by Qigong exercises. The Qigong exercises consist of movements, breathing techniques and visualization techniques, ending with deep relaxation.

Tai Chi

Tai Chi (Chuan) is a very similar form of exercise with many similar benefits. It is generally considered to be less simple and less specific than Qigong. Tai Chi is a series of movements that are either performed slowly for health and healing or quickly for self defense. The Chinese characters for Tai Chi Chuan can be translated as the "Supreme Ultimate Force." The notion of "supreme ultimate" is often associated with the Chinese concept of ying-yang, the notion that one can see a dynamic duality (male/female, active/passive, dark/light, forceful/yielding, etc.) in all things. "Force" (or more literally, "fist") can be thought of here as the means or way of achieving this yin-yang, or "supreme ultimate" discipline.

Tai Chi, as it is practiced in the West today, can perhaps best be thought of as a moving form of yoga and meditation combined. There are a number of so called forms (sometimes also called "sets") that consist of a sequence of movements. Many of these movements are originally derived from the martial arts (and perhaps even more ancestrally than that, from the natural movements of animals and birds), although the way they are performed in Tai Chi is slowly, softly and gracefully with smooth and even transitions between them.

For many practitioners, the focus in doing them is not, first and foremost, martial but as a meditative exercise for the body. For others, the combat aspects of Tai Chi are of considerable interest. In Chinese philosophy and medicine, there exists the concept of "chi," a vital force that animates the body. One of the avowed aims of Tai Chi is to foster the circulation of this "chi" within the body. The belief is that by doing so, the health and vitality of the person are enhanced. This "chi" circulates in patterns that are closely related to the nervous and vascular system and thus the notion is closely connected with that of the practice of acupuncture and other oriental healing arts.

Another aim of Tai Chi is to foster a calm and tranquil mind, focused on the precise execution of these exercises. Learning to do them correctly provides a practical avenue for learning about such things as balance, alignment, fine scale motor control, rhythm of movement, the genesis of movement from the body's vital center and so on. Thus, the practice of Tai Chi can in some measure contribute to being able to better stand, walk, move, run, etc. in other spheres of life as well. Many practitioners notice benefits in terms of correcting poor postural, alignment or movement patterns that may contribute to tension or injury. Furthermore, the meditative nature of the exercises is intrinsically calming and relaxing.

Because the Tai Chi movements have their origins in the martial arts, practicing them does have some martial applications. In a two person exercise called "push hands," Tai Chi principles are developed in terms of being sensitive to and responsive of another person's "chi" or vital energy. It is also an opportunity to employ some of the martial aspects of Tai Chi in a kind of slow-tempo combat. Long time practitioners of Tai Chi who are so inclined can become very adept at martial arts. The emphasis in Tai Chi is on being able to channel potentially destructive energy (in the form of a kick or a punch) away from one in a manner that will dissipate the energy or send it in a direction where it is no longer a danger.

Tai Chi also has a long connection with the I Ching a Chinese system of divination, particularly among Eastern practitioners. There are associations between the eight basic I Ching trigrams plus the five elements of Chinese alchemy (metal, wood, fire, water and earth) with the 13 basic postures of Tai Chi created by Chang San-feng. There are also other associations with the full 64 trigrams of the I Ching and other movements in the Tai Chi form.

Yoga

Yoga is the oldest system of personal development in the world encompassing the entire body. By definition, yoga is a means of joining. It is the union between a person’s own consciousness and the universal consciousness. Yoga combines breathing, meditation and exercise as a means to unify the mind and body.

Breath control is used to improve health, and the exercise is designed to control the glandular system. Once the mind is properly prepared by exercise and breath, it is ready for meditation. The achievement of a quiet mind is essential for freedom of stress and able body. Yoga is composed of five principles, and there are six branches. The principles are relaxation, exercise, breathing, nutrition and meditation. The six branches of Yoga, Hatha, Bhakti, Raja, Jnana, Karma and Tantra. For all purposes, these branches and principles should not be looked at as mutually exclusive as each has an important role in this entire process. This process is really quite simple. Consider your client, the stressed out office employee. With yoga, his first step is to become relaxed. Because stress is positively correlated to disease, relaxation must be the first step in restoring energy. Breathing exercises (pranayama) and meditation/visualization are cornerstones to relaxation. What follows next are the Asanas or postures of yoga. These are designed to help balance the mind and body by multiple processes.

First, they increase blood flow. Second, the postures are designed to apply pressure on organs and glands, creating a massage effect. Finally, the breathing and visualization assist in energy direction. Furthermore, by assisting in and maintaining proper spinal range of motion, nerve supply to the body is optimized.

Behavior Modification

From the aforementioned strategies of stress and lifestyle management, many of the practices in Western society were born. At any major bookseller, one can find a plethora of self help books discussing various protocols for stress reduction and management. Typically, this is a three step process. Each step has many components, but the foundation remains. These steps are: Change your thinking, change your behavior and change your lifestyle. They do not need to be followed in that particular order. In fact, I have personally seen many clients not be able to change their thinking until they changed their behavior. Sometimes, the cart has to go in front of the horse, but for simplicity, I will discuss each in the presented order.

For an individual to change his thinking, typically a lot of repetitive work is involved. Eastern philosophers of yoga certainly recognized this in their methods of meditation. Now Western therapists use the same techniques. Learning a new way of thinking is akin to any learning experience. Practice, practice, practice. Your clients have to tell themselves how they want to think over and over again. If they want to be relaxed when they are stressed, then they need to tell themselves that they are relaxed, and they need to visualize their own relaxation.

An important notation is something I learned from Paul Chek: “Only perfect practice makes perfect.” Make sure when your clients are practicing thought process modification, they do not allow themselves to get distracted. Distraction allows the cleansing waters to become muddy. One technique to remedy this is to visualize and speak out loud (your client may want to do this in private!). If your client becomes distracted, then his speech will be altered. It is almost impossible to think about one thing and talk about another.

Behavior modification is easier than thought management in that the evidence as such is, well, evident. Either your client has changed or he has not. However, the process can be very difficult. Ask any smoker who is trying to quit. It’s easy to tell, though, the smoker who is successful in his efforts to quit: he doesn’t smoke anymore.

There are five categories to behavior modification: be assertive, time management/organization, ventilation, humor and diversion/distraction. When your client is beginning a behavior modification process, the first stem is to recognize that he is responsible for his behavior. One has to know how he got into a mess to get out of a mess. If your client accepts the responsibility of the problematic behavior, he then has the power to change the behavior. Be warned, however, that this is a very, very difficult process for most people. I strongly suggest you get help from a qualified, licensed therapist with this.

Finally, there is lifestyle management. In many ways, lifestyle management is a hybrid of thinking and behavior modification. It also most closely mirrors the philosophies outlined in Qigong, Tai Chi and yoga. For example, when your client begins eating according to his metabolic type and drinking adequate amounts of water, life will likely become more manageable.

Some final words on stress management and its associated strategies: don’t let your clients let their strategies become sources of stress. More than once, I have had to explain to a client that these are guidelines for when they became stressed because they, for instance, woke up late and could not meditate one morning. Also, you as the hired fitness professional need to walk the walk. If you are not a testament to your own teachings, your clients will see the insincerity in your eyes and failure is certain. Be able to show them how well your theories work!

By,

Natalie Pyles


Fitness & Nutritional Expert

References:

1. Chen KW and Turner FD. A case study of simultaneous recovery from multiple physical symptoms with medical qigong therapy. J Altern Compliment Med. 2004 Feb; 10(1): 159-62.
2. www.qigong-alliance.org
3. www.abc-of-yoga.com
4. www.holistic-online.com
5. www.healthexcel.com