Active meditation is a practice to improve the mind-body connection. The goal is to harmonize your breathing in coordination with your body movements to calm and quiet your mind. Any type of movement can be active meditation, but a combina- tion of yoga and Pilates provides the sensations in your body to achieve quiet. This can bring you into your body without the assumed idea of sitting quietly while releas- ing tension and all thoughts from your mind. Active meditation is slowing down with attention to your breath and attention to select movements and then silence. The primary requirement is becoming attuned to your slow, diaphragmatic breath. Feel where the breath is in your body before adding movement. A successful tech- nique is based on the mat Pilates stomach series with adaptations applicable for anyone. Lying supine in anatomical position with hands relaxed on a yoga mat lets you feel the diaphragmatic breath flow throughout your body. Relieve tension by taking the breath into any area where you feel stress. The breath sequence follows the principle that exhaling occurs with the closing of the body and inhaling with the extension as you feel yourself sinking deeper into the mat. Once this is achieved, a suggested progression is ten slow leg lifts with each leg. Exhale with leg flexion and inhale when returning to the beginning posi- tion. Feel the release of tightness in your leg muscles. Recover and progress with five bridges, staying attuned to the breathing. The third series is leg circles in both directions (ten with each leg) – exhale as leg lowers and turns outward and inhale into starting position. Optional additions progress to the double leg stretch and the single leg stretch. Turning to your side and maintaining correct alignment, perform ten lateral leg lifts, shift to the other side and repeat before turning prone and pausing to feel the release in your body. If tightness is still felt, heel kicks will relieve any tension still felt in your quadriceps. Coming to complete release uses the yoga pose of “legs up the wall.” Tension in the lower back can be relieved by putting a small towel under the hips. Let go completely of any tension and stay in the position as long as needed. Finish by releasing to a yoga happy baby pose followed by a lift into downward facing dog. Stand and feel the release of tension throughout the body. At this point, you can step into a Warrior II position, sinking deeper with each breath. End with full breaths – folding forward with the exhale and rising, circling arms overhead with inhale. Peace should follow and stress disappears. Practicing active meditation is rhythmic exercise that is effective in relieving stress and tension when performed mindfully. The rhythmic flow of your movements relaxes your mind and thus your body. Research has shown that active meditation leads to changes in the brain that trigger the body’s relaxation response and deac- tivates the fight or flight response. RESOURCES Email [email protected] for a listing of article resources. AUTHOR Mary Wykle is one of AEA’s amazing IAFTC 2023 Presenters. Find out more about Mary and the sessions she is offering Active Meditation By Mary Wykle, PhD AquaSpecial: Class Design for Special Pops By Flávia Yázigi, PhD The importance of exercise training periodization, class planning, and stimulus progression seems to be a common sense(1-5). This short arti- cle intends to go a little further, to give more tips to design successful classes. When it comes to special populations, the training periodiza- tion as well as each class design, from the goal’s definition to the planned strategies, are especially important. We need knowledge of the training methodology and to understand the exercise guidelines for the special condition(s). However, to offer a good aquatic exercise class requires additional skills: mastering the funda- mentals of aquatic exercise and basic aquatic skills (see your AEA manual), leadership abilities, empathy, pas- sion, and mainly, being a believer in the benefits of aquatic exercise. Regarding class design for special pop- ulations, start by listening and assess- ing your client, both in terms of health status and physical/functional level. It is also very important to acknowledge the goals that brought the individual to your class. This evaluation phase helps define the objectives for appropriate aquatic exercise. Make a list, marking those that are priority and those that are secondary. The next phase requires investment of your time to increase your knowledge and understanding, thus your comfort for working with the condition(s). In the last 20 years, many scientific studies have been published in the field of aquatic exercise validating exercise programs for special popu- lations in the context of aging, obe- sity, chronic pain, rheumatic disease, mental illness, cancer, among others (6-11). March / April / May 2023 | Akwa | 35
