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Nothing Softer than the Water!
(What Mind-Body Hydro Classes Can Do for You)
Published in: The AKWA Letter Magazine June-July 2000: 10-11.

“Feel your body being surrounded by warm water, and feel your heart slowly beat as you feel the waves caress your body.”  Before drawing the conclusion that those words describe the final relaxation section of a land-based yoga class, where the participants are scattered across the floor on yoga sticky mats in a darkened studio, you may be surprised to know that they actually come from the final moments of a HydroYo-Chi class that takes place daily in an outside pool at the Golden Door Spa in Puerto Rico.  “Instead of visualizing that they are warm, and surrounded by water,” begins Manuel Velázquez, one of their lead instructors, “what could be more advantageous to the relaxational and muscular experience than the fact that they actually are surrounded by water!”

The emergence of mind-body venues into our varied aqua environments is quickly attracting attention.  Stronger than ever in our Western fitness market as we change centuries are Pilates, yogic postures, T’ai Chi, Qigong, Alexander techniques, Feldenkrais methods, Neuromuscular Integrative Action, and even “old fashioned” exercises now executed on an inflated ball.  Not only are these mind-body approaches to fitness drawing people into classes in throngs, but in their own way, they also hold varied benefits to those who instruct and take water-based classes.

For the instructor of aqua classes, beginning to incorporate some of the mind-body techniques into the water environment as appropriate will increase his/her marketability. More people flock to aqua classes when they realize that they’re not missing out on something more vigorous, more cutting edge, more intense, somewhere else on land.  Imagine the success they will feel when they find that the most diversified and thrilling mind-body experiences can be had right in the water!  To be sure, not every aqua instructor begins as an experienced yogi on the very first day, but the instructor who begins to incorporate even the simplest of yoga postures in a cool-down portion of an otherwise more typical aqua aerobics class will observe instantly the dramatic change it produces in both the general mood of the class and in the state of mind of its participants.  The mood quickly changes from one of intense work to one of relaxation, control, and centered-ness.

To the participant of water mind-body classes, the benefits are many.  The disciplines of martial arts T’ai Chi and Hatha yoga provide a plethora of benefits to the water exerciser.  The “Ai Chi” classes (Tai Chi adapted for the water) that we see growing on some schedules around the planet serve as proof that more and more are discovering the mind-body benefits applied to the aqua environment.  (For the purposes of this article, “Ai Chi” will be addressed as its original form with the title “Tai Chi.”)  1998’s Medi Sci Sport’s findings on Tai Chi and seniors concluded that Tai Chi increases aerobic capacity of its senior participants, a shocking breakthrough in the research of the benefits of gentle, “softer” forms of fitness.  To those unconvinced of the water environment as it pertains to soft fitness, the argument stands: if slow, graceful Tai Chi can produce measured aerobic fitness benefits in individuals on land, the limits provided by the water resistance environment can only be that much greater!  Once possible, T’ai Chi itself in the water provides balance betterment, awareness of breathing, visualization directly conducive to on-the-spot relaxation, lower body strength development, range-of-motion betterment with the advantage of water resistance and buoyancy not available to land practitioners of the art, and contractual differentiation. 

This last discipline, “contractual differentiation,” is unique to fitness forms newer to the West such as Tai Chi and yoga.  It refers to the ability to initiate primary movers while isolating and perhaps even preventing synergists and other assisting muscle groups from engaging.  For example, having all participants raise arms overhead, out of the water, obviously engages shoulder flexion.  What usually also accompanies the movement, however, is scapular elevation with the upper, type one fibers of the trapezius.  Consciously asking participants to engage in scapular depression (!) while simultaneously engaging in shoulder flexion causes an awareness in the differentiation between these two muscle groups and all of the bones involved.  The benefits are not only self-awareness and better body control, but also a wider range of different muscle fibers recruited, a concentration on specific deltoid joint action, and the ability to isolate simultaneous muscular contractions, which in the aforementioned example are scapular depression and shoulder flexion.

Hatha yoga’s benefits are similar to those coming from Tai Chi, but to the list is added isotonic muscular engagement, a technique that more traditional personal trainers are beginning to rediscover.  To be sure, because water depth and temperature are the most important environmental variables needed, not all water atmospheres will be conducive to some mind-body classes.  Because Tai Chi is based on consistent movement, thermal regulation poses less of a problem.  Since yoga concentrates many times on stasis and form, however, unless the water temperature is above 83°, yoga may pose no benefit.  While it is extremely difficult to maintain balance and achieve stillness in chest-deep water, this challenge may be appropriate for some populations.  Once adequate water temperature is maintained, then the musculoskeletal benefits usually associated with yoga are only heightened in the water, and those suffering from arthritis usually find increased benefit as well. 

Some yogic forms that are particularly conducive to hydroyoga are the Garudasana (eagle), Tadasana (mountain pose), Savasana (corpse pose, usually with noodles), Vrksasana (tree), Virabhadrasana  (warrior lunges),  Urvasana (chair with hands in prayer position), Natarajasana (Dancer's pose),  Nitambasana (Standing side stretch), Prstha-Vakrasana (Standing back bend), and, in advanced cases for those willing to underwater-it, sirshasana (headstand).  Oftentimes, thanks to the gentle support and resistance that water provides, hydroyoga sections can offer a greater feeling of accomplishment than yogis sometimes experience on land.  Rita Maldonado of the Golden Door Spa in Puerto Rico sometimes adds yoga postures to her water classes, with accolades from participants.  She affirms: “Performing asanas in a liquid environment allows us to explore ourselves further, while letting go of the familiarity brought about by working on land, against gravity...It gives us a sense of "weightlessness" and space, of breathing though our limbs into a cool, formless environment."

Since the two aforementioned disciplines balance together so appropriately, mind-body water exercisers can find great benefits from a Yo-Chi™ program.  I created Yo-Chi with water exercising in mind to allow participants to experience the benefits of both disciplines within the framework of a single class: participants constantly balance tai chi dynamism with bouts of yoga stasis through asanas (postures).  The water is particularly helpful in Tai Chi by providing buoyancy and resistance, and in yoga by providing light, supportive resistance and, in the outdoor pools in the Caribbean, warmer temperatures for the muscular-joint areas.

To be sure, other mind-body programs such as Feldenkrais and NIA also provide many selections from which we can borrow elements to apply towards our more traditional classes in the water.  Taking a posture, pose, or stretch from another discipline only can broaden an instructor’s framework and help educate others about the benefits of mind-body fitness venues.

Exploration is key.  Unfortunately, our space here is limited to discuss further opportunities.  Websites available for immediate consultation are http://www.aea.com/, http://www.yogasite.com/, http://www.healthshop.com/, http://www.findlawrence.com/, http://www.saracity.com/, http://www.fitnesslink.com/, and http://www.ace.org/, http://www.asiafit.org/ (lots of water programs there!). Introducing more mind-body options into our water programs will keep water fitness instructors current, knowledgeable, and on the cutting edge of current trends in fitness in their very own hydra market.  The current throngs of exercisers that once filled step classes are now both checking out—and staying with—“softer” forms of fitness.  Nobody could be at a better place, or at a better time, for this trend than those of us group exercise leaders who are involved in water fitness, for there’s nothing “softer” than the water!

 

Suggested bibliography:

Astin, J.  Zen and the Brain.  Mass: Cambridge, 1998.

Carrico, M. Yoga Journals Yoga Basics.  New York: Henry Holt, 1997.

Huang, A. Complete Tai-Chi. Tokyo: Charles Tuttle Co. 1993

LaForge, Ralph.  “Exercise associated mood alterations: a review of interactive neurobiologic mechanisms.”  Medicine Exercise Nutrition and Health, 1995;4:17-32.

Lan, C.., et.al. “12 Month Tai Chi Training in the elderly: its effect on Health Fitness.”  Medi Sci Sports Exercise.  30;3:345-351, 1998.

Sanders, M. & Rippee, N.  Speedo Aquatic Fitness System, Instructor Training Program.  London: Speedo International, Ltd., 1994

Lawrence Biscontini , M.A., N.C., packs a full bag of credentials: Faculty Member for AEA, AFAA AAAI, and ACE, Group Exercise Co-ordinator for the Golden Door Spa in Puerto Rico since its opening,  Certified Nutritional Counselor, AFAA International Examiner, Co-Producer of Fitness Group 2000, and Founder of “Let’s Just Move and Boogie” (LJMB).  Lawrence has been offering  MasterClasses and Workshops, from Tai Chi and Yoga to Nutrition, in over fifteen countries.  Voted among most popular three presenters for two years in a row at Hong Kong AsiaFit Conventions, he has appeared on MTV-Asia and the Rosie O’Donnell show.  His published work can be seen in his book on fitness & travel (The One-Percent Factor), as well as in numerous English and Spanish fitness publications, including ACE Faculty Network. Lawrence will be presenting a land-based version of his Yo-Chi program at IDEA2000 in Anaheim this August.

 

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