Most of us spend our days running from appointment to appointment. We've got things to do, people to see and lots to accomplish. And then, hopefully, one day we get a wake-up call. We realize life is too short to be worrying about the past or the future and we recognize we need to take better care of ourselves. We can't really expect our bodies to cooperate if we don't treat them well. We can't expect to take care of others if we don't first establish a priority of taking care of our own needs. These realizations, along with rising health care costs and health conscious baby-boomers, have been primary reasons for the increasing popularity of mind/body programs like Yoga, Tai Chi, Meditation and Plates-based programs.
IDEA, the International Health and Fitness source, reports that a growing body of scientific evidence has supported mindful exercise as a significant means of favorably altering various aspects of health. Scientific research on Yoga has been enormous (well over 2000 studies) since the first research began in the last 1920's and since 1985, approximately 1500 research abstracts have been published on chi kung, also known as Qigong - most of the research involves tai chi (one form of chi kung). Ralph La Forge, MD, a physician specializing in the benefits of mind/body exercise reports
"Meditation and mindful exercise have been credited with the following benefits: effective at complementing existing stress and anger management programs, reducing the medical and economical costs of psychological distress, improving muscular strength, flexibility, balance and coordination, reducing falls in the elderly, improving glucose tolerance, increasing heart rate variability and cardiac parasympathetic tone, improving cardiac reactivity related to work strain, reducing responsiveness to stress hormones, increasing self-awareness, self-efficacy and personal empowerment, decreasing state anxiety and neuroticism, decreasing trait anxiety, decreasing pain and pain sensitization, reducing blood pressure, improving lipid profile, improving bone mineral density, improving pulmonary function, improving cardiorespiratory fitness, decreasing mortality in hypertensive individuals, decreasing mortality and/or clinical events associated with cardiovascular disease and decreasing ischemic response to exercise."
Wow, that's a long list of benefits!
The acceleration of interest in the mind/body approach is evident in increased public awareness, media attention, health care exploration and academic research. Jane Fonda's Yoga Exercise Workout video, had sold more than 170,000 copies as of January 1998. We strongly encourage you to look at your schedule and book off one to two days a week to attend a mind/body fitness program.
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