Flow Into Fitness Symposium

For You Movement Educators out there - check this out! (From my Colleagues at Ottawa U!)

LEARN TO BE A ‘FLOW IN ACTION’ EDUCATOR


Join us for a series of interactive workshops/presentations based on the philosophy of fluid movement and experiencing flow in action. Come learn how to use joyful physical activity to connect with children in, and out of the classroom.

This symposium is designed for: Daily Physical Activity, Physical Education, yoga, and fitness instructors.

Papers Presented in Round Table Discussion Format
Themes Include (but are not limited to):
¨ Flow in Daily Physical Activity (DPA)
¨ Flow in Elementary Physical Education
¨ Flow in Secondary Physical Education
¨ Other: _________________________


CALL FOR PAPERS FORM (Due Aug 1, 2010)
When: Thursday October 21, 2010 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Where: Harbour Castle Westin Hotel, Toronto, ON
Price: $99 for professionals, $75 for students (Before Aug 31, 2010)

Reserve your spot before June 30, 2010 to SAVE $20
by emailing Stefanie Partridge at spart033@uottawa.ca

Keynote Presenters Include:
~ Emilie Conrad, founder of the Continuum Movement Method

~ Dr. Stephen Smith, Director of Teacher Education, Simon Fraser University, Physical Education Pedagogy and Curriculum Specialist

~ Dr. Rebecca Lloyd, Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa, Fitness Education Pedagogy and Curriculum Specialist.
Space is limited to 100 people. Register today at: http://flowintofitness.ning.com/page/registration-2
For more information contact Stefanie Partridge at spart033@uottawa.ca
Sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Initiatives Grant, University of Ottawa

Open Mind, Healthy Body

In my interview today with Dr. Les Fehmi, co-author of "Open Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body," the biofeedback pioneer offered some tips on how we can begin developing a more open attention to improve our health and quality of life.

If you're feeling stuck in narrow attention - lurching from stress to stress and never really finding a place to release tension - try Dr. Fehmi's simple quickie exercise:

Since the hands and fingers are very sensitive and wired in to our central nervous system, they are a good place to start. Begin by looking at the thumb and forefinger on one hand. Become aware of the thumb and forefinger as you pinch them together and apart, together and apart. Begin to include the space between the thumb and forefinger in your awareness. Gradually allow the space to become as important in your awareness as your fingers. When you reach a place of awareness where the opening and closing of the space between your fingers is as important or more than the fingers opening and closing - you'll be on your way to more open focus attention. As you move back into whatever your activities for the day may be - notice what you notice! You just might like how you feel!

Alive! Bodies in Motion

Moving Spirit on Voiceamerica.com Health Network!

Hosted by Susannah Steers, "Alive! Bodies in Motion" is a new internet radio show on Voice America's Health and Wellness Channel. Join Susannah and her special guests as they inspire change through lively dialogue about the many ways that physical activity is important in our lives; as a connection to ourselves and to the world around us. Beyond topics in traditional fitness, "Alive! Bodies in Motion" explores integrated, holistic approaches to physical activity, sport, play and embodied living and presents inspiring stories about people who are enriching their lives and the lives of others through movement. The show unveils a path to health and vitality that respects the mind, the body and the spirit within, better connecting us to our own lives, our families and communities!

Join us live weekly on Thursdays from 1-2pm (Pacific) starting June 3, 2010.Call in and join the discussions!

EXPLORE! Applying an Holistic Approach to Movement Training

As Wikipedia describes it, holism is the idea that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by the sum of its component parts alone. Instead, the system as a whole determines in an important way how the parts behave. Certainly we've seen a rise in the number of people looking beyond allopathic medicine to find professionals who espouse holistic practices. The increasing popularity of so-called "body-mind" practices speaks to people's desire to find a more integrated approach to movement as well.

For most, those body-mind practices tend toward activities like yoga and tai chi. Activities like these have given us a language to use in connecting to movement in a holistic way. They have opened a door to modern fitness enthusiasts into moving and thinking about moving in a different way. The quality of breath is important, not just the speed with which respiration returns to normal after exertion. Finding a degree of ease in movement, no matter what the level of exertion, is important too. With a little awareness and a little practice, one can begin to apply a holistic perspective to training movement of all kinds.
That being said...Where do we begin?

1. Breathe
Probably one of the easiest places to start is with breathing. Notice the quality of your breath. Where do you feel it moving through your body? Is each breath free and deep, reaching down in to the bottom of the lungs easily? Do you feel any restrictions along the pathway of your breath: in the throat, the shoulders, the spine, chest, belly, pelvis or tailbone? As your level of exertion changes, how does your breathing change? What does your breath sound like? Different movement modalities often teach different breathing techniques. Play with some of them in your day to day movement and notice the effects.

2. Feel Your Skeleton
Our bones provide a solid structure which enables us, with the assistance of the muscles, to move our way through space. We tend to focus so much on muscles, that we often forget that the bones are supports and levers that we can use too. A simple way to play with the skeleton is to feel, in a variety of positions, the stacking of your bones in relation to each other and to gravity. How does gravity move through the bones into the floor? What feels supported - and what doesn't? As you release your bones into gravity, can you feel the support of the floor underneath you? Does this have any effect on the sensations in your muscles?

3. Layer the Work of the Muscles
Play with feeling the layers of work that exist in the muscular system. There is one group of muscles that essentially snugs the bones together (local stabilizers) and another group that moves us through space (global mobilizers). Coordinating these muscles in different ways creates different qualities of movement and sensation. How different can it feel doing a pilates class or walking the dog, or playing a shift of hockey, skiing a slalom course or dancing petit allegro variations in a ballet class? You can tweak your coordination of these layers of muscles to find the optimum support for YOUR body in any of these situations. Your activity will determine to some degree how you use these muscles - but a conscious connection to them may offer possibilities you hadn't considered before.

4. Connect to Other Systems in the Body
Practice making connections to other systems in the body while you are moving. Feel your heart beat. Can you find a sensory connection to your ciculatory system anywhere else in your body? Can you feel the blood moving through the arteries in your arms or legs? What is the quality of that sensation?

Visualize your major internal organs. They are densely packed within the trunk, and in their own way provide a kind of support for the structure of the body from the inside out. Each organ has its own mobility and motility within the body. Can you begin to differentiate different organs by their feel: weight, quality of suspension in the body, vibration?

Imagine the intricate web of your nervous system: the brain, the spinal cord, the nerves themselves and moving further down the scale...the nerve synapses themselves. One way to begin getting in touch with this part of the body is to become aware of the overall "vibration" in your body at various times.

5. Cellular Movement
Yeah, right. Right? Believe it or not, it is possible to get a deeper sense of movement on a microscopic scale in the body! This is movement that may or may not register as "movement" to the eye of an oustide observer, but that can be perceived as movement within the body. Often times, these kinds of movements are felt as waves or undulations in the body - a flow of spirals, whirls and eddies that wind and unwind within. No doubt it is best to begin tapping into this kind of thing in a more meditative state, graduallly allowing your growing perception of these flows to create "micro-movements" which may or may not inspire larger movement. Let go of any preconceived ideas about what "should" happen, and just feel what is there.

These few steps are a very brief overview of some of the ways you can connect to a more holistic view of your own body in movement. At first, you may want to explore each of these pieces on their own. Be aware though, that our bodies are much like holograms and that all of these pieces exist in the body at the same time. Our sensory awareness becomes an ongoing stream of information. As we develop our skills in embodying the information, we improve our ability to understand our bodies and can make better choices about how we are working them.

A body working with attention to the whole is a little like a moist sponge; supple and resilient. This sponge is able to absorb from without and release from within. One can twist it, bend it, squish it - and it simply returns to its original shape. Every cell is included - not just the ones outside we can see and touch. This sponge has a huge potential for movement! Take the time to begin to know your body in a new way. The simple act of exploring a new perspective can open a vast array of inner resources on which you can draw for living a vital, healthy and moving life.

Metabolism of Non-steady State Work & Sport

Endurance sports such as running and cycling performed in a steady state condition have been thoroughly investigated over the years largely because they could be studied in the laboratory. However, much of work and sport occurs intermittently under non-steady state metabolic conditions. Only recently has portable equipment assessing oxygen uptake been available to study the metabolism of non-steady state activities performed outside laboratory conditions such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, and the martial arts. Dr. Kris E. Berg, professor and director of the Exercise Physiology Lab at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, discussed the implications of his research on physical conditioning, nutritional support and exercise adherence at the recent 2008 AAHPERD Conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

Commonly, cardio-vascular fitness is measured by the volume of oxygen one can consume while exercising at maximum capacity. "VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen in millilitres, one can use in one minute per kilogram of body weight. Those who are fit have higher VO2 max values and can exercise more intensely than those who are not as well conditioned. Numerous studies have shown that one can increase VO2 max by working out at an intensity that raises the heart rate to between 65 and 85% of its maximum for at least 20 minutes three to five times a week." (Brian Mac) Typically, these same studies have been based on time-motion analysis and heart rate data and have not taken into account the fluid relationship between heart rate and oxygen uptake in the context of sport, or non-steady state activities.

Often, the calculation of VO2 energy expenditure of various sports is effectively a laboratory estimation based on distance travelled. What this doesn't take into account is the energy cost of continual changes of velocity and direction, or the cost of acceleration and decceleration. Neither does it factor in elements like temperature, emotional state and hormonal effects. With recent advances in technology, Dr. Kris Berg has been able to generate accurate data for studying the VO2 and energy expenditure values for tennis, racquetball, basketball and martial arts. What he discovered is that the mean VO2 values for these activities is very similar to those for steady state modes of exercise (i.e. endurance sports). Many of these activities meet the current aerobic exercise guidelines for aerobic fitness - even when the heart rate has NOT been elevated for a steady 20 minutes. Apparently, short bursts of intense activity interspersed with periods of rest are the key. Numerous speed bursts are supplied mostly by phosphagens in the body. Phosphagen synthesis is largely dependent on oxidative metabolism. Consequently, high intensity bursts of activity elevate the uptake of oxygen considerably - even when the heart rate is not continuously raised.

This has important implications for physical conditioning in general. Where previously medical and fitness professionals recommended only endurance type activities such as running and cycling for cardio-vascular fitness, they can now recommend other activities and be assured that guidelines for aerobic fitness will still be met! People who prefer a more social atmosphere for fitness, or who prefer playing sports to the solitary pursuit of running, for example, will enjoy the fact that they can play their favourite sport a few times a week and improve their cardiovascular fitness at the same time. In terms of athletic conditioning, activity specific interval training can be used to improve aerobic fitness within the context of the sport; by including more frequent, short bursts of intense activity. The emphasis is still very much on getting out and getting active, but the range of activities that will improve cardio-vascular fitness is obviously much wider than researchers have credited in the past. So enjoy - get out and play!!

(This information is based on an Alliance Scholar Lecture by Dr. Kris E. Berg at the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance (AAHPERD) Convention April 10, 2008 in Fort Worth, Texas.)