Month: August 2020

Mindfulness and sensational Ai Chi Part 3

Uncategorized mpierce

Try to include mindfulness in your Ai Chi practice and in your daily routines. Maybe in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic you do not have water available to do Ai Chi, but you can dedicate time every day to being in the moment. Rather than focusing on things that have happened in the past or worrying about the future, be present in the here and now. If you can get outside, immerse yourself in nature. Give attention to what you feel, what you hear, what you see, what you smell. Practicing mindfulness helps you to find centering and calm that will be more readily available to you when you need it in life. And when you are able to do Ai Chi and share it with others, consider guiding attention to these senses to enhance relaxation.

Now here’s a short video of me doing a few of the Ai Chi steps. I can check in on how my posture feels, what my breath feels like, how it feels to move through the water, what the wind feels like on my face… You are hearing a mix I made with the Relax Melodies app of birds, the tide, wind chimes, flute and gulls… There are a lot of sounds to choose from to make a custom mix. I’m wearing my blue swimsuit and creating fractal patterns in the ripples that are soothing to look at as my arms move through the water. When I do Ai Chi and play relaxing music in this pool, I am surrounded by nature. At different times I have seen bunnies, green iguanas, geckos, ducks, crows and even a snake come by near the pool. Sometimes there are unexpected distracting noises or people talking and laughing loudly nearby. While I’m tempted to be disturbed when this happens, the mindful response is to note the sounds with curiosity as an object of observation, and to drift on to the next moment without looking back. Every sound is a part of the moment. The hedge behind me is jasmine, which smells wonderful when it’s blooming.

Mindfulness in Ai Chi is paying attention on purpose, in the present moment; observing your sensory experiences with unwavering attention, without judging the experience or yourself. However it turns out is how it was meant to be.

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Mindfulness and sensational Ai Chi! Part 2

Mindful movement Music Nature Sense of hearing Sense of sight Sense of smell mpierce

The sense of sound:  Bringing calming sound to your practice and turning focus to it allows another opportunity to promote relaxation.  I have enjoyed Ai Chi while listening to a recording of David Whyte reading of his poem “Everything is Waiting for You” with background music by Jeff Rona. I have done Ai Chi to meditations and to a “Breath prayer.” I have focused on the sounds of nature in outdoor settings~ chirping birds, calling gulls, croaking frogs, wind rustling through the trees… And of course, music is a great way to bring calm. There is an app called Relax Melodies that can combine nature sounds, chimes, flutes, meditations and music from your own library together at your fingertips.  

Jun Konno gave us some wonderful Ai Chi music, and I used Ai Chi Synchrony exclusively during the first year I did Ai Chi. Then I started exploring the attributes that make music relaxing and I learned about the tendency of the heart rate and brain waves to adjust to match a musical beat~ a process called “entrainment.”  Studies show that a music tempo of 60-80 bpm drives a slower heart rate and alpha brainwave frequency (which is associated with being relaxed but alert). A small pitch range, consistent low volume and music you would not tend to sing or hum along with round out the recipe for relaxing music. In fact, Weightless by Marconi Union is a musical work that was manufactured using these standards and is billed as “the most relaxing music in the world.” The wild card however is that to be relaxing, music must be something that you LIKE, which I think goes back to influence from the limbic system and your memories, experiences and emotions.

The sense of smell:  Attention to the sense of smell can also enhance your Ai Chi experience and encourage relaxation. Inhaling essential oils activates the hypothalamus, engaging the immune system, affecting blood pressure and stimulating digestion~ that is, calming scents can engage the parasympathetic nervous system, our goal for relaxation. You may be in an environment where these scents are present, or you may be able to add this through an infuser and direct attention to the sense of smell if sensitivity to fragrance is not an issue. Here are some of the more relaxing fragrances:

•Lemon- concentration, calming, clarifying, boosts immune system •Lavender – calming, soothes nervous tension and depression •Jasmine-calms nerves, uplifting •Cinnamon- improves concentration and focus •Bergamot- Soothes digestive system, relieves anxiety, energizes

The sense of sight: Two areas concerned with vision that influence the nervous system are color and visual fluency. Color studies from around the world show that we do not all see colors the same way for a variety of reasons. There is variability in the number of types of cones within the retina. Most people have 3 types of cone cells, while a color-blind person generally has only 2. A few people have been found to have 4 types and can distinguish 99 million more colors than the rest of us. And while different cultures attach unique meaning to different colors, there are certain colors that have universal effects: Red is tied to excitement and activates the sympathetic nervous system, increasing heart rate and blood pressure. Restaurants may choose red décor to stimulate hunger. I wear a red swimsuit for aqua-aerobic classes. Blue and green are linked with calm and relaxation and activate the parasympathetic nervous system. I get my blue swimsuit out to do Ai Chi.

The next area for mindful vision is visual fluency, or the occurrence of fractal patterns. Fractal patterns appear chaotic but are actually repeating patterns of varying sizes. They are found repeatedly in nature at a ratio of 1.3-1.5 large to fine that has a particularly relaxing affect. Today I challenge you to go outside to find them in nature yourself to experience even more mindful relaxation.

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