What is Mind-Body Training?
What is mind-body training?
Well, it really depends on who provides you with the definition.
To me, mind-body training is the practice of integrating mental and physical training in order to enhance fitness, strength, performance, holistic health, and general well-being.
Here at Mind-Body Training, there are a couple of ways I help my clients do that, both directly and indirectly.
Let's start first with the ‘mind’ side of things.
To help clients train their minds, I provide them with cognitive exercises that have been shown to decrease anxiety, lower stress, and even symptoms of low mood.
When I say provide, I don't mean directly. Usually, it is done subtly through group conversations, individual check-ins, and even during live workouts and meditation sessions.
Such exercises are derived from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, mindfulness meditation, and my own personal experiences in dealing with and overcoming my own mental health issues.
While the application of such exercises has been shown to improve mental health and well-being, they have also been shown to have positive physiological effects, and help those who practice them make better choices in terms of food and physical activity; increasing the likelihood of transforming the external (body) as a result of improving the internal (mind).
Now let's move on to the ‘Body’ side of things.
This layer is upheld by two pillars: physical exercise and nutrition.
Studies show that an increase in physical activity and/or nutritional improvements not only has positive effects on the body, but the mind too, and can result in a circular effect; an improvement in body leading to an improvement in mind, and an improvement in mind leading to better choices regarding exercise and nutrition, which in turn leads to a further improvement of the body and mind, and so forth.
Are the mind and body one?
While the ‘body’ and ‘mind’ have separate 'titles', they are both intimately intertwined, and one can influence and even change the other.
Therefore, to help clients with the ‘body’ side of things, I integrate elements from the ‘mind’ side of things, and to help them with the 'mind' side of things, I integrate elements from the 'body' side of things (certain behaviors that if implemented, will have an improvement on a psychological and emotional level).
For example, clients learn the practice of mindfulness meditation, and are encouraged to use it not only during mindfulness classes, but also during their workout sessions for performance purposes, at times when cravings begin to surge or spiral out of control, and when they begin to overthink the process and let their expectations run wild.
I also incorporate cognitive reframing exercises to help clients befriend and enjoy the process of exercising and eating well, along with the ups and downs that the journey entails, which in turn makes things more sustainable long-term.
By using their minds in this regard, it has a positive impact on behavior and the body in general.
An example of how I help clients use the body to indirectly change the mind could be a client who might be experiencing stressful thoughts and emotions, Rather than encouraging them to resist such thoughts and emotions, I would encourage them to accept such thoughts and emotions instead, and to elicit bodily behaviors and actions that generally have a positive impact on their minds and emotions, such as going for a run, doing a workout, or engaging in a 5-minute breathing exercise that may help 'deactivate' the physiological stress response.
By using their bodies in this regard, and lowering the physical symptoms associated with stress or anxiety, or any other 'negative' state, it makes it easier for them to rationalise the thoughts that trigger such states, and let them go.
So there you have it - this is what mind body training is and means to me, and how I use it to help clients change their minds, strengthen their bodies and improve their lives in general.
Coach Alan,
Mind-Body Training