Sunday, February 13, 2011

How to make the most of Your Beaming™ Class: Beam Your Way to a Strong Heart!


by June Kahn, Beamfit™ Education Director

With February being heart healthy month and Beaming a program that allows us to enhance our self-awareness through its practice, I thought it only fitting to focus this issue on the heart, the STRONG heart and how we can achieve this both physically and emotionally through Beaming.

Individuals with a STRONG heart emotionally, are not afraid of their own experience. When your emotions are in balance, you feel completely fulfilled; therefore, your heart always responds appropriately to the situation. You are going to make calm, self-confident decisions because you can trust your heart and your intuition. With this mindset, you are able to be gentle and sympathetic with yourself and your outlook and your perceptions become clearer. There are no outside distractions.

To balance the emotional, an individual with a STRONG heart physically, has gained the cardio endurance, energy and resilience to take on and endure life's daily challenges, to perform and function efficiently with less stress. Thus, STRONG heart, physically AND spiritually, is essential to our life being.

Most people, who first see Beaming without the experience of it, do not necessarily classify Beaming as a cardiovascular workout. Like any other fitness activity, if you choose moves that progressively increase intensity, you can and will sustain enough intensity to truly your challenge your heart. Beaming cannot be compared to cardio interval training, which can be intense and has a different purpose than Beaming. Beaming, regardless of the cardio challenge, will result in a heart healthy cardio response, at the least, equal to a mild to moderate walk. Anyone who is Beaming regularly can tell you that Beaming goes beyond just physical training. What you gain instantly while Beaming is the ability to go within yourself and be totally immersed in the moment. This gives you the opportunity to be 100% at your heart center, nothing else matters. All external distraction and head noise is gone. You become more aware with clarity and have the opportunity to be as close to your true self as you can be while continuing to move on the Beam. Après Beaming...you will have a more open sense of yourself, radiating a more relaxed, self -assured and secure YOU emotionally along with the fact that you did something good for yourself physically.

We can achieve this process in our Beaming classes by choosing moves that progressively build intensity while simultaneously challenging our balance and proprioception. Incorporating movements that target the larger muscles of the body allow for a stronger heart through increased heart rate response at the same time, enhancing self-awareness. The following moves, interspersed in your Beaming workout, will help your participants enhance their cardio endurance while building core strength and enhancing balance physically and emotionally. This is one reason why we think Beaming is the perfect program to bring true balance to the “heart” of one’s life.

The Squat Series:

- Stand in split stance with the Beam in a vertical position.

- Step off the Beam with rear leg to a parallel squat position. Torso erect, abdominals engaged.

- Step same leg forward on the Beam to a lunge position, lifting the heel of the rear leg as you descend into the lunge position.

- Step same leg back off the Beam to a parallel squat position adjacent to the Beam. Step same leg back to start position on the Beam to a vertical erect stance, legs straight arms extended to side. Create a complete sense of vertical elongation and balance throughout your body as you pause for a moment taking in this feel-good , strong feeling.

- Repeat for 6 - 8 repetitions gaining a cardio respiratory response from the series, then repeat on other leg.

To increase the challenge, lift front knee when returning to start position and rear leg is secure on the Beam. For further balance challenge, look up when you return to split stance at completion of repetition.

The Plie Series:

- With Beam in horizontal position, stand on Beam in a wide stance, legs wider than shoulders, hips externally rotated. Extend arms out to side.

- With erect torso, bend knees and descend to a turned out squat raising one heel as you squat down. Arms reach down in front of body.

- Maintaining an erect torso, rise up, straightening both legs, gently pressing the Triad and soles of feet into the Beam. Arms reach overhead as you straighten legs.

- Repeat Plie, raising other heel as you squat down. Rise up, straightening both legs, gently pressing Triad and soles of feet into the Beam with arms reaching overhead.

- Repeat Plie's alternating heel lifts with each repetition.

To increase intensity and difficulty, raise both heels as you descend to Plie position. Abduct left and right leg as you rise up for more of a balance challenge.

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