BOOM MIND joins Pilates, yoga and athletic stretching principles to create a safe and effective mind-body exercise experience. To lay the framework for these mind-body principles, we’ll examine the practices of yoga and pilates.
What is Yoga?
The practice of yoga not only disciplines one’s body, but it also helps to discipline the mind. The word yoga means to “yoke” or to “unite” and the discipline aims to bring the mind and body into sync with each other. This is accomplished through the three main components of yoga: breathing, postures, and meditation. It is thought that through the physical practice of doing poses and breathing, the yoga student is enabled to then sit and meditate, allowing the mind and body to become “one.”
In the MIND class format, we practice the most tangible parts of yoga: the postures and the focused breathing. We teach our participants that through the physical effort of attaining the postures and controlling the breath we will learn to focus and calm the mind.
What is Pilates?
The Pilates Method, originally called Contrology, was developed by Joseph Pilates in the early part of the 20th century. Joseph Pilates developed his method based on six primary principles: centering, control, flow, breath, precision, and concentration. The mat exercises are designed to flow into each other at a controlled pace, that progress from smaller to larger movements.
One important philosophy of Pilates is that everyone should be able to benefit from the exercises. The BOOM MIND module will provide several sample Pilates-inspired exercises. Be sure to teach using principles of progression and regression to make the exercise easier or more challenging, depending on the fitness level of your class participants.