Creating the Perfect Formula for Peak Physical Performance

Creating the Perfect Formula for Peak Physical Performance and Living Well

By Michelle Greenwell

Peak physical performance has always been related to the mental image of strength and endurance. This terminology is often reserved for the elite athlete or the competitive sports enthusiast. When we think of peak physical performance in personal self-care there is a tendency to want to measure to this same standard. Are we setting ourselves up for failure? Are we demanding more of our body, mind and spirit, or “triangle of health,” than it has the ability to give? Is our focus in the right direction? When we look back at our engagement as athletes or physically active people, do we recognize the moments that we pushed beyond our abilities to run a little further, to jump a little higher, to garden a little longer? Growing up many of us were told to work until the job is done. Activities and physical strain were not really thought of as going beyond limits. “The further you run, the greater your stamina will be.” Or “If you just finish the job or activity, you won’t have to go back to it.” Or “If you don’t push the limits, how will you ever surpass what you did last time.” These ideas probably seem familiar to you, and may have been something someone said to you, or that you have said to someone else.

The gifts of the BioEnergetic Wellness profession we find ourselves in contains biofeedback possibilities.

From "Mind" to Multiple Intelligences

By gaining biofeedback through muscle monitoring or energy assessment, we can understand where the body, mind or spirit is at, and what it needs to be optimum. Instead of training because a coach has been successful with skill building activities with others and you can do the same, there is the opportunity to ask the body what it needs to gain peak performance. Through muscle response testing an in-depth personalized protocol can be built to optimize training schedules, activities, and areas of weakness. Checklists can include: • Goal • Balance • Potential activities for training or movement • Training schedule with minimum and maximum time with effort for energy building • Recovery activities • Relaxation periods • Systems and Physical movement that need more support • Evaluation of Goal and Intention for next training or activity • Percentage of success achieved with biofeedback and protocols

Also, of consideration for gaining peak performance is the use of regular balancing procedures to daily and hourly check in with the body to maintain flow and energy building. This is the opportunity to assist clients and students with providing them with training in Touch for Health, Brain Gym, Therapeutic Touch etc. The self-care tools that they can use between sessions with a facilitator puts them in the driver seat. They can provide balance and momentum for training throughout their day, and this can enhance their training or activity schedule with ease. As they develop selfawareness of their energy status throughout the day, they become their own monitor as well as supporter. The Five Element Theory from Traditional Chinese Medicine explores the ebb and flow of energy, as well as peak time periods for different systems to be supported. Through a Touch for Health balance there is opportunity to understand which systems are drained by activity and which may be over-energized by activity. Also, how these systems engage in the day and during activity. To understand the shifts in energy flow can be paramount to the success of an activity or training session. In Tai Chi and Qi Gong training one strives to achieve minimum effort with maximum energy cultivation. Rather than draining the system, one works to 70% effort or only 40% effort if there is injury or strain. How does this apply to peak physical performance? Don’t you have to push limits to gain ability? When limits are pushed the Central Nervous System can be put into overdrive and cause a stress response to activity causing more effort, tension, the stress response to be engaged in the parasympathetic system, and the brain to respond with training in a flight or fight pattern. All of this can defeat the goal of training or engaging in activity. It also hinders recovery and repair of tissue strain. In the BioEnergetic Wellness philosophy, you are engaged in self-care in all the actions you take. This is true of training as well. Regular balancing, protocols chosen through biofeedback and activities to build energy and skill are key. “The Golden Pill” is the area in the lower Dan Tien where energy is built and stored. This area is engaged when activity expands and then contracts through the lower abdomen. During training for specific skills or sports, the use of Qi building can increase strength, endurance, and recovery. If biofeedback

provides information on systems within the body that are struggling, activities that can support or enhance those systems while training can create energy flow, but also keep the Central Nervous System and the Parasympathetic system calm and secure so training is not a stress to the body, but an enhancer. Further to this kind of philosophy is also the engagement of the meridians through the fascia and whole-body movement to create an ebb and flow through the systems. Engaging the meridians and fascia involves not just a contraction for forward movement or a targeted skill, but rather a spiralling action enhanced by movement that engages the whole body. Also of significance for training is the use of reciprocal movements in other areas of the body that can support an area that has less strength or ability. Expansion of the hands can open the feet, while alignment of the pelvic floor can release the jaw. Exploring the architecture of movement can provide a multidimensional approach to training or activity that gains maximum skill and achievement with minimal effort and alignment. One of the great gifts that George Goodheart provided those of us trained in Touch for Health, is the knowledge of the muscles related to the meridians and the systems. To understand the body by energy flow and system connection creates a web of understanding how related muscles within a system can help each other. . Linked to this is the understanding of the spiralling action, the fascia connection to energy flow, and the power of tissue because of supporting stimulus for activity. Movement and training activities can be personalized and directed to support this special understanding to create a program

that is energy enhancing at each step along the way towards a goal. To explain to an athlete how biofeedback can assist their training for peak performance involves a couple of key training features. First, our skill at setting goals and intentions begins an energy flow towards the success of any training action. Second, creating a biofeedback system for training schedules, skill building, activities to engage in, and for setting peak performance training times is key to personalizing the program with the goal in mind. Third, energy action toward balance and flow before, during and after training optimizes ability and performance. Fourth, assessment of activity success after training periods, gaining biofeedback for recovery, and adjusting balance and flow for any parts of the training that was not supportive can enhance results too. This ability to go back and correct for inappropriate choices can be like rewinding the clock or getting a redo, without doing so physically. Peak physical performance is about optimizing the human experience. Biofeedback, building energy, creating balance and flow, and setting intention all support this personalized experience, and we are the lucky recipients of the tools that are key for such personal success.

Modality Profile:

Michelle Greenwell is currently finishing her doctorate in Integrative Health focusing on these fine skills in BioEnergetic Wellness that are listed above. She recently co-authored “BioEnergetic Essentials” (BEE) for public outreach by facilitators and for mini-workshops. She also co-created the “It’s in the Cards” deck for sharing Touch for Health, Brain Gym, Therapeutic Touch, and MNRI techniques with kids and adults. Currently, she is expanding her company “Tea with Intention” to include more tea blends to support the flow and balance of energy in the body, as well as her latest modules of “Raising BioEnergetic Awareness” classes. President of CanBeWell, she is spearheading the education program that is the “Shift into Wellness Synergy Summit, “ with Knowlative, to expand full educational opportunities to support skills, research, and business development for our field around the globe. You can find her at http://linktr.ee/dancedebut. If you want to know more about Tai Chi, check out her FREE videos on Youtube for Tai Chi Wellness and the Seated Form Series.