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Meditative Movement (MM) is proposed as a new category of exercise defined by (a) some form of movement or body positioning, (b) a focus on breathing, and (c) a cleared or calm state of mind with a goal of (d) deep states of relaxation.

Two forms of exercise meeting this definition, Qigong and Tai Chi, are reviewed to examine health benefits found in the research literature, recap elements that should be assessed in MM research, and suggest where aspects of MM intersect with, and are distinguished from, conventional forms of exercise.

Relevant dimensions of the key elements of MM, such as frequency, duration, type of movement, degree of exertion, description of breathing, and achievement of relaxed state are recommended to be clearly described and measured to consistently define the category across studies and clarify how MM may affect health outcomes in similar, and perhaps different, ways than conventional exercise.

If these suggested standards are used, we will gain a better understanding of which elements are necessary for achieving targeted outcomes. Over time, as MM is studied as a category of exercise, research may progress more efficiently to define the domains of physiological and psychological benefit.

Nearly two-thirds of elderly patients treated for depression fail to achieve symptomatic remission and functional recovery with first-line pharmacotherapy. In this study, we ask whether a mind-body exercise, Tai Chi Chih (TCC), added to escitalopram will augment the treatment of geriatric depression designed to achieve symptomatic remission and improvements in health functioning and cognitive performance.

One hundred twelve older adults with major depression age 60 years and older were recruited and treated with escitalopram for approximately 4 weeks. Seventy-three partial responders to escitalopram continued to receive escitalopram daily and were randomly assigned to 10 weeks of adjunct use of either 1) TCC for 2 hours per week or 2) health education (HE) for 2 hours per week. All participants underwent evaluations of depression, anxiety, resilience, health-related quality of life, cognition, and inflammation at baseline and during 14-week follow-up.

RESULTS:

Subjects in the escitalopram and TCC condition were more likely to show greater reduction of depressive symptoms and to achieve a depression remission as compared with those receiving escitalopram and HE. Subjects in the escitalopram and TCC condition also showed significantly greater improvements in 36-Item Short Form Health Survey physical functioning and cognitive tests and a decline in the inflammatory marker, C-reactive protein, compared with the control group.

CONCLUSION:

Complementary use of a mind-body exercise, such as TCC, may provide additional improvements of clinical outcomes in the pharmacologic treatment of geriatric depression.

OBJECTIVES:

Treatments of female sexual dysfunction have been largely unsuccessful because they do not address the psychological factors that underlie female sexuality. Negative self-evaluative processes interfere with the ability to attend and register physiological changes (interoceptive awareness). This study explores the effect of mindfulness meditation training on interoceptive awareness and the three categories of known barriers to healthy sexual functioning: attention, self-judgment, and clinical symptoms.

METHODS:

Forty-four college students (30 women) participated in either a 12-week course containing a “meditation laboratory” or an active control course with similar content or laboratory format. Interoceptive awareness was measured by reaction time in rating physiological response to sexual stimuli. Psychological barriers were assessed with self-reported measures of mindfulness and psychological well-being.

RESULTS:

Women who participated in the meditation training became significantly faster at registering their physiological responses (interoceptive awareness) to sexual stimuli compared with active controls (F(1,28) = 5.45, p = .03, ?(p)(2) = 0.15). Female meditators also improved their scores on attention (t = 4.42, df = 11, p = .001), self-judgment, (t = 3.1, df = 11, p = .01), and symptoms of anxiety (t = -3.17, df = 11, p = .009) and depression (t = -2.13, df = 11, p < .05). Improvements in interoceptive awareness were correlated with improvements in the psychological barriers to healthy sexual functioning (r = -0.44 for attention, r = -0.42 for self-judgment, and r = 0.49 for anxiety; all p < .05).

CONCLUSIONS:

Mindfulness-based improvements in interoceptive awareness highlight the potential of mindfulness training as a treatment of female sexual dysfunction.

The powerful effect of psychosocial and acculturating influences on population blood pressure trends seems to be confirmed, through longitudinal observations, in the nuns in a secluded order. After initial observations had been made on culture, body form, blood pressure, diet, and other variables in 144 nuns and 138 lay women, included as a control group, a 30-year follow-up study was undertaken. Most striking were opposite trends noted between the two groups in blood pressure trend. During the follow-up period, blood pressure remained remarkably stable among the nuns. None showed an increase in diastolic blood pressure over 90 mm Hg. By contrast, the control women showed the expected increase in blood pressure with age. This resulted in a gradually greater difference (delta>30/15 mm Hg) in systolic and diastolic blood pressure between the two groups, which was statistically significant. In addition, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, expressed as the outcome of fatal and nonfatal events, were different in the two groups. They were significantly more common in the lay women than in the nuns. Comparisons between survival curves were statistically significant (p = 0.0043 for fatal events; p = 0.0056 for nonfatal events) between the two groups. In conclusion, it seems reasonable to attribute much of the difference in blood pressure and cardiovascular events, to the different burden in psychosocial factor and to the preserved peaceful lifestyle of the nuns.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether a psychophysiological intervention of biofeedback and relaxation could decrease the submaximal oxygen consumption (VO2submax) during treadmill running and improve running economy for a group of trained long distance runners.

METHODS:

Before and after a 6-wk control phase, seven long distance runners were tested for running economy, peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak), peak running velocity, and stretch-shortening cycle efficiency. These runners then participated in a 6-wk training program in which they learned and practiced relaxation techniques and ran on the treadmill at a velocity eliciting 70% of peak running velocity for 10 min while biofeedback of heart rate (HR), ventilation (VE), and VO2 was presented to them.

RESULTS:

Data indicated that participants were able to lower their VO2, HR, and VE at lactate threshold by 7.3%, 2.5%, and 9.2%, respectively, using relaxation techniques (P<0.05). Post-tests of lactate threshold, VO2peak, peak running velocity, and stretch-shortening cycle efficiency showed that these changes did not occur as a result of a training effect.

CONCLUSION:

It was concluded that the improvements in running economy occurred as a result of the psychophysiological intervention.

OBJECTIVE:

To compare the efficacy in runners of two relaxation techniques with regard to exercise reactivity and recovery after exercise.

METHODS:

Thirty one adult male runners were studied prospectively for six months in three groups practising either meditation (n = 11) or autogenic training (n = 11) or serving as controls (n = 10). Before and after the six months relaxation intervention, indicators of reactivity to exercise and metabolism after exercise (blood lactate concentration, heart rate (HR), and oxygen consumption (VO2)), were tested immediately after and 10 minutes after exercise. Resting HR was also assessed weekly at home during the trial. State anxiety was measured before and after the intervention.

RESULTS:

After the relaxation training, blood lactate concentration after exercise was significantly (p<0.01) decreased in the meditation group compared with the control group. No difference was observed in lactate responses between the autogenic training group and the control group. There were no significant differences among the groups with regard to HR, VO2, or levels of anxiety.

CONCLUSION:

Meditation training may reduce the lactate response to a standardised exercise bout.