Flow experience during Taiji practice - an oberservational study in healthy subjects

Background: Taiji is a mind-body practice, characterised by gentle and mindful body movements originating from Chinese martial arts. Studies investigating the reasons why people engage into Taiji and maintain their practice routine have emphasised extrinsic motivational outcome related aspects. The relevance of intrinsic motivation (i.e. motivation that comes from inside an individual and is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the performed activity itself) has not yet been examined. The autotelic aspect of intrinsic motivation is an essential precondition for experiencing flow, a state where subjects fully immersed into the performance of an activity report to be highly concentrated, optimally challenged and in control of the action. The aim of our study was to assess to which degree flow was experienced in the course of a 3 month Taiji-beginners class and to examine the relationship between the degree of flow experience at the end of the course and the Taiji practice behaviour. Materials and Methods: 28 healthy subjects participated in a Taiji beginners course (2 x 1h per week for 3 months). Flow values were measured at week 1, 6 and 12 by using the Flow-Kurz-Skala (FKS) questionnaire. Data were analysed by using ANOVA with repeated measurements, students t-Tests for comparison with normative values, and pearson correlation coefficients were calculated. Results: In the course of the 12 weeks Taiji training, mean flow values increased continuously (F(1.34, 8.92) = 19.49; p < .001). The mean value for experienced flow during Taiji practice at week 12 (M = 5.54; SD = ±.77) was significantly above the norm value (t = 3.705; df = 27; p < .01). Since average course attendance rate was high (86.8 %), a ceiling effect is assumed, thus flow values did not correlate with course adherence (r = .236; p = .227). However, a significant correlation was found between flow values at week 12 and practice at home (r = .439; p < .05). Conclusion: Our findings emphasise the potential value of intrinsic motivational aspects inherent in Taiji practice for developing a regular practice routine. The impact of increased flow experience on health related outcome measures, and its relevance in clinical trials is subject of further research.

Taiji practice in Switzerland: a short report

Over the past two decades the demand for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the general population has continuously increased in Switzerland and is frequently implemented in medical teaching. Together with Qigong, Taiji is commonly regarded as a mind-body practice integrating TCM principles of health and longevity. This form of slow intentional body movements is rooted in ancient Chinese martial arts and aims to strengthen and relax the physical body and mind, enhance the natural flow of qi, and improve health, personal development, and self-defense. In the West, as the preventive and therapeutic benefits of Taiji practice are gaining empirical support, the popularity of this form of low impact mind-body practice is increasing. The present article aims to provide a brief overview of the development and current status of Taiji practice in Switzerland with an outlook on future perspectives.

Thin white women in advertising : deathly corporeality

This article examines the way that contemporary British women’s magazine advertising employs idealized images of thin white women to confer status on a range of beauty products and services. These lean, pure, radiant images of white women are imagined to be natural sources of light, beauty, and the entry point (with the product) to a higher state of female grace. However, the article also addresses what is argued to be the ‘absence’ effect and the lack of corporeal life that is also at the core of many of these ‘lacking’ images of white women. The article argues that such textual ruptures and contradictions, in turn, point to the way that thinness itself, as a self-willed body project, can be considered to be a resistant body practice, or one that draws attention to the life and death struggle at the heart of what it means to be a ‘good’ white woman in a patriarchal society

Nestor lima e a modernização conservadora da gestão educacional no Rio Grande do Norte entre 1924-1928

This study attempts to investigate the school administration in the Department of Education of Rio Grande de Norte, in the period 1924 to 1928, in the context of conservative modernization in its management, implemented by Nestor Lima dos Santos. Addresses the trends of administrative Nestor Santos Lima and sequence of these variables so that we can correlate and monitor the development of various economic, social, cultural and political, to show how influenced and even determined the direction of education, not only the state of RN, but throughout the country. For this purpose, it is the recapitulation of the history of life, experiences of work and travel reports of this important figure, including administrative concepts, aiming to identify the school administration, introduced by him in the 1920s, as those who received influence of characters that included the social and historical context of the time, reconstituting the ways following the education. It was developed by Nestor shares in Lima on the administration of public schools, their way of management, and can see how was the process of modernization of education in Rio Grande do Norte state and how it followed the rapid changes, experienced by Brazil, during this period. Show up on the design aspects of modernizing Nestor Lima in the Department of Education, the Director General of Administrative Acts, the internal record of school groups, Isolated Schools, Schools rudimentary and the newly created Board of Education, highlighting the Internal Rules of Council but the General Regulations of the Department of Education. This work also highlights the proposed administrative Nestor of Lima, while educational model of an operating system of the organization, training and education, which is present in the area of production of discourse, through body practice, characteristic of the record established levels of policy development and implementation of educational instruction in all state. Key-words: school administration. Conservative modernization. Public Education

O ensino da capoeira na educação física escolar: blog como apoio pedagógico

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A ginástica no ensino fundamental e médio na cidade de Rio Claro/SP: a perspectiva dos alunos

The Gymnastic as a manifestation of the Body Culture Movement should be part of the contents worked in scholar Physical Education, throughout the process of Basic teaching. However, according to studies conducted by researchers from academic Gymnastics school knowledge involving the gymnastics have been tentatively taught in school by numerous factors. For this, the objective of this research was to understand and analyze the opinion of students in middle and high school about gymnastics classes developed with the involvement of graduation scholarship holder and the coordination of the project Gymnastics Goes to School from the UNESP/Campus Rio Claro “Núcleos de Ensino”, in 2012. This research used a questionnaire with topics about the Gymnastic with options: Never Practiced, Like a Lot, Like, Am Indifferent, Dislike, Hate with a space for writing and drawing, relevant to the research objectives. The research was performed with 79 students in middle and high school. With data analysis, it was observed that the students identified themselves more with the Artistic Gymnastic, followed by Rhythmic and Acrobatic Gymnastic and, at last, the General Gymnastic, both through the questionnaire and trough the drawings, which goes against the results from the article published in 2010 by Pereira et al, entitled The students detest the contents gymnastic in physical education classes: motives and alternatives, where the students understand the gymnastics activities only as support, abdominal and stretching. Therefore, to have a real understanding of gymnastics in school, there is a need for teachers to explain and develop the contents gimmicks, so the students could understand the difference among Gymnastics activities and, at the same time, discovering the pleasures of this body practice

O sentido de corporeidade e a atuação profissional do professor de educação física do ensino médio público

Pós-graduação em Ciências da Motricidade - IBRC

Grupo Ginástico UNESP: contribuições da Ginástica para Todos na formação de seus participantes

Gymnastics for all or General Gymnastics is a gymnastic body practice without competitive purposes, demonstrative character that combines the basics of gymnastics with different forms of body language. It is a pleasurable physical activity and inclusive, within the gymnastic possibilities offers great opportunities for participation of people, creativity, cooperation and human values experiences (AYOUB, 2003). Within this proposal is, in 2011, the Gymnastic Group UNESP, under the guidance and coordination of teachers Laurita Marconi Schiavon e Silvia Deustch as a project of university extension of the Department of Physical Education, Biosciences Institute of the São Paulo State University / Campus Rio Claro - SP. His working method and choreographic composition based on the proposal of the Gymnastic Group Unicamp, reference in this body practice in Brazil, and their course is in two parts: one for the exploration of all the resources that the teaching materials can provide and the other focused on social interaction of its participants. Therefore the research developed in this study aimed to verify contributions of the participation of members in Gymnastic Group Unesp vocational training thereof, and to verify the relationship and the approach of the members with Gym. The methodological approach adopted for this qualitative research is descriptive, and quantitative and qualitative data collected through questionnaires. The participants were 32 students from different courses at the University, and members of Gymnastic Unesp Group from 2011 to 2013, with the inclusion criteria: 1. minimum of one year of participation in Gymnastic Group Unesp; 2. Minimum of two performances of choreography in events with that group. Quantitative data are processed using descriptive statistics and qualitative analyzed by content analysis technique proposed by Laville and Dionne (1999). According to the results obtained over 41% of the participants had no...

Artes orientais de movimentos: alternativas às terapias do campo da saúde. uma possibilidade de investigação para a psicologia do esporte. um exemplo de pesquisa fenomenológica

This research analyzes the discourse of teachers of ancient oriental arts, namely: Yoga, Tai Chi Chuan, Kung Fu, Lian Gong, Qwan Ki Do, reveals the meaning that subjects have about what are the benefits to health of those already considered practical alternatives conventional treatment of health. The research uses the phenomenological method specifically the method of the phenomenon. The method first provides a pre-reflection on the oriental arts, exposing not systematically, some curiosities changing between aspects of oriental arts: historical, main teaching methods, styles, the character of struggle, why are linked to health, the benefits of their practices, movements, philosophy, concepts, ways of acting, the roots, the basics. In this article the pre-reflection does not appear to meet the standards of Congress page limit. Rather concentrate on the next step of the research and present the phenomenon situated in the experience of those who have experienced it in the case of the five arts teachers mentioned above. The method performs individual analysis or ideographic analysis of the five discourses of teachers from each oriental art and then conducts the general or nomothetic. The result is presented an analysis of generalities, convergence, divergence and individuality of meanings expressed by the subject, to finally develop a discussion of these data and weave a synthesis. The analyzes reveal that Eastern practices currently as some of these five analyzed here, those involving aspects of struggle and concentration are excellent allied health development and well-being. Understanding the philosophical aspect is inherent in the practice of the movements, although the character of the struggle, which they transmit through knowledge of their origins and roots is the current thinking routine that generates a life philosophy of selfhelp, self-enabling and tranquility preparation to overcome the tensions, disputes, everyday challenges. The speeches also reveal that the psychophysical aspects of diseases are real, because the practices of movements and the physical drilling of these oriental arts have enabled visible improvements in health by working the mental and the physical in an integrated manner. Masters must have all the knowledge to better meet today's society, preserving these cultures, passing them through the generations.

Changes in self-reported symptoms of depression and physical wellbeing in healthy individuals following a Taiji beginner course – Results of a randomized controlled trial

Introduction: Taiji is a mind-body practice being increasingly investigated for its therapeutic benefits in a broad range of mental and physical conditions. The aim of the present study was to investigate potential preventive effects of Taiji practice in healthy individuals with regard to their depressive symptomatology and physical wellbeing. Methods: A total of 70 healthy Taiji novices (mean age 35.5 years) were randomly assigned to a Taiji intervention group, i.e. Taiji beginner course (Yang-Style Taiji, 2 hours per week, 12 weeks) or a waiting control group. Self-reported symptoms of depression (CES-D) and physical wellbeing (FEW-16) were assessed at baseline, at the end of the intervention, as well as two months later. Results: Physical wellbeing in the Taiji group significantly increased when comparing baseline to follow up (FEW-16 sum scale T(27) = 3.94, p = 0.001, 95% CI 0.17 - 0.55). Pearson’s correlation coefficients displayed a strong negative relationship between self-reported symptoms of depression and physical wellbeing (p’s < 0.001, r‘s ≥ -.54). Conclusions: In this randomized controlled trial we found significant evidence that a Taiji beginner course of three months duration elicits positive effects with respect to physical wellbeing in healthy individuals, with improvements pronouncing over time. Physical wellbeing was shown to have a strong relationship with depressive symptoms. Based on these results, the consideration of Taiji as one therapeutic option in the development of multimodal approaches in the prevention of depression seems justifiable.

Body-site distribution of skin cancer, pre-malignant and common benign pigmented lesions excised in general practice

Background Concern about skin cancer is a common reason for people from predominantly fair-skinned populations to present to primary care doctors. Objectives To examine the frequency and body-site distribution of malignant, pre-malignant and benign pigmented skin lesions excised in primary care. Methods This prospective study conducted in Queensland, Australia, included 154 primary care doctors. For all excised or biopsied lesions, doctors recorded the patient's age and sex, body site, level of patient pressure to excise, and the clinical diagnosis. Histological confirmation was obtained through pathology laboratories. Results Of 9650 skin lesions, 57·7% were excised in males and 75·0% excised in patients ≥50years. The most common diagnoses were basal cell carcinoma (BCC) (35·1%) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (19·7%). Compared with the whole body, the highest densities for SCC, BCC and actinic keratoses were observed on chronically sun-exposed areas of the body including the face in males and females, the scalp and ears in males, and the hands in females. The density of BCC was also high on intermittently or rarely exposed body sites. Females, younger patients and patients with melanocytic naevi were significantly more likely to exert moderate/high levels of pressure on the doctor to excise. Conclusions More than half the excised lesions were skin cancer, which mostly occurred on the more chronically sun-exposed areas of the body. Information on the type and body-site distribution of skin lesions can aid in the diagnosis and planned management of skin cancer and other skin lesions commonly presented in primary care.

From Mind to Body: Is Mental Practice Effective on Strength Gains? A Meta-Analysis

Mental practice is an internal reproduction of a motor act (whose intention is to promote learning and improving motor skills). Some studies have shown that other cognitive strategies also increase the strength and muscular resistance in healthy people by the enhancement of the performance during dynamic tasks. Mental training sessions may be primordial to improving muscle strength in different subjects. The aim of this study was to systematically review and meta-analiyze studies that assessed whether mental practice is effective in improving muscular strength. We conducted an electronic-computed search in Pub-Med/Medline and ISI Web of Knowledge, Scielo and manual searchs, searching papers written in English between 1991 and 2014. There were 44 studies in Pub-Med/Medline, 631 in ISI Web of Knowledge, 11 in Scielo and 3 in manual searchs databases. After exclusion of studies for duplicate, unrelated to the topic by title and summary, different samples and methodologies, a meta-analysis of 4 studies was carried out to identify the dose-response relationship. We did not find evidence that mental practice is effective in increasing strength in healthy individuals. There is no evidence that mental practice alone can be effective to induce strength gains or to optimize the training effects.