This is not your ordinary clubbing.
This is not your ordinary clubbing.
It’s a slow-motion martial art that might also enhance your brainpower.
Jack Gillen, Wave Chi Hawaii founder and a National Academy of Sports Medicine certified personal trainer, is convinced Indian club swinging, just like juggling, could cause areas in your brain to grow, enhance connections, better concentration and increase learning by causing a new way of thinking.
As an ambidextrous activity, Gillen said Indian club swinging forces a person to use both hands, thereby exercising both hemispheres of the brain and improving connections in the corpus callosum — the bundle of nerves between the two brain hemispheres that allows each side to know what the other side is doing.
Researchers have long known about the link between physical exercise and brain function. It is the basis for Brain Gym, a program founded by Paul and Gail Dennison that uses simple movements to enhance learning and stimulate brain function.
Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change, adapt and even rewire. Changes can be made to the brain by strengthening its neural pathways, something that can be achieved through new experiences and activities.
Neuroplasticity is not just caused by physical experiences; thoughts and attitudes also are key, which is what makes Indian club swinging, with its mind and body components, so ideal, Gillen said.
“Indian club swinging is a hybrid combination of tai chi, yoga, Qi Gong, movement meditation, dance and mind and body synchronization. It’s based on the theory that movement can heal,” he said. “The patterns incorporate three planes of motion: frontal, sagittal and transverse. Every move has an opposite or opposing move. So it’s also a brain exercise.”
Gillen, a self-described voracious reader and brain enthusiast, first learned about Indian club swinging in the 1980s, when he was working in the bottled water industry and researching the benefits of proper hydration and mineral waters.
He had read a book that mentioned the famous Perrier water bottle shape was designed after the long-necked, bowling-pin shaped wooden Indian clubs. Supposedly, a Perrier investor, Sir St. John Harmsworth, purchased a pair of Indian clubs while visiting and got in a car accident, which caused him to use a wheelchair.
To maintain his fitness, Harmsworth used the clubs and was more than impressed. The Perrier bottle-shape was his token of appreciation for the Indian clubs.
Gillen didn’t think about the Indian clubs until two decades later, when trying to find remedies for a shoulder he injured in high school while playing water polo. It never quite healed, being “consequently aggravated and perpetuated by swimming and paddling.”
Gillen remembered the Indian clubs and found a pair for sale online. He also got an instructional DVD from Dr. Ed Thomas, who began swinging clubs at age 8, and as an adult traveled the world collecting knowledge. Thomas is considered one of the best experts in the fitness and physical education business, as well as being a certified Indian club specialist.
Gillen immediately started swinging Indian clubs and made a “miraculous” recovery of his shoulder in a couple of weeks. His experience motivated him to share this practice.
Gillen was further inspired upon learning about Dr. David Blatt, an Oregon anesthesiologist who has Parkinson’s disease and is incorporating juggling to fight the degenerative nerve disorder that’s robbing his body of strength.
Gillen sent Blatt a pair of clubs and a DVD to try and to share with other Parkinson’s sufferers in his exercise class. He said Blatt found the twirling practice beneficial in improving the range of movement at the shoulders, muscle strength in the upper back and shoulders, arm movement, posture and core strength.
With his Wave Chi business, Gillen has several hundred pair of clubs and gotten lots of positive feedback from clients.
Among the benefits are an increase of dynamic range of motion, enhanced neuromuscular efficiency, correcting of muscle imbalance, as well as improvement of arthrokinematics, muscle actions, ambidexterity, rhythm and timing. Avid golfers and tennis players also have reported better sports performance, he added.
“Just 10 minutes a day can yield undeniable improvements,” he said.
Despite the response, Gillen said it has been a challenge to bring Indian club swinging back from obscurity. But he’s confident it will make a comeback, just like pilates did.
Developed thousands of years ago, these clubs were once a prized exercise tool, favored by royalty, military, elite athletes and old-school fitness diehards.
“Indian club swinging was even an Olympic gymnastics event at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles,” Gillen pointed out.
He transformed part of his Kailua-Kona home into a Indian club swinging facility. There, he teaches the basic fundamental patterns to people of all ages and abilities. He offers a four-session training package for $399, which includes a set of training sticks, a set of Indian clubs and a free follow-up session. He also offers training sticks for $20 and pairs of 1- to 2-pound clubs, which start at $45.
The first lesson and a 30-minute assessment are free.
For more information, call 756-7073 or visit wavechi.com.
Email Carolyn Lucas-Zenk at clucas-zenk@westhawaiitoday.com.