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Training In Water

A COMO CONVERSATION WITH WAYNE LÈAL

Preventative Health 5 Minute Read

Trainer and Meta-Age founder Wayne Lèal is redefining the conversation around ageing from one of decline and dependence to a pursuit of joy and renewal. His unique training method, called Kun-Aqua, will be available at COMO Shambhala Parrot Cay in December 2025. In this COMO Conversation, Lèal explains the Meta-Age movement, how he developed Kun-Aqua, and why moving mindfully in the water is a metaphor for life. 


 
Redefining Ageing

Wayne Lèal

Wayne Lèal is a published author and the founder of Meta-Age, JumpGa and Kun-Aqua. Léal’s theory of Meta-Age redefines ageing as a time for growth and renewal, rather than decline. It encourages people to live longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. Lèal has also partnered with the National Health Service in the United Kingdom for Meta-Age Challenges to get people more active.

WHAT IS THE META-AGE MOVEMENT? WHAT INSPIRED IT?

People are living longer, but not living healthier. I first recognised this when I visited my mother’s old age home. Some of them there just sat around in what I called ‘God’s waiting room’, but the others, like my mother, still had their mental faculties about them. They still had purpose and significance in their communities, revealing how a person’s health can be influenced by their attitude to ageing.

I coined the phrase Meta-Age to create a movement. Meta, from Greek, means 'beyond'. Meta-Age is a journey toward a healthier, longer life–not Old Age. Traditionally, people are socially and culturally conditioned to go from midlife into old age. But a small minority of people don’t want that. Meta-Age challenges traditional views on ageing, setting the stage for life’s next chapter using exercise as a catalyst for changing the mindset toward ageing. 

The Meta-Age movement comprises three pillars — coherence, purpose, and significance. Coherence refers to the initial awakening of wanting more from life. It invites the question, “Is this all there is?” Purpose proposes making health your purpose. It drives resilience and motivation, the keys to fulfilment. When health becomes your purpose, everything falls into place. When you feel good about yourself, people feel good about you. When you’re healthy, you make better decisions and people have faith in your decision-making process. You feel confident, and people feel confident in you. Significance refers to your legacy and how you made a meaningful impact on others, whether it’s being a good friend, son, or brother, or for them to recognise you as a good person and remember your good work. 

WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT IN OUR CURRENT LIFESTYLE AND SOCIETY?

There was a study that followed people in their 60s. 55 percent of those people could not stand up from a seated position unaided. They could not stand up without using their hands. And it sparked the question — what was the point in living longer if we could not be independent? The concept of Meta-Age emphasises living with independence. It shortens your old age. 

Unlike traditional ageing-focused movements, Meta-Age promotes cross-generational wellness. It unites people of all ages in a shared journey, like the wildebeests that migrate in packs across the African grasslands. They run as a pack, both young and old—the older ones are ‘tribe elders’ who show the young that it’s possible to live freely and with vitality in their later years. Meta-Age programmes have been conducted in schools, encouraging children to prioritise health and movement from the beginning. That’s my legacy.  

HOW DOES META-AGE BENEFIT EMOTIONAL AND MENTAL WELLBEING?

Meta-Age encourages intentional living and mindfulness. It enables people to reconnect with their inner selves, develop emotional resilience, and improve mental and emotional wellbeing. The inter-generational nature of the movement also promotes social connectedness and fosters a sense of belonging through shared experiences, like retreats. 

Physical movement through the Kun-Aqua programme also helps. Conscious movement and breath control can help alleviate stress while boosting cognitive wellness and neuroplasticity. Breaking wellness into doable actions helps one to develop emotional resilience and a sense of accomplishment. The thankfulness and affirmations of Meta-Age inspire hope and enable people to welcome midlife as a time of development, balance, and fulfilment.

YOU’LL BE AT COMO SHAMBHALA PARROT CAY IN DECEMBER 2024, TEACHING KUN-AQUA. WHAT IS IT, AND HOW DOES IT TIE INTO META-AGEING?

The physical aspects of Meta-Ageing are mobility, poise, and strength. The way that you carry yourself and move through a room is important. And the Kun-Aqua programme is the most natural and holistic way of exercise — it blends fluid, mindful movement with water's natural resistance. It has been proven to build mental clarity, sculpt the physique, and establish breath awareness. 

Kun-Aqua harnesses the power of water through meditative walking, high-intensity interval training, and strength work. These three aspects work together to build cardiovascular fitness, enhance bone density, and increase muscle mass. The natural buoyancy of water forces people to consistently stabilise themselves, building deep core strength while sharpening your focus and postural alignment. It works for everyone, and supports those who are overweight or who have difficulty putting pressure on the joints — water can take up to 85 percent of pressure off the joints. For midlifers, it’s a fantastic way to re-introduce the body to exercise, especially if they’ve fallen out of the habit or have trouble walking.

Another aspect of water training is that it provides resistance. The faster you go, the greater the resistance. Going back to how I use exercise as a metaphor for change, I think of water as a representation of life’s struggles. How you move through the water determines the kind of person you’ll become. You can fight your way through the water, and the water will work against you in the same way life works against you. But if you move mindfully with poise and postural alignment, you will cut through the water in a very smooth motion. It can also be very beneficial for women by re-aligning their bodies. Women often carry heavy handbags, wear high heels, which throw the spine out of alignment, or sit for long hours. Kun-Aqua works and strengthens the pelvic floor and the core, which helps with the alignment of the spine and hips. 

WHAT MAKES KUN-AQUA DIFFERENT?

Kun-Aqua emphasises the full range of movement, as opposed to focusing on raising the heart rate. My sessions typically start with meditative walking, which is about breathing intentionally with your gait and how you step. The second component is high-intensity interval training, which burns more calories in the water as compared to on land. Every movement activates more muscles — a bicep curl done in the water becomes a compound movement because you’re also activating your core to stay upright in the water, and the resistance applies to the entire arm. Your body also expends more energy in maintaining its core temperature. The session of Kun-Aqua then ends with strength training. 

Most importantly, Kun-Aqua integrates mindful movement and breath awareness. It’s not just doing a series of exercises in the water. Kun-Aqua works on the parasympathetic nervous system — your fight-or-flight mode. When you are surrounded by the tranquillity of the water, it calms your mind, and it slows your breath. Movement is slowed by the water’s resistance, so your breath is slowed even further, and your mind is calmed.

Wayne Léal will be at COMO Shambhala Parrot Cay in December 2025. He offers private Kun-Aqua training sessions, and will also be hosting twice-weekly talks and workshops that focus on the science behind Kun-Aqua. To book a session or learn more, please click here.

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