Run For Your Life

Me time trialling - perhaps
mindfulness could have helped me?!

Hello friends and welcome to ‘my cloud’!  I hope you find this to be a good read, and would love it if you could leave comments and share with others.  I am writing in a post-workout endorphin-enhanced state, which I have just realised is probably my favourite state to write in!  And my realising this, I think, is down to my newfound mindful way of living - having started practicing mindfulness a few months ago, I’m so much more aware of my thoughts and feelings in everyday situations - see my previous post for a bit more on the general benefits of mindfulness.

So, to get to the point of this post: I’ve just been for a run (and by run, I mean short jog!).  Of course, the fact that I went running is not the whole point of this post, but bear with me!  In recent times I’ve been making an effort to be more mindful during everyday activities, especially exercise.  This basically involves being fully aware of what I’m doing while I’m doing it, and noticing with curiosity how I feel physically and mentally whilst exercising. 

We all know that exercise is good for our mental wellbeing, and more and more of us are coming to realise that mindfulness is another powerful tool for maintaining and enhancing our psychological health.  Combine the two, and the result, I think, is magic!  It opens up a whole world of benefits, which I see as coming into two main categories.

The first is that exercise sessions are wonderful opportunities to practice mindfulness.  This in itself is a great thing, as the more we practice, the more benefits we reap.  Not only that, but it can make the experience more enjoyable and meaningful that it otherwise would be.  For instance, on my run today I noticed that the upright posture I was adopting made me feel strong and powerful (see this TED talk for more on body language and feelings of power).  On a recent bike ride I found noticed how soothing the easy feeling and sound of my slick tyres on a smooth road surface was, and the soft vibrations coming through my padded handlebar tape on a slightly rougher road surface.  One also notices a lot more of the natural beauty around you when you running, walking or cycling mindfully, and this in itself is a wonderful mood-booster.  Another way of bringing mindfulness to exercise is to simply notice the feeling of the feet touching the ground or turning the pedals, or of the wind in your face and hair.

Mindfulness can turn pain into power and enhance performance!

The second key advantage of mindful exercise is performance enhancement.  I realise that if you’re a serious athlete, the idea of leisurely taking in the scenery or enjoying a smooth road surface may not be quite up your street!  The good news is that I also think it has enormous potential to enhance performance.  This is because mindfulness is very much about paying attention to how we feel in a non-judgemental way.  So, by adopting a mindful approach during exercise, when pain kicks in you can get through it by simply noticing and allowing the sensations, without attaching negativity to it or wishing it felt different. 

I toyed with the idea of using mindfulness to improve performance a little on my run today, and genuinely think it helped me to go a little faster.  I’ve also tried it whilst going uphill on my bike and doing weights.  I think it’s something that’ll take some practice to get big performance enhancements from, but can really see the potential.  Another idea I have is to build it up slowly (after all, mindfulness is like the gym but for your mind: the more you do it, the easier it gets).  For instance, on my recent mindful bike ride I quite enjoyed the feeling of tension and power when going up a short hill.  With practice, I think this technique of mindfully noticing the sensations in my legs could help me a lot with harder climbs.

One to read for more
on mindful cycling

Of course, my experience so far is with a limited range of activities, but I think it can be applied to anything.  I’m especially interested to apply mindfulness next time I go climbing and see where it gets me!

So, there it is: a whistle-stop tour of my thoughts on the magic of mindful exercise!  I’d welcome comments from anyone who uses mindfulness when exercising, and hope to write more on this later when I’ve tried the technique out a bit more and looked into what research is out there on the topic.  In the meantime, I hope I might have inspired you to give mindful exercise a go and that you can reap the benefits from it.  Run, walk, climb, lift, cycle, row – or whatever your chosen activity – for your life!

Keep On Moving

Welcome to part two of my series on lifestyle and wellbeing.  This time I’m focussing on the benefits of physical activity for wellbeing.  We all know about exercise releasing endorphins and all that stuff, so what I’m going to do here is take a closer look at how exercise benefits me personally and give some examples of my favourite activities.

First and foremost, exercise is essential in order to be physically fit and healthy.  This is one of the main reasons I do it, and the great thing about being physically healthy is you feel physically healthy too (and mentally of course!).  Of course a by-product of this is perceiving oneself to look good, which is great for self-esteem.  For general fitness and toning, one of my favourite things is the humble exercise DVD:  it costs little to buy one and you can use it time and time again in the space of your own home.  They usually have different workouts that you can pick and mix depending on how much time you have, what you feel like doing or which body parts you want to work on.  Personally I’ve used Mel B’s Totally Fit and a couple of Davina’s DVDs and can thoroughly recommend both!

Another huge benefit is that sport and exercise can give you an immense sense of achievement.  This is especially true if you’re training for something specific, but even if you’re not, you still get that notion of improvement that brings with it psychological benefits, and again self-esteem.  Unfortunately, it’s not the case with everything in life that you get out what you put in, but with sport/fitness, you will always get results when you do the work.  I’ve experienced this myself through my recent endeavours in track cycling, helped by having a coach and tracking my progress using online software TrainingPeaks.  If you are thinking of getting into sport seriously, I’m an advocate of hiring a coach or personal trainer to keep you on track and motivated, if you can afford it.

Depending on what type of exercise you choose to do, a further potential benefit is time spent outdoors.  We all know the sun is great for enhancing our mood, and I think there’s a lot to be said for the benefits of being at one with nature on wellbeing.  Try a long walk or bike ride in some woods or a forest.  This can also be great for clearing your head and having some thinking space if you’re alone; otherwise it’s a fantastic opportunity for socialising, the benefits of which I’ll discuss further in my next post!

In my previous post I looked at the psychological benefits of having fun and experiencing child-like states.  Discovering a sport can bring about these benefits and offers great opportunities for fun and trying new things.  During my time at uni I used to occasionally have a knock-around on a badminton court with my best friends.  I was terrible at it but it was great fun, got the blood pumping and offered a much-needed break from revision!  I always felt so good afterwards.  So, even if you think you’re no good at a sport or feel that you are inherently not suited to exercise, I strongly advise that you experiment a bit and find the sport for you.  I think there’s something out there for everyone!

Finally, physical activity provides distraction and the opportunity to release stress and have some time away from whatever pressures we may be experiencing.  My favourite example of this is climbing, a sport I was into at uni and have started to take up again in recent weeks.  Climbing requires real concentration, meaning it’s pretty much impossible to think about anything else whilst doing it: perfect if you’re struggling to switch off from the stresses and pressures of life or having a hard time for whatever reason.

So, that’s it: my summary of the benefits of physical activity on wellbeing.  This is just my take and I’m sure others have different examples of alternative sports and how these improve their lives; as always I welcome comments with open arms.  Thanks for reading; now go get exercising!