Mindfulness is the practice of focusing on the present moment without judgement. It follows then, that mindful movement is the practice of bringing our full attention to the body as we move.
But we put on the TV or listen to a podcast while we exercise. We glance around the room, checking out what everybody else is doing in a group class. Even if we’re working out alone, our mind wanders, running through to-do lists and the stresses of everyday life.
When it comes to working out, there’s a huge amount to be gained from avoiding distraction and bringing our full awareness to what we’re doing - and the way our body’s moving - in the moment:
1. We reduce our chance of injury
By paying more attention, it follows that we’re less likely to hurt ourselves. When we’re distracted, we can make mistakes that lead to injury.
As we practice mindful movement, we also become more in touch with our bodies. We learn what feels normal, and what might be a signal to back off, slow down, or stop.
Post-workout, we also learn how to read for any aches or soreness so that we can allow for adequate rest and recovery. Being mindful and being able to tell the difference between post-exercise delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and something more severe can help ensure we do the most appropriate things to support our bodies, so that we don’t end up overtraining or sabotaging our results.
2. We find flow
When we pay attention, we become more engaged in the process, and this can lead to flow. Flow is the state of being completely and optimally absorbed in an activity. It’s what’s sometimes referred to as being in the zone, or in the moment.
When we’re in flow, we become highly focused, time feels like it’s slowed down, and we lose any sense of self-consciousness. It’s less common during periods of relaxation, but instead tends to occur during challenging and engaging activities… like strength training!
As well as being intrinsically positive and rewarding, flow correlates with greater life satisfaction and improved self-concept. Self-concept - or, the image we have of ourselves - is important, because it affects our motivations, attitudes, and behaviours.
3. We learn to appreciate what our bodies can do
When we focus on our body’s movements, we’re taking notice of what the body can do. We observe its capacity to stretch, push, pull, run, jump, bend and balance, and we develop a sense of appreciation and gratitude for it.
This can help shift our focus away from the aesthetics like size, weight and shape, and provides a much kinder and more positive reason to train than any calorie, scale or tape measure.
When we pay more attention to and appreciate what our bodies can do, we’re also building self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the belief in ourselves to perform a particular task. Improved self-efficacy can feed right back into our training, keeping us motivated and pushing towards our goals. Crucially though, it extends out into other aspects of life too, and can give us the courage to step outside our comfort zone and go for that new job or ask that person out on a date.
4. We develop proprioception
Proprioception is an acute awareness of the body in space. Some people are really in touch with their bodies as they move: How they’re feeling, where they are positioned, what speed they’re moving at, which muscles are working. Think of a professional ballet dancer. They have total control over every single little movement as they dance.
Then think of the first time you ever did something new. Maybe when you picked up a tennis racket for the first time, or tried to ride a bike, or took a salsa dancing class. That clumsy, uncoordinated and totally ungraceful-like feeling?
Whatever the nature of your training, becoming increasingly aware of, and connected with, your body as it is moving through space is extremely valuable. That sense of connectedness and control over our movement is ultimately what leads to mastery.
Mastery is getting good at something. And getting good at something plays a key role in motivation. You’ve no doubt experienced this in other areas of your life too. We enjoy and repeat the things we’re good at, right?!
So how can we learn to move more mindfully?
Pick your best time of day
Depending on whether you’re a lark or an owl, you’ll find it easier to train with focus in the morning or evening.
Eliminate distractions
If you usually work out with the TV on or a podcast running in the background, try turning them off. If you’re easily distracted by your phone, try leaving it somewhere out of sight. If you’re at the gym and get easily distracted by other people around you, try putting some headphones in. You know the types of things that distract you most. Aim to minimise as many of them as possible.
Create a ritual
Create a series of actions that you complete, in the same order, before you begin each workout. It could be something as simple as putting your gym kit on, trying your hair back then putting your shoes on; or preparing a water bottle and a post-workout snack; or listening to a particular song (Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger?!), before you begin.
Whatever you choose, it’ll signal to your brain that you’re about to work out, and that you’d like its full attention once you get started.
Use the warmup to set your focus
As you’re warming up, focus your attention and scan your body to notice any soreness or fatigue that may impact what you’re able to do training-wise. Check your energy levels, so you can also gauge how hard (or not) you might want to push today’s workout.
Learn what exercise targets where
When you’re lifting weights, it pays to know what muscle(s) each exercise targets so that you can start paying attention to the sensations you feel during each concentric - as the muscle shortens - and eccentric - as the muscle lengthens - contraction.
Work with your breath
Working with your breath is a helpful way to stay focused. When you’re lifting weights, try exhaling during the concentric phase, (for example, as you lift the dumbbell up towards your shoulder in a bicep curl) and inhale on the eccentric phase (as you lower the dumbbell back down towards your hip).
Don’t expect too much
Don’t expect you’ll be able to stay fully focused one hundred percent of the time. As with mindfulness meditation, this isn’t an exercise in trying to reach perfection; neither is it an exercise in beating ourselves up if we find we’ve lost our concentration. Instead, approach your practice with compassion. If you notice you’ve just worked your way through an entire set while thinking only about the movie you watched last night, never mind! You’ve noticed now. Try and bring your awareness back into your next set - or your cool down stretches, if you’re at the end of your workout.
Just like your training, view the practice of mindful movement as a journey: You’re a work in progress and this isn’t something anyone achieves overnight, just because it sounds like a good idea.
I know. It’s easy to get distracted and it’s always tempting to try and save time by multitasking. But it’s worth giving your workouts your undivided attention. You’ll enjoy them more, and get a whole heap of extra value out of them too.
References
Chen, L. H., Ye, Y. C., Chen, M. Y., & Tung, I. W. (2010). Alegría! Flow in leisure and life satisfaction: The mediating role of event satisfaction using data from an acrobatics show. Social Indicators Research, 99(2), 301-313.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1980). Self-determination theory: When mind mediates behavior. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 1(1), 33–43.
Jackson, S. A., Thomas, P. R., Marsh, H. W., & Smethurst, C. J. (2001). Relationships between flow, self-concept, psychological skills, and performance. Journal of applied sport psychology, 13(2), 129-153.
Nakamura, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). The concept of flow. In Flow and the foundations of positive psychology (pp. 239-263). Springer, Dordrecht.
Pink, D. H. (2010). The surprising truth about what motivates us. Cannongate Books: London, UK.
Williams, M., & Penman, D. (2011). Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world. Hachette UK.
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