Finding Zen on the Move: How Running and Other Activities Can Be Your Meditation
This past weekend I ran the Charleston Cooper River Bridge 10k. It’s the first race I’ve done in awhile and as I was training, I realized it brought up a lot of feelings for me. In the past, I’ve turned to running/training when something big and overwhelming was going on in my life. It was an outlet, something to focus on to distract myself from whatever it was I was going through. While that wasn’t the case this time, a few things still came up. And since sometimes it feels good just to experience share, I thought I’d brain dump a list about some things I’ve learned along the way, maybe someone can relate.
There is no “right way”
I’ve spent the last few years starting, growing, and learning about yoga, meditation, and mindfulness practices and even still, when someone says the word “meditation” my mind thinks: sitting cross-legged in a dark or quiet room, thumb and pointer finger touching, eyes closed, for an extended period of time without moving. And that is hard for me (yes I know, that’s why it’s called a PRACTICE). However, I frequently set “meditation” goals and always have a hard time sticking to them, which could have a lot to do with this bias. (Side Note: the app Insight Timer has been great for this).
But as I was training for the Bridge Run when all these thoughts and feelings came up, I was reminded meditation can be a million different things.
So, what even is meditation? Merriam-Webster defines it as:
to engage in a mental exercise (such as concentration on one’s breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness
All of the definitions involve a mind body practice with focused attention, turning inward and meeting yourself without judgement. One source defines it as “an experience that takes you to the depths of who you are”. Funnily enough, nothing about sitting still in a quiet space.
This doesn’t have to be running. Anything that focuses your attention, connects your mind to your body, gets you in a “flow state”, or facilitates a relationship with yourself can be meditation. Yoga, reading, walking, playing with pets, cooking, being with people you love watching the sunset, etc. etc.
2. It’s ok to be uncomfortable
If you know me, you know I love to learn and talk about nervous system regulation. This concept has been such a game changer for me both personally and professionally. So while I could go on about this forever, we’ll save that for another post and I’ll keep this simple.
Instead of avoiding discomfort, sit with it, settle into the uncomfortable. Doing things that are hard and practicing staying focused and calm teaches your nervous system it’s ok to be focused and calm when things are hard.
3. Breathing is the most important thing
Well, duh. But when I first started running (prior to graduating college I had never run more than a mile, so this was all foreign to me), I was just trying to get through it. My body was breathing, so my mind didn’t have to be involved. If we aren’t involved in a yoga or breathwork practice, this might be the way we live our whole lives. I recently took a pranayama (breathwork) course where the instructor was teaching about how research is showing the benefits of nasal breathing during exercise. He challenged us that during exercise, to try to push ourselves to the point where we can still breath through our noses and sit at that point for awhile. And I love a challenge :)
During all of my training runs and during the race, I only went as fast as I could while still breathing through my nose. I won’t dive into the research on this (as with most things, you can find evidence for both schools of thought). But what I will say from my own experience, is while breathing through my nose I was more focused on my breath, it brought me back to myself, I felt more stable and grounded while I was running, and I felt my recovery was greater.
4. It can be hard, but also simple
My husband loves to differentiate between “simple” and “easy”. Running is not easy, but it is simple. It’s one foot after another until the end. This helps me when life feels complicated.
5. Everything you need is already within you
It’s about removing the obstacles that get in our way.
