run and in life. Just as lifting weights can strengthen your hips or hamstrings, meditation can strengthen your mind – enhancing your running and overall wellbeing.
How to begin meditating
HOW TO BE A MORE MINDFUL RUNNER Adding meditation to your routine can enhance your running – and your life
076 RUNNERSWORLD.COM/UK JULY 2022
MEDITATION HAS LONG BEEN
used to promote calm and relaxation, cope with stress and illness, as well as manage anxiety and depression. Runners often call their time logging miles their moving meditation. However, if the disappointment of a slower-thanexpected mile split or panic over unexplained tightness in your calf can derail your race or ruin your workout, adding a formal meditation practice to your training routine can better prepare you to handle these feelings and emotions – both on the
Meditation v mindfulness The two boil down to more specific descriptions: meditation is the practice, while mindfulness is a state of being. Practising meditation trains your mind to stay more present in each moment. Mindfulness training uses meditation exercises in combination with informal practices, such as running, to incorporate mindfulness into daily life. Together, they train your mind to focus less on negative thoughts, emotions or worries. Keith Kaufman, a clinical sports psychologist and co-developer of the Mindful Sport Performance Enhancement programme, describes mindfulness as a non-reactive approach. The challenge is that
WO R D S : C H R I S SY H O R A N . P H OTO G R A P H Y: G E T T Y I M AG E S ; S T U D I O 33
AND BREATHE Train your mind to be stronger with meditation
Meditation, or simply bringing awareness to a specific focus, typically involves holding yourself with a comfortable posture, such as sitting, lying down or walking. And ideally, it’s practised in a place with limited distractions. Once you’ve ticked those boxes, meditation exercises are simple. For example, you may focus on your breath, count or repeat a mantra. Or you can scan your senses and observe what your body sees, hears, tastes, smells or feels to centre your attention. When distracting thoughts arise – this is boring; my nose is itching; we’re out of milk – try to come back to that focus. There is no time requirement to make a meditation ‘count’, so meditate for as long as you feel comfortable. But know that the more you make an effort to meditate, the more you will ultimately get out of it. Rebecca Pacheco – author of Still Life: The Myths And Magic Of Mindful Living and a meditation and yoga instructor – acknowledges that meditation will, at times, feel difficult, even for the most experienced meditators. ‘You may find you’re bored, anxious or fidgety, and that’s okay,’ says Pacheco, a two-time Boston Marathon finisher. It doesn’t mean you’re ‘bad’ at meditation.
