When I was in yoga (I am taking a break) the teacher talked about meditation. There are many different types of meditation but the one that she was focused on teaching us was a form of stress-relief. The whole point of this type of meditation was to simply be in the moment. The constituted of only concentrating on what was going on at the present moment. I found this incredibly difficult and defaulted to her suggestion for struggling students to simply repeat in your mind "I am here" over and over. After a few tries I found it remarkably relaxing.
I decided that that is one of the great enticements of running for me. I have to concentrate on using my whole body to run so that I have long periods of time where I simply live in the moment. I can easily go in between two modes of deep thought and living in the moment while I run. There are very few if any distractions. However I have noticed that being distracted and not being in the moment and having a run where most of my time is spent in a time of meditation is the difference of wether I had a good run.
This is signficant for me. It is an awesome coping mechanism to take a break from worrying about the past and future and focus on what is going on right now. It makes life feel more conquerable and definable.
4 comments:
What are you worried about? My wife worries a lot too. Why do women worry so much? It's not like they are the President of the United States. I like to run, but I don't see it as a necessary part of my life to deal with stress. I don't need a synagogue to worship God.
Perhaps, Matt, you would better understand if she said she could be in the "now" by playing on the computer. Just concentrating on what's on the screen rather than the chaos that is in the past and future. Anyway, I think I might try that before bed. I have 2 tests this week and could really use some now time!
Men don't worry because women do it for them. If we went on strike men would have ALOT to worry about. It makes me crazy not to run because I don't have any other coping mechanisms. Looks like I'm going to have to find some...
I think men worry plenty. We just show it in different ways.
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