Mindfulness and exercise/sports

[Ben]

Hi Katy

Lately I've been trying to put into practice my cultivation of compassion for the people in the pool who employ a somewhat irritating swimming style, i.e. butterfly stroke up and down the middle of the lanes, splashing and hitting everyone in their way!!

(this looks a bit like someone doing butterfly stroke)

I couldn't agree more. I tend to be careful which lane I select to ensure, as much as possible, to be somewhere where I won't be slowed down by someone else. Even if it means I'm in a lane where I'm swimming much faster than I usually do.
kind regards

Ben

[Kim O'Hara]

Two books that really made me think about running in a different way were "Chi Running" (which is a style of running modeled after Tai Chi) And more recently "Born to Run." A book about a tribe of indigenous people in Mexico (The Tarahumara) who run hundred or more mile races with minimal or no footwear. The problem with the way people run today is that our shoes block off all the sensory input to our feet, and we have learned to run in a mindless and distracted way. (Always with headphones of course, with distracting music to block out the pain of running, which is actually caused by the expensive shoes).

So I am switching to running barefoot (on the treadmill) and when spring comes around (or I move to Florida!) I will be out in my Haurache sandals - just a little bit of material between me and the ground - and no headphones.
-M

There has been a bit of a story lately (Time magazine? New Scientist?) about an important but previously unnoticed difference between the African long-distance runners and the Westerners. It seems that the Africans have always landed on their toes while Westerners land on their heels. Landing on your toe, you have a shock absorber; landing on your bare heel, you send a jolt all the way up your pine every step; landing on your heel wearing running shoes, their heels have have do the job of absorbing the shock and they don't do it very well.
That's the gist, anyway, as far as I remember it. You might like to look into it.

Kim

[meindzai]

Two books that really made me think about running in a different way were "Chi Running" (which is a style of running modeled after Tai Chi) And more recently "Born to Run." A book about a tribe of indigenous people in Mexico (The Tarahumara) who run hundred or more mile races with minimal or no footwear. The problem with the way people run today is that our shoes block off all the sensory input to our feet, and we have learned to run in a mindless and distracted way. (Always with headphones of course, with distracting music to block out the pain of running, which is actually caused by the expensive shoes).

So I am switching to running barefoot (on the treadmill) and when spring comes around (or I move to Florida!) I will be out in my Haurache sandals - just a little bit of material between me and the ground - and no headphones.
-M

There has been a bit of a story lately (Time magazine? New Scientist?) about an important but previously unnoticed difference between the African long-distance runners and the Westerners. It seems that the Africans have always landed on their toes while Westerners land on their heels. Landing on your toe, you have a shock absorber; landing on your bare heel, you send a jolt all the way up your pine every step; landing on your heel wearing running shoes, their heels have have do the job of absorbing the shock and they don't do it very well.
That's the gist, anyway, as far as I remember it. You might like to look into it.

Kim

Yup, same principal. It's the shoes that are actually causing the landing on the heels. A lot of those other places with a strong running culture have been doing it shoe-less most or all of the time. As soon as you get rid of the shoes you pretty much start running correctly, though you have to be careful because we've spent our lives in shoes and have deformed our feet in the process. Also we use the foot like it's one big muscle rather than the dozens (hundreds?) of muscles that are in there, becuase we're not getting the feedback from the ground beneath us... So it's become a very mindless thing and this is why everybody hates running.

-M

[KentStillness]

I used to do a lot of cycling and also raced competitively.

Often I would find that in the first few miles of a training ride thoughts would come and go and as you pedalled through them they would dissipate as the ride went on.

Likewise in a race situation you would get into the Zone. Not like a trance but a state of mind of hyperawareness and concentration.

Its not since embarking on meditation and mindfullness that I noticed the theraputic nature of sport.

I have a theory that those undertaking manual work probably slip into mindfull states of mind much more than say an office worker. Most carpenters, gardeners and decorators I have met seem pretty chilled!

[ground]

Exercise/sports may be an addictive habit that actually undermines mindfulness because it generates agreeable feelings in the context of the body which may cause inclinations to repeat again and again without any mindfulness about what is going on.

Kind regards

[SDC]

Exercise/sports may be an addictive habit that actually undermines mindfulness because it generates agreeable feelings in the context of the body which may cause inclinations to repeat again and again without any mindfulness about what is going on.

Kind regards

Agreed. While I'm skiing I am vaguely aware of the fact that I am completely absorbed and attached to the sensory overload and riding the adrenaline. If I were to start to practice satipatthana I would have to become fully aware of this fact and then it would no longer be fun. I am not ready to do that yet so I purposely don't try to practice while I ski.

However when it is just plain lame exercise I practice with no problem.