Mindfulness and exercise/sports

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zavk
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Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by zavk »

Hi friends,

Just wondering if anyone has found mindfulness helpful in exercise or sports?

I find that my performance at the gym (on the treadmill or whatever) often depends on how well I'm able to observe and let thoughts like, 'GAWD, this is too painful! I shall stop in 5 minutes, I can't go on anymore!' arise and pass away. Some days I get caught up in these thoughts and when that happens, I don't usually have a good workout.
With metta,
zavk
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Ben
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by Ben »

Hi Ed

Please don't laugh at what i am about to tell you...Its so 'buddhist geek'...
For a while there I used to play my teacher chanting suttas via my earpieces while on the treadmill/stationery bike/rowing machine.
That didn't last long but i maintained awareness of sensation without reacting during workouts. Its always very useful.
Go on, you might as well laugh - everyone else does!
I haven't been back to the gym for a while so I just count laps when I'm in the pool. There's some awareness of sensation but there's not the same focus and continuity of awareness as sitting meditation.
Kind regards

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

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retrofuturist
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

Thinking along the lines of what Ben just wrote, when I used to play cricket, I would usually bat best when I had a tune in my head. I'm not sure precisely why... maybe it just helped to momentarily stop the papanca, which can otherwise cause you to overthink the situation.

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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cooran
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by cooran »

Hello all,

Ben - good story. Now my confession. I've just returned from a walk I do four or five times a week. It's about 6 kms. and it wends along the side of a creek. In order to stop my mind going over and over uselss papanca, I repeat "May all beings be happy and at ease". It fits in with the stepping and the breathing and my concentration goes to whatever being I see or hear. Lots of ants, lots of different birds, people - walking and cycling, dogs, four turtles sunning on the creek bank, mum and dad duck and little ducklings, and best of all thousands of fruit bats hanging in about six large gum trees in their wing-created 'sleeping bags' and still managing to grumble and nag at each other in daylight hours.

metta
Chris
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Ben
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by Ben »

Thanks Chris and all
Its good to be in the company of fellow nerds!
metta

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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zavk
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by zavk »

My turn to make a somewhat embarrassing confession. I sometimes listen to cheesy 80s heavy metal music when I'm on the treadmill. I'm not a fan of heavy metal music as such but I did like some metal bands in my early teens. I find that the energetic rhythm of heavy metal keeps me focussed on the running. Yet, sometimes I find it distracting. So I run without listening to the iPod and try to be mindful of my bodily movements/sensations instead. I can't say that the lyrics of those heavy metal songs are anything like the words of the dhamma!
With metta,
zavk
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Cittasanto
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by Cittasanto »

I invested in a chair master!

I sitdown, I stand up, I sit down, I stand up.

and a coffe'o'matic
I lift the cup, I put it down, I lift the cup, I put it down!

If you know Denis leary you get the joke!!!

but I use to mainly walk everywhere, and I would just focus on the walking!

I believe some sports institutes have done studdies into this, maybe there is an article on one of their sites
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
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mindfullmom
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by mindfullmom »

When I was younger (much younger) I was a competetive gymnast. Spent 6 days a week, 4-6 hours a day at the gym.
Focus, sustained concentration, energy, will, and effort all played a large role in any success you could have in that sport.

First you would need to "block out" or "turn off" any external stimulus ie the crowd or music or coaches, and you would need to turn inside.
Then you must focus your attention on your body and what you are about to do with it selectively "turning off" pain if possible.
Next, your energy, will and effort would be put into every move you made, each part of your body from the tips of your toes to the top of your head must be connected with your mind all working seemlessly together so that you could achieve the desired single result: a perfect routine.

You could not become discouraged or doubtful of your potential because that could lead to fear and from fear comes injury.
Every time you fall you get back up. You would need to practice, practice, practice.

Now, with mediation practice, I see many similarities to all the techniques that I learned in that sport and it has been helpful!
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DNS
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by DNS »

My two "sports" are chess and stairclimbing. I use quotes over sports because some don't see them as much of a sport. :tongue:

In chess, mindfulness is obviously very important.
"A weaker player with better concentration will out-perform a more intelligent player with less concentration" -- Mencius (Confucian scholar).

In stairclimbing, the stairwells are usually dark and boring and there is plenty of opportunity for mindfulness just to avoid the monotony of climbing with no views, not much to please the senses, no temptations, etc. But one of the best parts about stairclimbing is that you get done fast. A 10 minute workout with stairs is equivalent to about a 20 minute run (because of moving your body weight vertically, against gravity, instead of horizontally).
kayy
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by kayy »

Ben wrote:Hi Ed

Please don't laugh at what i am about to tell you...Its so 'buddhist geek'...
For a while there I used to play my teacher chanting suttas via my earpieces while on the treadmill/stationery bike/rowing machine.
That didn't last long but i maintained awareness of sensation without reacting during workouts. Its always very useful.
Go on, you might as well laugh - everyone else does!
I haven't been back to the gym for a while so I just count laps when I'm in the pool. There's some awareness of sensation but there's not the same focus and continuity of awareness as sitting meditation.
Kind regards

Ben

:jumping: :rofl:

(in the nicest possible way - i'm probably geekier than you :namaste: )
kayy
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by kayy »

I do a fair amount of running and find that my mind wanders far less when running than when doing other activities. I get into a rhythm and often end up in a slight trance-like state. I dunno whether that's particularly useful for anything, but I always feel great after running, decreases my levels of anxiety and low mood, and keeps me physically fit.

:woohoo: (that's me, running)
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Ben
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by Ben »

Well done Kate!
I'm still swimming laps in the pool but not as often as I like. I find if I don't have to share a lane with anyone (which is rare), my mindfulness increases as I just use the black line at the bottom of the pool to anchor my mind and my stroke.
kind regards

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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Sekha
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by Sekha »

I may play the role of the sport spoiler this time.
Anyway I finally droped my practice of sports to gain time for practicing more meditation.

I thought to myself: 'I am very lucky to have come to this teaching and to such an undertanding of it. This life is short. It may not last long enough for me to become a sotapanna and gain the ultimate assurance of being liberated. Every second of this life is extremely valuable and should be used at its highest potential.
Sport is good for the body, but this body will ultimately remain in this world. I should rather cultivate my mind and drive further the destruction of cravings.'

So finally I practice 10 asanas every day, always the same very basic ones, and this is enough to feel comfortable in the body. For the rest, I practice more meditation now : )

hoping it might help
Where knowledge ends, religion begins. - B. Disraeli

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DNS
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by DNS »

Dukkhanirodha wrote: So finally I practice 10 asanas every day, always the same very basic ones, and this is enough to feel comfortable in the body. For the rest, I practice more meditation now : )
Don't forget walking meditation. That is an exercise too, as well as a meditation.

But the asanas are very good too.
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bodom
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Re: Mindfulness and exercise/sports

Post by bodom »

David N. Snyder wrote:
Dukkhanirodha wrote: So finally I practice 10 asanas every day, always the same very basic ones, and this is enough to feel comfortable in the body. For the rest, I practice more meditation now : )
Don't forget walking meditation. That is an exercise too, as well as a meditation.
Five Benefits of Walking Meditation

1. One is able to bear long journeys (on foot).
2. One can endure making an effort.
3. One will be more resistant to illness or disease (having good health).
4. Food can be easily digested.
5. The concentration developed while walking lasts a long time.

- Numerical (Anguttara) Collection, Book of Five
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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