Think Clearly to Move More
KEY POINTS:
1. Muscular meditation is any activity where you move in a repetitive, rhythmic pattern. Examples include walking, swimming, cycling, jogging, rowing, and paddling.
2. When your muscles are contracting in a consistent pattern over a period of time, this helps put the brain in a state where it can relax and your mind can wander.
3. If you do this regularly, it can be very powerful for stress reduction, as well as for decreasing symptoms of depression and anxiety.
This module is all about the tools and techniques you can use to break the stress cycle, improve your mental health, and ultimately reach your potential. To highlight the power of the mind–body connection, I want to introduce a technique called muscular meditation. The brain and body are linked, and we can achieve better mental health by doing things that improve our physical health. When we do activities that work on both at the same time, the results can be potent.
Muscular meditation is any activity in which you move in a repetitive, rhythmic pattern—walking, swimming, cycling, jogging, rowing, and paddling are examples. Basically, any type of exercise where your muscles are contracting in a consistent pattern over a period. This form of movement helps put the brain in a state in which it can relax and the mind can wander. If you do this regularly, it can reduce stress significantly, as well as decrease symptoms of depression and anxiety.
There are options beyond walking, swimming, and cycling when it comes to muscular meditation. For thousands of years, practices have been developed in India, China, and Japan that improve both mental and physical health. For our purposes of exploring ways to optimize our stress levels through physical movement, let’s focus on yoga and tai chi.
Yoga involves moving through various postures while breathing smoothly and deeply. It is excellent for reducing stress levels and improving mental health (lowering depression and anxiety). It can also ease insomnia. On a more metabolic level, yoga has been shown to lower systemic inflammation in patients with obesity and cardiovascular disease. Even more promising is that the physiological and psychological benefits of practising yoga appear in as little as 10 days.
Tai chi is another option. It’s a martial art that became popular as a defensive fighting technique but has evolved over the years as primarily a method for relieving stress and anxiety. Tai chi involves a series of movements performed in a slow, focused manner while deep breathing. It’s a gentle way to relieve stress.
The body–mind link is powerful. Moving your body in these ways really will improve your mental health and your resilience in the face of challenges.
This Week’s Exercise: Meditate!
This week, your challenge is to meditate! If you’re new to meditation, it’s really helpful to start with some guided meditation. There are so many apps out there, both paid and free versions. Some of the ones we recommend are Calm, Headspace, Insight Timer, and Smiling Mind. But there are many to choose from!
If you already meditate, challenge yourself by making your practice more consistent or increasing the amount of time you spend meditating.
Bonus Content
You're doing great! To help you keep the momentum going check out this video of a talk I did about the concept of Moving Meditation.
Enjoy!
The information and advice provided in this program is intended to assist you with improving your performance, as well as your general health. It is not intended and should not be used in place of advice from your own physician or for treatment or diagnosis of any specific health issue. By participating in this program you acknowledge that undertaking any new health, diet and/or exercise regime involves certain inherent risks, that you assume such risks, and that you release Wells Performance Inc. from any responsibility or claim relating to such participation.