The Science of Mindfulness
and Lifestyle Change
By Earl Salzman
Mindfulness is a broad based term that includes meditation, and other contemplative exercises that are designed to bring attention to what is happening in the present moment with your thoughts, your emotions, and your physical body.
What does all this have to do with your fitness?
I interviewed Lorraine Gilks, a mindfulness and meditation coach based in Markham. She says that mindfulness teaches us that we are in control of our minds and our thoughts, rather than the other way around. We become familiar with our positive and negative emotions, and we realize that we have a choice about what we think and consequently how we behave. This obviously has huge implications for lifestyle change. She talked about the different components of mindfulness that will help us attain our fitness goals:
Attitude and Motivation
Mindfulness is a gateway to our thoughts. When we’re being mindful we learn how to pay attention to our thoughts, many of which are so second nature, they are almost unconscious. This means that we repeat over and over again, negative thoughts without even being aware of them. When we learn to recognize negative thoughts around lifestyle goals, for example, “I don’t have time to work out”, “ I’ll never run 5 k” or, “ I’m too old and might get hurt”, we can step back from them and ask ourselves if they are true or is this an unconscious loop that runs through our mind providing us with excuse after excuse to validate our thoughts… Can I make time to work out? Is there any significant physical reason to prevent me from working out? If I train properly, can I eventually run 5K? Once you look at the evidence, the answer to these questions is usually not what we have been telling ourselves (and believing!). Thus, training yourself to pay attention to your thoughts allows you to overcome barriers that get in the way of your fitness goals.
Visualization
Visualization is harnessing the imagination to improve the outcome of our workouts. This is a well-documented successful technique used by everyone from world class athletes to weekend warriors. Athletes visualize entire performances before they occur, to improve performance. Likewise, we can visualize ourselves having an amazing workout, where our muscles are getting sleek, our movements are flowing, and we feel energized. Visualization gives us the psychological benefit of confidence, and alleviation of our fears. Research has shown also that visualization significantly enhances physical and mental performance.
Tips for Becoming Mindful
Part 1: Paying Attention to Your Thoughts
1. Find a quiet comfortable place.
2. Close your eyes and focus your attention to your breathing, take a few breaths until you feel yourself relax.
3. Think about a challenge you are facing associated with your fitness, something that feels hard to achieve.
4. Notice what you are thinking. It is important not to judge your thoughts. Just watch them as if you are looking from the outside in. If your mind wanders (and it will), bring your attention back to the challenge. Continue for 5 minutes.
5. Jot down all the thoughts you can remember.
6. Review your thoughts and ask yourself , “Are these thoughts true?” If not, ask yourself, “What is true?”. Continue to do this as you become aware of negative thoughts.
Part 2: Using Visualization to Overcome Challenges
1. Select a fitness challenge.
2. Imagine that you have achieved your goal. Engage your senses and ask how it would look, feel, sound, smell, taste? Get a clear picture in your mind.
3. Continue to use your imagination to walk through the process (step by step) of what you will need to do to reach that goal. Include as much detail as possible and again use all of your senses.
4. Continue to do this regularly until you reach your goal.
Only when we become aware of habitual patterns of thought, can we challenge their validity. Imagine what we could all achieve once we’re free to think and act the way we want!
Earl Salzman is a Markham-based Certified Personal Trainer and educator, providing one-on-one and group training to private and corporate clients. Contact: 416-529-7173 or muscleandmusic@rogers.com.
2600 John Street, Unit 207, Markham, ON L3R 3W3 T: 905.475.5222 F: 905.475.6369
