{"id":1002,"date":"2016-04-29T17:13:33","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T22:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/?p=1002"},"modified":"2019-02-28T09:43:51","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T14:43:51","slug":"april-monthly-musing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/2016\/04\/29\/april-monthly-musing\/","title":{"rendered":"April Monthly Musing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>We all\u00a0have innumerable opportunities to practice mindfulness every day, and\u00a0we can choose to bring present moment awareness to more of the things we do.\u00a0 One of the opportunities many of us have to be more present is during exercise.\u00a0 According to the\u00a0<i>Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans,\u00a0<\/i>we should all be exercising for at least 2 \u00bd hours a week.\u00a0 That\u2019s<i>\u00a0<\/i>30 minutes a day for 5 days a week. This is a lot of time we can use to practice being present, and there is a lot we can pay attention to while exercising.\u00a0 We can pay attention to our breathing as it is constantly changing as we work out. We can pay attention to our bodies, noticing sensations and what muscles we are using and what muscles we are not using.\u00a0 We can notice the sounds we are making, or listen to the sounds around us.\u00a0 We can be aware of what we are seeing.\u00a0 We can notice the activity of our minds.<\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>And yet, for many of us, when we exercise we do everything we can to <b>not<\/b> pay attention. \u00a0If we\u2019re at the gym, we may watch television or read a book. Whether we\u2019re at the gym or outside, we might wear headphones and listen to something distracting.\u00a0 One of the things we may be distracting ourselves from is self-judgment, judging ourselves in comparison to those around us.\u00a0 We may feel we don\u2019t look as fit, or aren\u2019t running as fast, or lifting as much as others.\u00a0 And yet here we are, with this body, which has a lot more right with it than wrong with it if we\u2019re able to exercise at all, and with these thoughts, perhaps wishing we were somewhere else, doing something else.\u00a0 So is it possible while exercising to just be with exercising, to notice what\u2019s happening right now, perhaps noticing the tendency of the mind to judge, and to bring some kindness to our experience?<\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>As a long-distance runner, I have personally found exercise to be a great opportunity to practice mindfulness in this way, and it has become a significant part of my formal mindfulness practice.\u00a0 If you would like to experiment with this, try setting aside a specific period of time while exercising to just pay attention, perhaps for only\u00a0five minutes.\u00a0 Notice breathing, notice the body, notice what\u2019s going on in the mind, and see if it\u2019s possible to just be with whatever arises without judging it.\u00a0We often bring this attitude to mindful movement practices like walking meditation, yoga and tai chi. Why not other active pursuits as well?<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We all\u00a0have innumerable opportunities to practice mindfulness every day, and\u00a0we can choose to bring present moment awareness to more of the things we do.\u00a0 One of the opportunities many of us have to be more present is during exercise.\u00a0 According to the\u00a0Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans,\u00a0we should all be exercising for at least 2 \u00bd [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monthly-musings"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>April Monthly Musing - 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