A quick note from Steve: You might recall that I've previously had Skylee Robinson do a guest post on the wonders of floating in an isolation tank, and Jim Eaton told us all about his experience during a previous 30-day meditation challenge. So when I announced another meditation challenge during October 2014, I was happy that, once again, readers were interested in telling us about their struggles, challenges and triumphs with mindfulness. First up is Lisa Perkins, a trainer/coach from Wichita, Kansas whom I met this past April at Paleo FX in Austin. Thanks, Lisa!
*************************************
I am a personal trainer and health coach with a master’s degree in library science and I positively adore research. I listen to podcasts incessantly, subscribe to dozens of blogs, and read peer-reviewed journal articles just for fun. I use resistant starch, brain enhancing nootropics, and a standing workstation as part of my lifelong n=1 experiment. I know an inordinate amount about things like the gut microbiome, triggers for autoimmune disease, and the different ways men and women partition fuel during exercise. You get the picture: To say I love all of this stuff would be a huge understatement.
Enter the proverbial monkey wrench: My increasing awareness of a growing movement
amongst health and fitness experts, as well as successful entrepreneurs,
emphasizing the key role mindfulness and meditation play in optimizing health,
fitness, and mental performance.
Ugh… I mean seriously??
Where did THAT come from?!
A little background: I
grew up on an island in Alaska in a predominantly male household. Attributes such as physical agility and mental
toughness were highly prized; self-reflection and emoting all over each other
were most emphatically not. Having grown
up this way, it took me an inordinately long time to get behind the ‘lifestyle’
component of health – optimizing sleep, stress reduction, plenty of low level
activity. But I finally did. You know
why? Because there is scientific proof
that these things play a role in our physiological health. Therefore, I dutifully (if somewhat
begrudgingly) don my blue light blocking glasses in the evening, sleep 8+ hours
a night in a pitch black room, and take daily leisure walks. These have been tough concessions for a
hard-charging ‘sleep when I’m dead’ type of gal but I made them because the
science dictates their importance.
With this in mind, imagine how duped I felt when I began to
be aware of the groundswell amongst my beloved health and fitness experts espousing
the need for everyone to sit down and ‘get quiet.' I felt like I’d been blind-sided. Seriously. Ben
Greenfield, a bastion of tips on cold thermogenesis and foam rolling
techniques, now starts his day with a five-minute gratitude journal. Mark
Sisson, my go-to guy on all things Primal, now cites meditation as one of
the best ways to increase heart rate variability. Lifestyle entrepreneur Lewis
Howes, credits his mindfulness practice for enhancing his success and
quality of life. Even Men’s
Fitness has jumped on the bandwagon, stating that, ‘from stress reduction
and weight loss to increased energy and enhanced sleep, meditation could be
your most powerful prescription to date.'
It sounds facetious to say, but anyone who knows me will
attest to the fact that I have gone through the five stages of grief
on this issue, spending most of my time in Denial-land. Thanks to Steve
Kirsch’s 30-day meditation challenge, I’ve finally reached the final
step: Acceptance.
Before I made the decision to take up this challenge, I did
what any biohacker worth their salt would do; delved into the research. I needed to understand the science before I
could fully embrace the process. Based
on my research, I’ve come (with a moderate amount of kicking and screaming) to
the conclusion that there is ample scientific evidence to support the direct
impact a mindfulness practice can have on physiological health (examples here,
here,
and here).
Ok, no more procrastinating. Time to get started….
I’m not going to sugarcoat this. This has been hard for me - probably harder
than anything I’ve ever done. I have NO
problem obliterating myself in the gym but sitting down and focusing on box
breathing was excruciating, particularly at the outset. I wiggled, I wriggled, I heard every ambient
sound within a city block. However,
thanks to the Meditation
for Dummies Cheat Sheet, I was able to develop my own unique approach for
establishing focus; first for less than a minute and now for at least ten. The benefits I’ve experienced over the 30-day
period? Enormous.
According to Mindful
Fitness, a company that incorporates mindfulness into traditional fitness
practices, ‘Paying attention to the present moment without judgment or
attachment allows you to live in the moment and awaken to experience. It
nurtures clarity and enhances growth and transformation in all aspects of
life, including health and fitness.'
I’ve certainly found this to be the case. While I haven’t meditated every day as I
intended, I’ve done it enough during this 30-day challenge to experience
noticeable improvements in my capacity to cope with stressful situations, quiet
my overactive brain, and feel more calm and centered overall. My kids have noted a change in me. Where before I would’ve flown off the handle
about something silly like a pile of wet towels, I now am able to take a minute
to process before reacting. That is
empowering and, dare I say it, life altering.
Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan, author of A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can
Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit, states in an article
on Mindful.org that 'Mindfulness
can be a great opportunity for us as a country, for all of us to develop this
skill in some way, improve our performance… but there’s some fundamental things
that are essential to that, and it’s the ability to concentrate, to relax, to
be aware, and to cultivate and develop these skills; they’re going to improve
your performance, regardless of what you are trying to do.'
I am now a believer.
I will continue to fine-tune my mindfulness practice, tweaking it to fit
my individual needs and quirks (i.e., I recently had knee surgery so can’t sit
in a lotus position). I can’t see myself
ever going back to my non self-reflective days as I believe I have just
glimpsed the possibilities that can come from getting quiet and letting my mind
Just Be. Acceptance: It’s a beautiful thing and I am grateful.
No comments:
Post a Comment