“Take A Deep Breath: Crushing Fitness Part 5”

When was the last time you took a break?

Wow, we are already on part 5 of one of my blog post series! As many of you already know, I write about different topics under one of my four categories each week (I recently added a fifth category, but a blog post on that will be coming soon!). I have kept a “series” of crushing fitness posts and living single posts. If you’ve missed any of the fitness posts you can check them out with the links below! Trust me, they’re not all about just pumping iron and burning calories. And today’s post won’t be either!
Crushing Fitness Part 1
Crushing Fitness Part 2
Crushing Fitness Part 3
Crushing Fitness Part 4

I shared in Crushing Fitness Part 3 a few Instagram posts that contained very inspirational messages to help train our minds and create a healthy mental space that will inevitably help us crush our physical fitness goals. I said back then, and I still believe now, that if we train our minds to do something, our bodies will follow. When we are intentional about our goals and stand firm on our why behind the goals, we will be amazed at how much progress we can make and how disciplined we can be.

But even though that post was about “mental” fitness, it embodied a tone of encouraging us to act, to do something, to get up and get to the gym. In today’s post, I am focusing on mental fitness again, but I am taking a different approach. I am going to encourage us to NOT act. To do [just about] NOTHING. In today’s post, I am going to talk about meditation, its benefits, and how it has impacted me.

What is meditation?
“Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.”

Who wouldn’t want a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state?!
Meditation can be done in various different ways — sitting or lying down, in the dark with candles, guided or unguided, with background music or silence — and for different amounts of time — 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 60 minutes. It really all depends on the person and what they’re trying to achieve! A popular form of meditation is focusing on your breathing or your chakras.
I am just beginning meditation. I have done it probably 2 times in my life in the past, but recently I have made it a point to meditate for at least 10 minutes. I am doing a lot of breathing techniques and focusing on my breath rather than my never-ending thoughts.
One thing I noticed so far is that my mind almost immediately feels at ease after taking the first few deep breaths and sitting in the stillness! I haven’t done any meditation focused on chakras yet, but I will one day and can report back!

What are the benefits of meditation?
“Benefits [of meditation] include lower levels of stress; reducing asthmatic episodes, physical pain, insomnia, episodic anger, negative or irrational thinking, and anxiety; as well as improving coping skills, focus, and a general feeling of well-being.”

One thing about fitness is that the goal is for all-around good health. That’s why I like to include mental fitness within this topic. What good would we be with washboard abs, toned legs, and big glutes if we were miserable in our minds and emotions? If we were always stressed? If we never experienced true joy?
Meditation is a time period where you can just press pause. Stop focusing on what’s around you and start focusing on what’s inside of you. Clearing your mind. Reducing stress and anxiety. And I didn’t even know it had those other physical benefits such as reducing asthmatic episodes and physical pain!
One of the major fitness tips is to rest. Make sure we get a good night’s sleep. Meditation can definitely help improve our sleeping patterns, which in turn positively impact our fitness routines.

How has meditation impacted me?
I’m still at the beginning of this journey, but I have made it a goal to meditate for at least 10 minutes every day during the month of March. To be honest, friends have suggested meditation to me a while ago. I just never brought myself around to trying it. I always fall victim to the mindset that “I have to be doing something every minute of the day.” I can even feel that mindset and those kinds of thoughts come in the mornings when I am done getting ready for work 5-10 minutes before it’s time to leave the house (very rare occurrence), and my mind immediately thinks “what can I do until it’s time to leave?” Granted, I can leave early and get to where I’m going early, but usually, I try to fill that space with some activity — scrolling through social media, sending my good morning texts, taking a few selfies, checking my email on my phone. I know that habit probably isn’t healthy and I know that habit has been around for a longgg time and it’s not going to go away overnight.

But I like to think that if I challenge myself to meditate daily, that habit will slowly lessen into something nonexistent. I will be able to be present in the moment more often and be still. Finding 10 minutes after work and before the next Zoom meeting or Netflix binge has been the best time for me to meditate. I made sure I meditated before sitting down to write this blog post! If you choose to add meditation to your daily routine, you will have to decide which time of day is best for you, how long you want to meditate, and what kind of meditation you want to practice.

I am currently doing guided meditations and I use an app on my phone called Balance (it usually has an annual subscription fee, but during the pandemic, they’re offering a full year for free!). It apparently adapts to you, your goals, and your progress. I previously used the free version of another app called Oak, and I liked that too. You can search “guided meditations” on YouTube and various videos will come up. I also really love The Daily Shine app and podcast; they utilize breathing techniques as well as some journaling exercises in their episodes. But for now, I am going to stick with Balance, track my progress, and tackle my goals of reducing stress, improving focus, and improving my mood!

Have you ever meditated? Do you enjoy it? Tell me about your experiences and practices in the comments! Also, please don’t feel obligated to try meditation or add this to your plate if that’s not what will serve you this season. My goal for this blog post as well as all of the others is to share a little bit about me while hopefully motivating or inspiring you! 🙂

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” — Johsua 1:8, NKJV.

Moni Jay, Off the Record