Meditating in the Real World
Hi, I'm Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach.
If you are a fan of my blogs and videos, then you are aware of my love for all things centering, restorative, and relaxing, such as meditation, breathwork, yoga, and time spent in nature.
Finding time for unwinding is not a problem for me. It’s part of the fabric of my everyday life. However, finding time for more cardiovascular workouts, specifically two hours per week, as I discussed in my vlog Stand Up, is more of a challenge.
When I looked at my morning routine, I had no time to add another activity. (You can check out my morning routine blog to see how every minute is packed with self-care from 5 am to my first client call at 7:15 am.) Furthermore, for me, if a habit doesn't happen in the morning, it’s anyone’s guess if I’ll find time for it later in the day.
What I decided to experiment with is transforming my morning sitting meditation into a walking/jogging meditation. My previous routine was to sit in meditation, then move to my red light for 10 minutes, then 10 minutes of stretching and yoga, then on to breakfast and emails. My new routine is my walking/jogging meditation occurs directly after the 10 min stretch and yoga and right before my breakfast.
So far, this experiment is going well. I have a route I use Monday through Friday when I have only 20 minutes, and a course I follow on Saturday and Sunday when I have more time. I set my beloved Insight Timer meditation app for 20 minutes and head out.
Typically, my routine is, I breath in for four paces and out for 4 paces . Sometimes I think, ‘In, in ,in , in,' as I’m breathing in for the four strides and I say to myself, ‘Out, out, out, out,’ as I’m breathing out for four strides. When my mind wanders as all minds do, I gently bring it back to my four-count rhythm and breath.
Meditation is not about mental blankness or nothingness. It is about strengthening the ability to notice when your mind wanders and then through practice creating the willingness and the ability to bring it back to what you’re choosing to focus on. Meditation and mindfulness are a muscle that needs strengthening over and over again.
Traditional walking meditation is at a slightly slower pace than your typical stride and usually involves 10-20 steps in one direction and then turning around and retracing the steps just taken. Then repeating that process back and forth for your desired length of time.
In general, I like to follow a prescribed protocol, yet I also don’t live in an ashram, and I have unique demands on my life and work schedule. Furthermore, I don’t want to sacrifice either my morning meditation or my need to add cardiovascular exercise to my life.
Therefore, my modern-day solution is combining the two. A walk/jog meditation where my goal is to maintain an elevated heartrate while focusing on my breath and steps isn’t a traditional walking meditation. However, as Ram Dass said, “We don't need any particular place or time to mediate but only mindfulness.”
In the real world, busy people choose what they are absolute or ‘purist’ about. For me, I don't eat animal products. Period. But I'm ok with this current solution of combining my morning meditation with my cardiovascular workout.
Where can you fit in your meditation? Is it while driving, goodness knows we’ve all arrived somewhere and wondered how we got there because we were so busy thinking about anything other than driving. So, could you set the timer for 5 minutes, turn off the radio and drive while staying present with your breathing and the surroundings?
How about when you’re folding laundry, prepping a meal, or while you’re eating a meal. Stay present with what you are doing (I’m folding now, I’m chopping now, I’m chewing now,) or my go-to think in on the in-breath and out on the out-breath. Set the timer for 5 minutes, or when you are done with the laundry, prep work, or meal, your meditation is complete. You choose. Now you are a meditator.
Right because we don't need any particular place or time to mediate but only mindfulness.
So, beautiful wellness seekers, I’m suggesting when in doubt, toss out perfectionism even traditionalism and create your meditation practice to fit your life. Meditation is about practicing being present and nonjudgmentally observant. You can practice that while doing darn near anything.
I'm Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and thank you for reading this blog about how I’m bringing my meditation practice to my morning cardiovascular routine. If you have any questions about this blog, health, wellness, or wellness coaching with me, please reach out via my website at lizmosercoaching.com.
Bye for now, and be well,
Liz
