Mindfulness, meditation, and mental health

Mental healthis my bag. I talk it all the time. I have posted how I talk to the Big Guy, Creator, before when out on runs. In the last couple years though, I have been conscious of how crowded my mind is with worries, with strong emotions, with thoughts I cannot shake. I would be on a run and realize most of it was churning in my head. I would be so busy I felt like I couldn’t fully capture the joix de vivre I use to. The run was still helpful, don’t get me wrong! I just noticed this and realized a running Man who works as a therapist needed to work on his mental health more intentionally.

A simple thing I do for the last while is to stop midway and walk.  I took on a simple practice of mindfulness. Here is how it goes.

1. Stop

2. Breathe through my belly

3. Look around, notice surroundings what can I see, hear, smell, touch, even taste? 

4. Notice how your legs feel. Stand firmly and notice the large globe under your feet.

5. What am I feeling? Don’t judge anything you note. notice breathe.

6. As you resume, note this very moment, you are alive, healthy, breathing Creation.

That is it.  Being more present I the moment is a habit for anyone. When I get caught up in people’s problems, unsolvable dilemmas, heart ache, regrets or worries, I am not being mindful, and this is exhausting work. It leads me to lower mood and crankiness. I can stop and run mindfully to help get connected again.  

I’d love to hear any other tips or practices you may have. I also have learned much through a yoga group I have been part of at work with clients around being “mindful” versus being “mind full”.

He Runs Beside Me

This verse from the new testament often comes to mind while I am either running or thinking about running.  1 Corinthians 9:26-27.  Now, you many not be a bible reader, but everyone has a connection to scriptures from places all over our culture, as many of our sayings and deep thoughts quote scripture in part.  This particular verse, when I think about it, is an encouragement to keep my faith.  Some might assume it would be faith in myself, in that things will eventually go well with me, or faith in life, that it all will add up in the end.  For me faith is much more specific than that.  It is faith in a personal Being, who is involved in my daily life.  He uses personal experiences to talk to me, including running.

When I think of this time of year, when cold weather prevails and my bed feels like its Velcro to my body, when I am discouraged by my winter times or the hiccups in my plan to get out there and run when I would like, then this scripture speaks to literally running.

But of course, as in many things written, it isn't always about the literal subject.  If you are like me, running is representative to a lot in my life.  Have you ever ruun and felt that you were runing out your pain, your anger, your stress, your grief?  Within hardships, my failures, my triumphs, my tests,  the race represents more so my time here on earth.  This is what I would call hardcore meditation, because it is using much more than my heart, or just my mind to process.  Instead, my daily routine of actually carrying out this activity, specifically running, gives me a connection to this passage that me as a non-runner could only imagine with limited knowledge.

I run for far more than I used to.  I run because for me it is a form of meditation and worship to my Creator.  I have had some argue this point with me, as it is not a traditional sense of spirituality,.  Then anything could be considered sacred! But in this activity there is wisdom.  Only a runner could understand what "beating my body and making it my slave" really means.  It is the discipline, the payment made to reach a goal, or to be qualified for the "prize".  What rich meaning, and what a great thought to ponder.  Each step then becomes a type of cry, or prayer when I have no real words to use.  And I feel a sense of companionship beyond earthly, He runs beside me.

May your time on the road or trail bring you a meditative and peaceful place, a place to connect with your Creator, and qualify you to reach the prize you have set before you.