Timothy Leary didn't say this.

I love mindfulness, but I also love mindlessness.  I think we all need both in fitness.

Mindlessness is the thing that gets us to the gym before we are entirely awake.  It’s the thing that gets us through the boring parts of cardio with loud music or just the hypnotism of the continuous rhythmic movement.

Mindfulness, however, is what helps us tune into the quality of our motions.  It allows us to keep our knees aligned with our toes, our bellies contracted appropriately, and the breath actually moving in and out of our lungs when our instinct suggests we hold it instead.

So let’s tune in AND tune out.  It will help.

Timber!

I am the worst tree ever.  When it is time for tree pose in yoga, something happens to me.  I lose all sense of balance.  My ankles decide that really what they want is to turn into blenders full of rocks.  My hips forget that they are attached to my legs and make a break for freedom at every compass point.  The problem persists all the way up the chain.  I do it anyway.

I am making peace with my Charlie-Brown-sincere tree pose because it is better than no tree pose.  It’s also a low-risk opportunity to practice dealing with adversity.  Sure, I may fall out of the pose.  Maybe it will amuse the other yogis (and myself—I am really good at laughing at myself!).  Maybe it will even make other people more comfortable when they come across a pose that is hard for them.

My tree, slowly, is getting better.  It is putting down roots.  Maybe the branches aren’t ready to reach for the sky yet, but I can be patient.  Acorn to oak is a process.

What other exercises do we find hard, do we need to practice and learn to love anyway?

Watch out for the amontillado...

Sometimes we hit a wall.  (I hope it is a metaphorical wall; otherwise:  ouch!)  We are going along, doing our workouts, eating our healthy food, and then our progress suddenly stops.  The first thing to do, naturally, is swear about it a little.  Then, when we have calmed down, we get to take advantage of the stop.

Unlike the swearing, the taking advantage does not come intuitively to most of us.  We were in a groove!  We knew what to do!  It was all going so well!  Here’s the thing:  life doesn’t go smoothly along a level path with no turns in it.  No one would ride that roller-coaster.  It would be boring.

In our non-boring existence, we get to make choices about how to deal with obstacles like walls.  We can go around, over, or under (or use the preposition we like best!).  We can even decide that maybe this wasn’t the right direction anyway and turn around.  The point is that this obstacle gives us a chance to rest, reflect, and plan our next steps.

Fitness is not just about work.  It’s also about growth, which comes in between the workouts, while we’re resting.  It’s about connecting with our friends and our tribe, figuring out solutions together.

So:  wall climbing anyone?