As a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher, I walk around this relatively small town and run into people who know what I do for a living. Often the first thing I hear is, “Oh but, I don’t need training in mindfulness. Running/skiing/climbing/biking is my moving meditation.” For the most part, I believe that answer. The self-awareness and mental precision I learned from my years as a competitive skier and mountain biker were my doorway into contemplative practice. I can consistently count on finding flow and feeling at ease within myself when I take part in those sports. Rather than being a substitute for mindfulness practice, I look at sports as one medium for integrating mindfulness and encountering “the full catastrophe of life,” as Jon Kabat-Zinn, the pioneer of MBSR, so aptly describes it: joy, elation, fear, peace, illness, injury, and loss. But, sports can also be a great avoidance strategy. I once spent all my weekends in full flow, out in the mountains, filing my bucket, and completely ignoring the fact that my career was depleting me and the stress of it was negatively impacting my relationships and family life. And more than one athlete has ended up in MBSR following an injury, unable to function fully in daily life without their regular source of feel-good endorphins. For many athletes, the experience of positive emotion, focused mind, and relaxation found through sport does not translate into other activities of life. You would think body awareness would be the natural gateway to self-awareness, since both are seated in the brain region the insular cortex, yet that does not seem to consistently be the case. Sports themselves are not inherently mindful—but they can be an excellent way to explore and even enhance mindfulness. Neuroscientist Richard Davidson suggests that the increased neuroplasticity during aerobic activity could make “contemplative aerobics” a key time to practice mindfulness. So what makes an activity a mindfulness practice? And how can we use mindfulness to develop a deeper relationship to ourselves in sports and otherwise? Any activity is a mindfulness practice if it incorporates paying attention to the present moment—but being present alone isn’t enough. You need to be present and compassionate: paying attention to what’s going on in your body and mind without harsh judgment. We give ourselves permission to be with things as they are, even if they’re not ideal. Here’s how your love of sports can help you become mindful every day. Author and Jan Hoath, along with Connie Kemmerer, Susan Bauer-Wu and Mark Bertolini are running a Mindful Ski Camp in Jackson, WY from January 31st to February 3rd.
go deeper: mindful movement practices
Greater Good Science Center March 6, 2017
Linda Graham October 7, 2018
Kelle Walsh October 4, 2016
Mark Bertin January 12, 2017
