Let me start by admitting that I suck at
meditating. In fact so do most of my
colleagues and peers. Ask a working
father if he has time to meditate and most will simply laugh: “Yeah
right, you mean sit around and do nothing for 30 minutes? - not a chance!” And even those of us who are willing to
try often find that we are so busy, suffering from attention-deficit or obsessive-compulsion,
that we find it nearly impossible to not let our ‘to-do’ list creep into our
mind, that is supposed to be void of thoughts, or at least witness to our thoughts. Or,
we are so chronically sleep-deprived, we simply fall asleep 5 minutes into it. Did I mention that even finding a quiet space
to meditate in is often impossible? But
ironically, those of us who seemingly can’t find a spare second to meditate in
our hectic lives are usually the ones who could benefit from it most. Because it
is proven that meditating even just 10 minutes a day can reduce anxiety, sharpen
focus, help control impulsiveness, plus a myriad of physical health
improvements. This is even measurable
through brain imaging & MRI scans, and simple brain wave monitoring. Trust me, if there wasn’t tangible proof I
wouldn’t be getting involved with it.
I’m not into glib gurus. I’m into
results.
As you
may know, I am a big advocate of holistic
health. Yet, like most Trainers and
fitness enthusiasts I spend 90% of my effort and learning on the physical
component of fitness. Improving
lean-body mass and optimizing body composition.
Building muscle, burning fat, sculpting abdominals and strengthening the
core, and improving mobility and athletic performance. These are my go-to areas where I thrive, and
honestly it is what most of my clients are concerned about. But holistic health inherently implies the
whole-body, mind and spirit, so mental fitness is at least a third pillar
upholding ideal health. Ask any warrior,
professional athlete, Yogi, or Special Operations soldier and they will all
agree that mental fitness is more like 80% of the success formula. They will tell you with complete certainty
that training and preparing the physical body
for ‘battle’ is the easy part. Preparing
the mind for challenge, risk and adversity is where the real effort is
required. And as far as Nature-versus-Nurture is concerned, it
is our minds that can be nurtured, or
altered and improved the most through training, as there are less genetic
limitations. The mind is where our
greatest potential exists, virtually untapped by most of us. Many of us are born with an impressive level
of baseline motivation, resiliency, competitive-edge and focus capacity. But no matter where you think you’re at with
you mental game, the act of meditation will take you to the next level. A level you didn’t even know existed.
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| The 'Amygdala' is the also known as the mind's 'fear-center'. Meditating regularly can help quiet the Amydala from hi-jacking the more thoughtful Pre-Frontal Cortex. |
