Monday Fitness Fun Fact

Repeat after me, "I am a lean, mean, exercising machine, I am a lean, mean........"   

When it comes to exercise, it's all Mind over Body Legend has it there was once a group of Tibetan monks who could run 300 miles in 30 hours, averaging 6 minute miles. "How is that possible?!" you may wonder. The monks would stare off into the distance and practice a sort of moving meditation where they synchronized their breathing with their strides and repeated a mantra each time a foot struck the ground.

The New York Times recently covered this "mind over body" technique in a story on the powers of dissociation in sport-that is using your mind to transcend your body, and consequently your preconceived physical limits. Which is all just a fancy way of saying that if you can quiet your mind, your body can do much more than you think. There is no doubt in my mind this works. I've played around with various forms of dissociation for years. It has mostly been in the form of counting backwards, mentally reciting poems from my childhood (I still remember nearly every one we had to memorize in 6th grade), and piecing together lyrics from favorite songs. Thing is, I usually resorted to doing this only when I was in pain or feeling whipped during a long run or ride, so it would become a battle with my brain.  Recently, however, I've latched onto some new mental gymnastics that are even more effective. Instead of just distracting my neurons with mindless brain games, I've decided to make like a monk and give them some positive mantras to work over.

First I concentrate on my breathing and foot strikes, taking quick strides and inhaling for three foot strikes and exhaling for three foot strikes, so I switch sides every other exhale. Then I repeat, "light" and "quick" as my feet hit the ground. This is to remind me that I am not a buffalo pounding my body into the Earth, but some fleet-footed creature (I can't bring myself to call myself a gazelle) floating over its surface. Amazingly, it works. Though it can still get kind of rough out there; the time passes much more quickly and pleasantly than it ever has.

FitChick