The Mindfulness Blog

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Rise and Grind!

I know--that's a pretty grim thought--but it describes what a lot of us feel like when we start our morning workout routine. How about starting a new routine in 2019?

How about rise and shine by breaking a sweat, then cool down while checking in with yourself on a cushion, bench or chair? Maybe, "get the bear, before the bear gets you"? Maybe be the bear. Maybe even hug the bear. You get the idea.

Mindfulness (the end we seek) and meditation (the means by which we work to achieve that end), are not the passive practices that our posture and stillness might suggest. Quite to the contrary--we may still the body in order to slow down the mind, but our mind will nonetheless remain active. Just as our hearts involuntarily beat to pump blood, our minds involuntarily think thoughts--that's just what they do.

The principal point of meditation is not to repress those thoughts, but rather, to observe them without attaching a particular significance or consequence to our thoughts, so we can let them pass--without excitement or agitation. And so we can return to our "anchor" of choice (breath, visual or mantra) and begin again. And again. And again.

We all know that repetition builds strength and muscle memory. Well, that's true for both our body and our mind. Physical fitness and mental/emotional fitness are both pieces of the well-being pie, and even though the exercise regimen we follow to strengthen the body may be different than the exercise regimen we follow to strengthen the mind, the two share a lot more in common than we might realize.

Early morning workouts can target not only our bodies, but also, our minds. Or, if we choose to dedicate morning exclusively to the body (exercise regimens can be time-consuming), we can exercise our mind later in the day, at times that accommodate the demands of our work schedules--during what would otherwise be coffee breaks, lunch breaks or (gasp) personal iPhone message breaks!

Just remember, "grind" rhymes with "mind", and regardless of when we may choose to exercise our mind, it's an easy--and important--thing to do. Both for ourselves, and for others. So let's rise and grind!


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