Weightlifting a meditating alternative
Hitting the gym is not only good for your body, it can give your mind a lift
When I think of meditation, I picture an image of serenity — a wide-open room, a person sitting cross-legged on a mat, eyes closed and mind relaxed. Meditation, to me, conjures up peacefulness, calmness, quietness and stillness.
Which is why the sight of bulging biceps, dripping sweat and a barbell slamming to the floor doesn’t exactly fit with that picture. But looking a little closer, the practice of weightlifting actually has a lot more in common with the art of meditation than first meets the eye.
To meditate is to spend time in quiet thought, as the dictionary puts it, and while the purpose of meditation is to still the mind, that doesn’t necessarily mean stilling the body. Meditation, many people mistakenly believe, can be performed only through sitting quietly and clearing the mind of intrusive thoughts. In actuality, meditation can be as simple as focusing your mind on a single point of reference, even when intrusive thoughts insist on cropping up.
“Meditation can be achieved in the middle of Times Square,” says Cali Estes, a psychologist, personal trainer and chief executive of Addictions Coach, which offers help to celebrities and corporate leaders trying to overcome drug, alcohol and other problems. “Meditation is simply the decompression of thoughts and clearing of the mind from any unwanted, negative threats or harmful ideals that can sabotage your success, (and) using exercise as a means to release stress and clear the mind is an excellent tool in both personal and professional life,” says Estes, who uses a variety of methods in her work, including exercise and meditation.
And in a world that increasingly has people chained to desks and screens and spreadsheets and Snapchats, it may be more important than ever to free the mind by first freeing the body through exercise.
“When I am lifting — and seriously lifting — there’s nothing else besides me, the iron and the goals I place around it,” says Janelle Tank, 23, a personal trainer and fitness entrepreneur who began weightlifting three years ago to protect against what she calls “self-hate” and substance abuse. “My life up to that point was … well, I shouldn’t be here today.”
I also realized the benefits that could be unlocked through grunting, repping and sweating.
There is such blissful release in the hour I spend at the gym, where I can think of nothing but the next repetition, pushing through the burn, completely focused on one task, instead of the hundreds of to-dos normally flitting through my mind like a relentless Rolodex.
Weightlifting, I have come to find, is my meditation. Breathe in, breathe out, lift, hold and repeat.
“Consciously focusing the attention of the mind is the backbone of meditation,” notes Larissa Hall Carlson, 41, a yoga, mindfulness and ayurveda expert. “Any activity can be done mindfully, (but) what turns an ordinary exercise into a potent and benefit-rich form of meditation is one’s awareness and intention.”