ShareThisRun and Meditate First Thing
Completed
Created Feb 04, 2010
| Tags
fitness, meditation
1 |
Every weekday morning, I will meditate and run (running will slowly be ramped up from every other weekday to every day) before doing any of my other work. |
2 |
I will record my mental and physical feelings as I go through the day, and note the impact on my work. |
3 |
If the habit is sustainable and seems to be producing positive results, I'll carry on. If not, I'll try something else. I'll try at least until the end of February. |
4 |
I need to meditate and exercise more anyway, and they tend to leave me feeling better than if I don't do them, so I figure it's a win/win. |
Comments & Observations
Brock Tice Today was the first day. Running kicked my butt, as I'd been away from it (traveling, etc) for two weeks. First time back is always the worst. I'm also ramping meditation up from my not-doing-it-often duration of 15min to the desired 30.
Feb 04, 2010
Matthew Cornell Looking forward to the results. What kind of meditation will you do?
Feb 07, 2010
Brock Tice I usually do some mix of mindfulness and Zen style meditation.
Feb 07, 2010
Brock Tice The local rec center is only open at 8 M-R (not until 11 on Friday), so I'm going to run M-R and meditate M-F. This week I went MTR, Wednesday my knee was bugging me from the prior day's run, so I let it rest up for a day. So far this has had an amazing effect on my ability to focus. Now I just need to do it long enough to see if it's just having an effect because it's new (transient effect), or if it really works on an ongoing basis.
Feb 12, 2010
Brock Tice I can't really do this on the weekend, and I'm noticing the contrast between days when I do and don't start with running and meditation. There could be confounding factors happening on the weekend, though.
Feb 14, 2010
Matthew Cornell Maybe it's OK to give yourself a break on a weekend day?
Feb 16, 2010
Brock Tice Oh, sure, it's just that even when I'm taking it easy, I noticed a change in my level of... hm... equanimity? Definitely better when I run and/or meditate first thing.
Feb 16, 2010
Brock Tice I'm slowly getting faster, and this continues to work well. Finally bit the bullet and bought new running shoes. My old ones were worn out, and in the interim I was using cheap-o ones I got at the thrift store, originally to just have clean gym shoes for lifting during my "Geek to Freak" experiment.
Feb 19, 2010
Matthew Cornell Good tools are important. Poor ones are a barrier to some kinds of experimentation. Sounds like the right thing.
Feb 19, 2010
Brock Tice Not only that, but in this case poor tools cause knee and back pain! I knew the importance of good running shoes, having used them (and not used them) in the past, but wanted to see whether I'd stick with this before spending $100+ on new ones.
Feb 20, 2010
Brock Tice This is going well, but a variety of things have robbed me of sleep, plus work has been kind of erratic, making it hard to focus. Nonetheless! This continues to be a good improvement on my daily routine, despite the time it consumes. I'm getting the start of a tripod here -- sleep, exercise, meditation.
Feb 25, 2010
Matthew Cornell I like the tripod idea - '3' is special. I suppose there are many wrt health. Diet, exercise, etc. I'd like to hear more about why you picked them. Or did you mean specifically for this experiment?
Feb 26, 2010
Brock Tice Am now biking my daughter to and from daycare unless the weather is truly terrible, then meditating. Days I miss meditation, my focus is off, and exercise continues to help me feel and sleep better. Success. I'm sticking with the tripod idea -- exercise, meditation, sleep.
Jun 22, 2010
Brock Tice Also, Matt, to address your long-waiting question, I think the sleep/exercise/meditation is a broader tripod. You could substitute other things for meditation probably, though I might equate them with meditation in a way (such as manual labor).
Jun 22, 2010
Matthew Cornell Great to hear you've integrated your daily life with it - the best kind of habits are formed that way, I think. I always enjoy biking with my daughter.
Jun 23, 2010