5 Ways to Turn Your Workouts Into Meditations

Turn physical growth into inner growth

I’d down a strong cup of coffee, lose myself in the music, and push my body as hard as possible.

If it was a good workout, the time would pass in an instant and I would emerge a few hours later barely able to walk and dripping in sweat.

But then, I started to meditate.

I started with sitting for a few minutes after each workout. I’d ride the endorphin rush and relish the time to relax and rest.

But after a while, I started sitting more often and for longer.

As the weeks and months passed, I began to become more and more aware of my body.

Surprisingly, although I exercised and worked out at least seven times a week, I discovered my body was as rigid and tense as a bag of bricks.

What I thought were moments of self-care for my body were actually moments of escape and being hell-bent on trying to change myself—or at the very least, change how I felt.

Working out was making me further out of touch with my body—and myself.

I began noticing that as soon as arrived at the gym, I switched into automatic mode — rushing through exercises, getting distracted and checking people out…