Running as Meditation
Why you should ditch the headphones during your runs and meditate instead
Meditation is widely accepted as having huge well-being benefits. The practice of meditating is shown to reduce stress and improve emotional regulation. Ask any runner and they will tell you that runner’s high is real. The benefits of running, or other cardiovascular exercises, has a huge impact on mood as well as general health and well-being. It makes perfect sense to double up and get the benefits of both at once, right?
I only started running about 5 months ago. When I started, I needed my headphones on with the exact right songs to energize me and help me keep going. I never thought I could ever run without music in my ears. It was only as I was signing up for my first trail race a few weeks later that I realized I will have to. When running on trails, especially single track trails, it’s not safe or nice to block out the surrounding environment. There are certain things I may need to hear; someone may need to pass me on the trail, a mountain bike might be behind me, or maybe there is a snaking hissing a warning at me. There may also just simply be another runner passing who will give me some encouragement, and I wouldn’t want to miss out on that!
So I realized I would need to start doing some training without my headphones. At…
