Walking to work can be an unavoidable waste of time. It can also be an adventure in movement and balance. Cleaning the kitchen can be a chore. It can also be an intricate dance. Numbed to everything except results, we are likely to miss the dance. But what are results? We get to work. The walk between home and work was a meaningless interval. The kitchen is clean. It will be dirty again tomorrow. We have built the tallest building, the longest expressway, the biggest cities. We have won the game. But how did we feel from inside while we were doing it? Did we dance?
George Leonard in ‘Be Ultimate Athlete’1
In August 1993, a group of middle-aged Native American Indians was invited to run in a 100-mile race through the Colorado Mountains (Leadville) alongside a number of world-class athletes. Why on earth would the organizers of the race do such a thing? Was it some sort of joke? Was it some sort of strange cross-cultural gesture—or were they simply trying to embarrass or even kill them?
They did it because word had spread to North America that there was a tribe of Native Americans that had gained a God-like reputation for their remarkable, almost supernatural feats of endurance. There had been stories of individuals running for days on end, covering hundreds of miles to deliver messages to a neighboring tribe, only to stop for a short time, turn around and run right back. American athletic authorities were understandably intrigued, if not skeptical, to say the least. To run such distances in extremely mountainous terrain and under challenging conditions was almost incomprehensible. How could such ‘simple’ people, without any modern training or the latest scientific technologies, possibly achieve such feats? So the authorities thought they would test these supposedly superhuman runners themselves and invited—or rather challenged—them to participate in some of their races.
In the early hours of a fresh Colorado morning, five Native American Indians wearing bright, colorful traditional dress set off at the back of a field of some 300 elite runners.2 Rejecting the Americans’ offers of the latest high-tech running shoes, they wore sandals made out of old tires. Their fuel was not Gatorade or some high-energy sports drink but homemade pinole—roasted corn ground and mixed with water. While the elite athletes went out hard and led early, the Native Americans seemed not to be in any great rush. They shuffled along from the start, almost in cruise control and seemingly oblivious to the fact that this was supposed to be a race.
As the hours passed, however, the leading athletes began to wane. Their enthusiastic start gradually slowed to a somewhat tired pace. The Indians shuffled along at the same speed, seemingly without effort and certainly showing no signs of pain, discomfort or fatigue. A few hours on, much to everyone’s surprise, the Native American elders seemed to be gaining ground. After a few more hours, they began overtaking their younger, more highly trained fellow competitors. The longer the race went, the greater the contrast between the exhausted, conventional athletes, who were pushing themselves to the limit, and their traditional counterparts, who looked more and more as if they were on a leisurely Sunday afternoon stroll.
First across the line in a time of 20 hours and 20 minutes was …’55-year-old’’ Native American Victoriano. Not bad! 30 minutes later in second place was Ceraldo, another Native American. Both runners set new race records.3 Most interesting was that the victors did not show any outward signs of distress. In fact, whereas the other competitors finished the race sprawling across the line and crashing in an exhausted heap, Victoriano and Ceraldo looked as if they could just as easily do the whole thing again. Scientists have since measured the heart rates and blood pressures of such runners after similar races and found them to have returned to pre-race levels (or lower) within minutes of finishing.
How could this be and what does it have to do with healthy exercise? To understand it and learn some valuable lessons for our own health and experience with exercise, it is good to appreciate the background of these impressive runners. They know themselves as Raramuri, though most people know them as the Tarahumara Indians. This is what the Spanish originally called them when they settled nearby. ‘Tarahumara’ literally means ‘foot runners’. ‘Raramuri’ also equates to ‘runners’ in their own native language. Living for thousands of years in the Sierra Madre mountains, a few hundred kilometers south of the US border in northwest Mexico, and more recently in the more remote Copper Canyon region, their whole existence has been founded on the ability to travel vast distances on foot. Children as young as three or four years of age can walk five or six kilometers at a time. As they grow up, running becomes an integral and special part of life. For the Tarahumara, running is entwined into their religious ceremonies and is their sole means of communicating with neighboring tribes, most of which are many kilometers away. Along with dancing, the activities of walking and running are associated with the enjoyment and fun of intertribal interaction.
The point of all this is not that we should try to emulate these people just because they show remarkable feats of endurance. We simply do not need to do this. Our lifestyles, fortunately in many ways, are not conducive to developing such feats of physical prowess. However, it does highlight the possibility that our modern way of exercising might not be ideal.
In contrast to the short-term ‘stress and strain’ approach of much of our conventional exercise practices, the Tarahumara serve as a modern-day reminder of many ancient traditions which saw exercise as a means to cultivating higher states of awareness rather than simply bigger biceps or a firmer backside.
They also remind us of the more enlightening benefits of exercise when performed for enjoyment and pleasure rather than purely for weight loss, an adrenaline rush, or just because we are ‘supposed to’.
Ancient view of exercise—for mind and spirit not just the body
From the earliest recorded histories, physical activity has played a prominent role in the peak development of humankind. However, in most of the more developed and wisest of the ancient cultures, the importance of exercise went far beyond mere physical benefits. The traditional view of human life was as an amalgamation of mind, body and soul. Exercise was largely seen as a way of fostering and promoting the interrelationship and harmony between these three aspects of one’s life.
From the ancient Greek viewpoint, the human body was a ‘temple housing the mind and soul’. Practices such as gymnastics, which were a large part of the earliest Olympics, were performed to maximize the physical and mental aspects of the body temple. Though we usually think of philosophy as a somewhat cerebral activity, many famous ancient philosophers including Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle were diligent exercise enthusiasts. They knew that a fit and healthy body was integral to cultivating higher creativity, insight, intuition and even spiritual development. Ancient Egyptians were known to practice special physical postures similar to what we know as yoga. However, their goal was not simply physical flexibility or strength, but also, and more importantly, to develop spiritual awareness and inner enlightenment.
In the West today, martial arts are often associated with fighting, aggression and even violence. However, the ancient practice of martial arts was originally designed as a spiritual exercise. With its Eastern roots dating back well into ancient times, its true purpose was not to defeat, conquer or pulverize some external opponent. Rather it was to conquer one’s inner demons and become master of one’s own mind and body. In their original form, martial arts were an internal, spiritually based practice, far removed from most of the martial arts we see in the West today.
The Shaolin Monks, one of the true embodiments not only of martial arts but also of what we could call enlightened exercise, beautifully explain the underlying philosophy of their training when they declare:
The spiritual controls the physical. One’s spirit controls one’s body.
He who conquers is strong.
He who conquers himself is mighty.
In addition to going to churches, temples and ashrams to find inner peace and spiritual salvation, the ancients felt that exercise could also provide transcendental experiences. Indeed, done in the right way, they saw it as a gateway to God—as powerful as any spiritual retreat or religious revival meeting.
The ultimate purpose of exercise—getting ‘in the ZONE’
In the ancient Vedic philosophy dating back thousands of years, the highest goal in life was to unlock our limitless potential, grow to higher states of consciousness, and ultimately to live in complete harmony with the universal, or cosmic intelligence. As a result, everything one did in
life was designed to promote such growth and experiences. Exercise was no different. In fact it was seen as one of the most powerful ways to cultivate our highest state of mind and body integration, and even promote spiritual enlightenment.
This state of peak integration was understood as a coexistence of opposites. It involves being dynamically engaged in activity while simultaneously enjoying an inner silence and calm. The ‘zone’ experience in exercise is really just a temporary taste of this stress-free style of functioning and provides a glimpse into the higher, mostly untapped states of human consciousness.
Traditionally, the role of physical exercise was often seen as an extension of the inner mental practice of meditation. With deep silence and relaxation within activity as the supreme goal, meditation cultured this state from the level of the mind, while ‘proper’ exercise cultured it from the level of the body.
When one engages in an appropriate meditation practice, the inner peace and silence developed gets integrated with the more efficient functioning of the body developed from proper exercise. In time, a state of inner calm and stress-free functioning begins to occur simultaneously with outer dynamic activity. What we currently know as the almost mystical zone or exercise-high experience—which is far more than simply an endorphin high—was the central and often sole goal of ancient exercise practices. While we consider these peak states of performance as seemingly inexplicable, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, they were once the very purpose and expected outcome of engaging in exercise.
When we exercise or perform activities that unify rather than stress our mind and body, we naturally create more ‘flow state’, or exercise-high, experiences. Ironically, in this light, stress and fatigue, the pillars of Western exercise, are seen to be the only things that actually stop us from enjoying the ultimate exercise experience.
The experience of being totally involved in an activity or exercise—the flow—was not traditionally seen as a stroke of good fortune or a rare, mystical occurrence. It was seen as the natural by-product of a properly functioning physiology performing appropriate exercise.
Modern-day exercise—the myth of ‘No Pain, No Gain’
If it weren’t for the fact that the TV set and the refrigerator are so far apart, some of us wouldn’t get any exercise at all.
Joey Adams
Due to the nature of our modern industrialized world, one of the fundamental difficulties we have with exercise today is that it is often seen as a separate aspect to our day-to-day life. As we have progressed from the Agricultural Age through to the Information Age, being active is no longer a part of most people’s routine work. In places like Abkhasia, Hunza and other longevity hotspots, the vigorous daily activity of climbing up and down mountainsides, chasing one’s herd or tilling the crops is part and parcel of everyday life—and one that is believed to be a key factor in their great health and longevity.
As most of us are more sedentary during the day, working on computers and the like, exercising becomes something that we see as separate to our working life. So we assign 20, 30 or 45 minutes, a few times a week—if we are lucky—to exercise. The consequence is that as the time we have available to exercise gets shorter, we’ve come to think that we have to increase our intensity level accordingly in order to get the same benefit. This is a bit like not having the time to cook a meal naturally in a conventional oven for twenty minutes, so zapping it in the microwave for three or four minutes. We think we are ending up with the same result, but unfortunately we aren’t. [a Not everyone is designed to cultivate higher states of mind-body integration through physical exercise to the same degree. Just as each one of us is predisposed to succeeding in specific types of work, individually we are predisposed to develop such flow states in certain activities more than others. Some individuals will be more inclined to develop peak states in exercise, others more in vocational-type activities, and others in artistic endeavors such as music, painting, writing, sculpture or drama.]
What this has bred is the myth of ‘no pain no gain’. The prevailing wisdom today is that in order to receive benefits from exercise, whether in terms of cardiovascular benefits, muscular strength or flexibility, we have to push our bodies beyond our comfortable limit.
You may be familiar with this routine yourself. You get motivated to start an exercise program or join the local gym. On your first session you meet ‘Jimmy the Gym Instructor.’ Jimmy has ‘accidentally’ cut the sleeves of his shirt (revealing an impressive set of biceps), and when he is not looking at himself in the mirror, he gives you an initial program. Your immediate results are fantastic. Doing three or four sessions a week, you get fitter, stronger, and more energized. You feel a million dollars and all your friends comment on how much better you look. You are not sure whether to take this as a compliment, but as you are feeling so good, you do. Unfortunately, after an initial high your little fantasy world soon comes crashing down. Usually after about six to ten weeks, you come face to face with the dreaded ‘Big P’. This is not ‘peak performance,’ ‘perfect pecs’ or the ‘pleasure zone.’ It is the killer of many a newly motivated exerciser: the big PLATEAU. As time wears on, you are told that you must increase the stress on your body to continue to see improvements. If you are one of the minority who have a specific goal, such as to drop a dress size for your wedding or to look good in your ‘Borat mankini’ in time for summer, you may be motivated to continue on. However, if you are one of the 80% of people who aren’t naturally motivated to endure significant discomfort in your quest for health and fitness, after a period of time you will simply give up.
Unfortunately, to a large degree, we have been brainwashed into the athletes’ way of health and fitness. We see our great athletes and revere them for their chiseled physiques and astounding feats of endurance, strength or speed—and assume that however they train must be the epitome of healthy exercise. However, looks can be deceiving. While athletes or finely-tuned sports stars might be super fit, they are often also ‘super sick’. Have you ever noticed that before any big swim meet, a high number of swimmers are either fighting some sort of bug or have just recently got over one? Marathon runners, triathletes and other high-level athletes that train intensely for extended periods before reducing their training load prior to an event often have similar experiences. Continually pushing one’s body beyond its comfortable limits can deplete the immune system and weaken the body generally. It also pays to have a look at athletes five, ten or twenty years after they stop competing. How many have arthritis? How many become stiff and inflexible? How many develop an aversion to exercise from all the years of discipline and stress? How many become sedentary, unfit and grossly overweight? We could also ask ourselves, ‘If elite athletes are such supreme embodiments of health and fitness, why do the majority of them have to retire at 25 or 30 years of age?’
The point here is not to criticize athletes - the ideal of reaching for one’s best is what life is all about. However, the reality is that the only individuals who tend to maintain a lifelong commitment to exercise based on ‘no pain no gain’ are those with strong, highly driven constitutions—the natural athletes, fitness instructors or ultra-determined types. Pushing oneself beyond one’s limit might be the best current approach to achieve short-term athletic performance (though I believe there is a much better way to train even for elite sports performance), but this is not ideal for long-term health and wellbeing and has never been recommended in any of the long-established natural health sciences.
Apart from the need for survival, exercise was traditionally associated with flow, dance, pleasure and joy. Today, the very thought of being active is often seen as an inconvenience or an undesirable necessity. Many of us need inspiration, discipline, a personal trainer or the distraction of music just to get us off the couch.
These are signs that we have forgotten the natural wisdoms of exercise and lost our connection to the intrinsic joy of movement.
While zone states and higher states of awareness might be the ultimate purpose of exercise, the reality of our modern world is that just getting some more activity into our lives is a good start. By reminding ourselves of the natural wisdoms of exercise, we can increase both our motivation to exercise and the health benefits we receive from it.
The following points are designed to help you realign with these forgotten understandings. As most people have quite different propensities and desires when it comes to exercise, the points progress from ways to simply get more activity into one’s day (points 1 and 2) through to ways to better unite mind, body and spirit (points 3 to 6). Simply choose whichever suits your own personal inclination.
1. Find Your Dance (Or at Least Enjoy It)
An hour of basketball feels like 15 minutes. An hour on a treadmill feels like a weekend in traffic school.
David Walters
We have become so obsessed with monitoring heart rates, measuring skin folds and counting repetitions, that many of us have forgotten the most important factor in any exercise. Physical activity is actually meant to be ‘enjoyable’. Look at the average person, huffing and puffing on their daily run, gasping in a morning boot camp, cringing in spin class or bemoaning the fact they need to go for a walk. How happy do they look? How many people who take part in ‘fun runs’ these days really have that much fun running? Just as we have lost the concept of using taste to help us determine the medicinal value of foods, to a large degree many people have lost sight of the fact that the enjoyment of exercise is just as important as the physical benefits. When we appreciate the inherent connection between our minds and bodies, a very important understanding presents itself. If we dislike doing a certain type of exercise, or feel stressed when doing it, we will not get the full benefits of that activity.
Let me repeat that another way.
You cannot actually receive the full physical benefits of exercise if you do not enjoy the activity you are doing.
As outlined in Wisdom One, the mind-body connection ensures that whatever we experience during exercise—joy, calmness, unbounded awareness, pain, frustration, impatience—produces a corresponding biochemistry in our body while we do it. If you dislike the type of exercise that you are doing, the chemistry of mental stress will be circulating throughout your body as you do it. While you will no doubt get the benefits of improved heart pumping, increased blood flow and respiratory efficiency, the inner chemical environment you create will simultaneously counteract some of those benefits. The low levels of regular exercise compliance in our Western world today are closely tied to the lack of enjoyment people associate with exercise. We say we don’t have time to exercise, yet we have time to go to the movies, play computer games or sit in front of the TV. In many cases, the real reason we can’t find time to exercise is that we don’t enjoy it.
In most healthy, traditional cultures, beyond the high levels of physical activity performed as part of everyday life, people often participated in even more exercise. However, this wasn’t for any other purpose than enjoyment. The Tarahumaras loved to run so they played games centered around running. The Hunzans have long played polo and the Okinawans game ball—a game similar to bowling. The common theme was ‘play’. The game of life is meant to be just that, a game. Life is to be enjoyed. It is supposed to be fun, pleasurable, blissful. Movement of the physical body is designed to create that.
One of the most commonly cited benefits of exercise is the production of feel-good, relaxation-inducing endorphins. Endorphins are intimately tied to movement. Mother Nature has hard-wired us to move and in the same stroke gives us the experience of joy. Remember when you were a little boy or girl and just starting to walk or run. Do you remember how much fun it was? Today, many of us have forgotten the intrinsic joy of movement. Nowadays, people who hate going to the gym still go because ‘gyms are where you go to get in shape’. Men who hate jogging continue to do it because ‘that’s what guys do’. Others exercise more out of compulsion than enjoyment because ‘that’s what doctors and experts say we should do’. In the quote at the beginning of this chapter, George Leonard reminds us that it’s not just external results that are important when we do something, it’s also how we feel on the inside while we do it. Do we dance?
Interestingly, dancing has been a part of basically every culture throughout history. Dancing is a perfect example of fun and pleasure through movement. Dancing promotes flow, and science tells us that dancing (and singing) connects our heart centre to our brain centre. It connects mind, body and soul. But I am not simply talking about the bridal waltz, ballroom, jazz, Latin, rap or hip-hop dancing necessarily.
These are just particular forms of an infinite number of dances. Dancing is anything that involves movement without us having to think about it. True dancing has no rules. When we have to dance a certain way, in a certain time, in a certain amount, our mind is often all that dances and we don’t experience the joy. The only rule to dance is to move in a way that brings pleasure and joy. And for that there is a dance for everyone. For some it is the waltz, foxtrot or salsa. For others it’s the thousand-year-old dances of their tribe. For some people it’s running, swimming, hang-gliding, gardening, tennis or hiking through mountains. To move is to dance. So what’s your dance?
How can you expand your perspective of exercise and find your dance?
When you find what makes you dance, you will automatically lose weight, improve your heart health and get all the conventional benefits of exercise. In addition, you will have found yourself a lifelong love affair that will ensure you never again have to be disciplined or motivated to exercise.
Finding your dance—Ideas to help
What do you enjoy, even love, that involves moving your body without having to measure heart rates, count repetitions or record calories burnt? What activities make you lose your sense of time and go beyond the endless analysis of modern exercise? If you could only do exercise you enjoyed, what would you do?
Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.
Edward Stanley
In recent times, with the surge of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and many other modern-day illnesses, getting more exercise has understandably become a central focus. However, from the perspective of the natural laws of health, it is not necessarily structured exercise that is most important. A more accurate determinant, as supported by most research that looks at lifelong behaviors, is our overall day-to-day activity levels. One of the most consistent research findings among long-living populations is that regular physical activity is a natural part of their everyday lives.
Bama is a county in south-west China, which was recently named by the World Health Organization as a ‘Hometown of Longevity’. In Bama, the number of centenarians commonly matches that of the renowned Okinawa. Sally Beare gives an account of the lives of the Bama people in terms of their daily physical activity. ‘Thanks to the mountains surrounding them on all four sides and the fact that they have no cars, the people of Bama get plenty of aerobic activity. The fact that they live 4,500 feet up in clean, oxygen-rich mountain air enhances the experience, of course. Couch potato syndrome is unknown in Bama—children have to climb the mountains to get to school, adults have to climb up and down them all day to tend their crops, and men enjoy hunting and archery even when they are in their eighties. The hard physical work involved in everyday life gives the people strong bones and muscles, including the heart muscle, and is no doubt an important factor behind their excellent health.’4 (Most modern science suggests that it is the regularity rather the intensity of exercise that is most important for long-term health.)
Obviously our modern work and lifestyle demands make it largely impractical to follow the example of traditional cultures in terms of the volume of daily activity we perform. Fortunately, with the blessings of modern technology, most of us don’t have this daily necessity. However, when we become so sedentary that it threatens our very lives - obesity, heart disease, diabetes etc are all significantly related to insufficient daily activity—it is clear we have lost our way. One of the simplest steps to address the problem of inactivity is to stop seeing exercise solely in its ‘structured’ form. The lesson from our healthy, long-living ancestors is that exercise does not need to be something that we allocate 30, 45 or 60 minutes to perform and do in a park or in a gym. It is not exercise per se that is essential but that we accumulate a certain amount of activity in our day-to-day lives. We need to expand our concept of exercise and appreciate that every little bit of movement counts. As this is what many health experts are already now advising, I do not wish to discuss it further here. However, if you are the type of person that is just not into exercise per se or has no interest in exploring the mind-body unifying approaches that follow, then as an absolute minimum walk or move your body for at least 45 - 60 minutes a day. (Suggestions for getting more activity into a busy Western lifestyle as well as further information on the popular 10,000 Steps program are included in the supplementary eBook).
* *
Not long after completing an Honors degree in Exercise Physiology, I was introduced to a radically different philosophy of exercise through my studies in Maharishi Ayurveda. I learnt that the ancient Ayurvedic sages recommended that the principles of yoga should form the basis of all forms of daily exercise. While yoga has become extremely popular in the West as a way to reduce stress and integrate mind and body, when it comes to conventional exercise its principles are rarely discussed. However, Ayurveda suggests that by incorporating specific yoga practices into our everyday exercise routines, we can transform our experience from exertion to enjoyment, mind-body disintegration to mind-body integration and external stress to internal balance. The following three points relate to specific yoga principles that can both increase the benefits we derive from exercise as well as create a greater connection of mind, body and spirit.* They are the basis of what could be called ‘enlightened exercise’, and help fulfill the ultimate purpose of exercise as discussed earlier.
* It is acknowledged that the specific discussion and application of the principles of attention, nasal breathing and comfort to Western-style exercise, as well as many of the general principles and ideas discussed here, were first outlined by Dr. John Douillard in his 1994 book ‘Body, Mind and Sport’.5
Where attention goes, energy flows.
Old Hawaiian Huna philosophy
Nearly every self-development or success coaching precept today advises us that ‘what we put our attention on increases in our lives’. It is one of the simplest yet most profound truths of our time. Ironically, when it comes to modern exercise, we generally do everything we can to do the exact opposite. We consciously try to take our attention away from whatever activity we are doing.
Think of most people walking or jogging at your local park. They will either be talking to a friend, talking on their mobile phone or listening to their iPod. At the gym, if they are not watching Oprah, Dr Phil or MTV, they are doing an exercise class where the music is so loud they can’t even hear themselves think. When most of us exercise, our attention is directed outwards. The common reason for this is that we have been brainwashed into seeing exercise as something that is either boring or unpleasant. As such, we actively create ways to divert our minds from the boredom or discomfort that exercise entails.
Research shows that if we listen to music, we can exercise at higher intensities and have a reduced perception of pain. The current thinking is that this is a good thing. However the goal is not to endure greater discomfort, incur extra fatigue and disconnect our mind from our body. From the ancient understanding, the purpose of exercise is for us to enjoy the experience, rejuvenate our body and integrate it with our mind. We can only do this when we are listening to our body, not by listening to Oprah. Sorry Oprah.
Many years ago, I read of a very interesting study on muscle strength. A team of researchers got together three different groups and tested their baseline strength. The first group was instructed to lift a barbell of a certain weight for 20 repetitions, eight times a day for eight weeks.
The second group was instructed not to do any weight training activities whatsoever for eight weeks. The third group was also instructed not to physically lift any weights for eight weeks. However, the individuals in this group were asked to lift the weighted barbell used by those in the first group once or twice, just to get a feel of its weight. They were then told to imagine or visualize lifting this barbell for 20 repetitions and to repeat this eight times a day for eight weeks. That is, they were to do the same as the first group but mentally rather than physically lift the weight.
After eight weeks, the individuals in the first group, who actually lifted the weights, had an increase in muscular strength of 30%. This was in line with expectations. The second group, or control group, who didn’t do anything for eight weeks, as expected, had no improvement in muscle strength. Can you guess what results the third group, who merely visualized lifting the weights got? 0%? No, despite not actually lifting a weight, after eight weeks the average increase in muscular strength was … 16%. This was just over half the increase of the group lifting the weights.
Interesting! How could this be? Well, it’s actually not so astounding once we understand and appreciate that we are not merely physical machines, but rather mind-body beings. Although we usually think of physical activities as solely ‘physical’ events, for our bodies to be able to lift a weight, for example, the muscle fibers in our arms have to contract. They contract via messages from our nervous system. The messages our nervous system get are initiated via the central processing unit in our brain. Preceding our brain generating those impulses is a thought or desire within our mind to want to lift the weight.
So in any physical activity, we could say that approximately half of the performance relates to the physical action of body parts like our bones and muscles, and half to our mind and the intelligence connected to that. After all, the diverse electrical, biochemical and hormonal products in any bodily process are just the concrete expressions of the mental activities through which we initiate them. What all this suggests is that for exercise to be maximally effective, it should be a mind and body activity.
The ancients suggest that if we want to significantly increase the results of our exercise, we should take our mind with us. When we are fully focused in exercise, we not only increase the effectiveness of what we are doing, but we are also less likely to find it boring. Additionally, we are better able to listen to our body’s feedback as to what type and how much activity is best, as well as tuning in to any early signs of injury or fatigue.
When we put our attention on our body during exercise rather than on video hits, our iPod or Dr Phil, we make it a true mind-body integrating activity. Through inner attention, our exercise efficiency increases and we set the foundation for enjoying peak exercise experiences.
Mind-body exercise—Ideas to help
1. While you do not have to ditch your iPod or the cardio theatre every time you exercise, try it every now and then. Experiment with mind-body exercise. Occasionally go for a walk, a run, a swim or whatever you enjoy, and just have your complete, undivided attention on your body. If swimming, notice your arms moving through the water. If jogging, feel the rhythm of your movement. Use your attention to deepen your breathing and relax your muscles.
2. To supercharge your mind-body awareness, try exercising with your eyes closed for brief periods. This works great with activities such as weight training, exercise-bike cycling, machine rowing and even swimming if you are away from walls and other swimmers. I don’t recommend it quite so enthusiastically while running on treadmills, walking on busy roads or cycling near cliffs—lol!
3. When doing yoga or any activity involving stretching your body, focus fully on the specific muscles you are stretching. Actually feel the stretch and be intimately aware of the specific point where the muscle fibers begin to tense up and become restricted. Notice how by focusing the power of your attention at this point, you can dissolve some of the tension or tightness in the muscles and promote greater flexibility.
4. Sports ‘play’: If you play sports, remember when you were a little kid—before you knew about scores or what the right technique was? Do you remember playing just for the absolute fun of it? There was no right or wrong, good or bad, win or lose. There was just ‘play’. If you still play a sport, every now and then take your attention away from any external factors and instead focus on the intrinsic enjoyment of the actual movement, flow or the game itself. Just play as you did when you were a little boy or girl. Forget the score. Forget about ‘the right way’ to hold the club or swing the racquet and just ‘play’.
Its very simplicity keeps thousands from seriously considering it, while they spend fortunes in seeking health through complicated and expensive systems …. Verily the stone which the builders reject is the real cornerstone of the Temple of Health.
Yogi Ramacharaka on proper breathing
What is arguably the simplest and most profound way of promoting exercise-high experiences is also the one that is most commonly overlooked. It is that of breathing. While we spend countless amounts of time and energy on the latest heart rate monitors, lifting techniques, running gear and nice-looking leotards (at least I do), one of the most fundamental aspects of effective mind-body exercise—how to breathe properly—is almost never taught.
Now you might think that breathing is an entirely natural phenomenon, so how on earth could breathing be a forgotten wisdom of exercise? In short, it is because there are two ways we can breathe. The first is how most people breathe. This method initiates the body’s stress response and increases the likelihood of early fatigue, lightheadedness and muscle soreness. The second way of breathing is how Mother Nature designed us to breathe and can help transport our experience of exercise to wondrous new heights. So profound are the benefits of simply breathing properly that many Oriental philosophies suggest that it has the power to prevent sickness, eliminate illness and even enliven dormant spiritual powers. When combined with the power of our attention, the Yogi Masters taught that the way we breathe can be considered a complete mind-body exercise in itself. The great kung fu masters credit much of their ability to perform what are often considered superhuman feats of strength and endurance to the ability to control their breathing.
Unfortunately, with the loss of such wisdom, we Westerners have become inefficient, sickly breathers. The most common way 90% of us breathe during any reasonable level of exertion (more than a leisurely walk), is via upper-chest mouth breathing. When we employ shallow mouth breathing, we draw most of the air into our upper lungs, where we have far less blood supply. The air that enters our lungs also tends to be dry, cold and full of impurities. This is because our mouths have no humidifying, heating or filtering mechanisms. Such breathing triggers our body’s sympathetic nervous system, or what is more commonly known as our ‘fight-or-flight’ response. The fight-or-flight response is directly associated with increased heart rates, breath rates, physical tension, stress hormones and asthmatic reactions. With this style of functioning, our metabolic activity is also far less efficient. We burn relatively more carbohydrates, our short-term fuel source, rather than fat, our longer-term fuel source. Due to the inefficient metabolism it promotes, mouth breathing can also indirectly increase fatigue, free radical damage and lactic acid levels. Lactic acid is related to the heavy feeling you might experience in your muscles during more vigorous exercise.
As our body’s survival response mechanism, mouth breathing is geared for short-term, stressful situations where we need a quick burst of oxygen to our muscles. In a true survival situation this is wonderful, even life-saving. However, oxygen does not go directly to our brain when we mouth breathe. This reduces the level of mind-body connection we experience and promotes a far greater likelihood of lightheadedness, upper respiratory tract infections and general discomfort.
Nature’s way to optimal breathing
Man should no more breathe through his mouth than he would attempt to take food in through his nose.
Yogi Ramacharaka
If you have ever done yoga, pilates, tai chi or other Eastern-based exercise, you will know that the way Mother Nature designed us to breathe is via deep, diaphragmatic nasal breathing. While we will give a quick overview here, for a full account see Yogi Ramacharaka’s magnificent book ‘Science of Breath’.6
Despite the fact that many people breathe through their mouths for large parts of the day without even being aware of it, we were designed to breathe through our noses. When we breathe with our mouth closed (harder for some I know), our little nasal hairs capture and prevent any unwanted airborne particles from entering our lungs. The blood-rich membranes and thick mucous linings of our nasal cavities warm and moisten the air. This not only ensures the air doesn’t shock the sensitive inner tissues and set off our body’s fight-or-flight response, it also establishes the most conducive conditions for oxygen transfer in our lungs. Our lungs do not like dry air, which is partly why mouth breathing is more closely associated with asthma, particularly exercise-induced asthma.
As we naturally breathe more deeply and slowly through the nose, our diaphragm has time to contract fully. In what Yogis call ‘low breathing’, the nasal breath is as if drawn deep into the belly. This creates a vacuum-like sucking of the air deep into our lungs where it meets with a most abundant blood supply. With upper-chest mouth breathing, the air floods in so quickly it goes mainly to the upper portions of our lungs where there is far less blood supply. In the West we think of oxygen as the critical component of the air we breathe. This is true on the gross physical level of the body. However, just as with the food we eat, on a deeper level, the ancients understood that is the subtle life-force or prana that is the key ingredient. While oxygen nourishes our blood and muscles, it is prana that fundamentally nourishes our mind and nervous system. As opposed to mouth breathing, when we nasal breathe, the life-force energy is brought directly into our brain stem via our receptors for smell. This instantaneously enlivens our entire brain and nervous system.
Most importantly, when we nasal breathe we heighten the communication between the left and right hemispheres of our brain and holistically integrate mind and body. This results in improved focus and clarity of mind, enhanced decision-making and greater psychological resilience. Deep nasal breathing also eliminates the possibility of over-breathing or over-ventilation, which some science now links to increased ageing. One possibility as to why people who regularly meditate or do yoga-related practices commonly live healthier, longer lives is that they have significantly lower oxygen intakes and thus subject themselves to less free radical damage. (Most free radicals are oxygen-based.) The fact that nasal breathing is associated with our body’s relaxation response rather than our stress response would also help. This is why many natural health sciences promote proper breathing to effectively treat stress-based conditions such as anxiety, insomnia and asthma.
Proper breathing—exercise for the ‘internal organs’
Aerobic exercise is commonly associated with keeping our heart and lungs healthy, and resistance training for strengthening our muscles and bones. Unfortunately, what we often overlook in our Western view of exercise is exercising our vital internal organs. In many health magazines today, a ripped six-pack, toned arms and sexy legs are often flaunted as the epitome of being fit and healthy. However, the Eastern masters tell us that these aren’t particularly important if our kidneys are functioning at half capacity, our liver is clogged or our bowels are blocked. The ancients understood that the health of our internal organs—our heart, liver, spleen, kidneys, intestines—is far more important than having a washboard stomach, bulging biceps or a taut butt. They also knew that the way to keep these organs healthy was through exercise—internal exercise. Specific yoga postures known as ‘asanas’ and deep, diaphragmatic breathing were routinely recommended as they were both understood to softly massage, tone and increase blood flow to our vital internal organs. Both practices also promote the efficient elimination of waste products from the body while simultaneously exercising the rib cage and upper spine to prevent them becoming stiff and inflexible. Combined, they represent a key component of the ancient formula for maintaining peak health and inner balance.
By breathing the way the great yogis have taught, through the nose and fully engaging the diaphragm, we maximally eliminate impurities and increase our energy, vitality and resistance to fatigue. We also stimulate our body’s relaxation response to slow our heart rate, soften our breath, relax our muscles, and create a settled yet heightened state of mind-body connectedness.
If you want to promote the highest level of mind-body health, don’t just eat well, breathe well.
Do it now breathing exercise
Correct breathing that can improve your quality of life, help combat the effects of ageing and provide the foundation for your most effective exercise is based on what the yogis call ‘Yogi complete breathing’.
Right now, sit upright, close your eyes, put your hands on your abdomen and take your awareness to your breathing. Breathe slowly and comfortably through your nose. With each inhalation, rather than raising your shoulders to fill your upper chest, allow your abdomen to relax and feel as if you are breathing deep into your lower abdomen. Feel your diaphragm (the muscle just under your rib cage) massaging your abdominal organs and notice your abdomen begin to rise slightly. As your abdomen comfortably finishes its expansion, extend your inhaling breath to first fill your middle chest and then your upper chest. Allow these areas, including your whole rib cage, to expand. Don’t try to extend the duration of your inhalation unnaturally or hold your breath. Just keep it natural and comfortable.
For the first few breaths, notice the momentary pause between the end of the ‘in’ breath and the start of the ‘out’ breath. Like the in and out flow of tides and seasons, this junction point between the inflowing and outflowing breath is representative of the natural cycles of life. Just being aware of the gap between your breaths—the ebb and flow of your breathing—is a powerful way to reconnect your body with the universal rhythms of Mother Nature.
Taking your attention to your abdominal area for a few more breaths, notice how you can eliminate more air by contracting your abdominal muscles slightly as you exhale—also through your nose. After these breaths, just exhale naturally and, using your attention, allow the exhalation to extend as long as is comfortable. Feel the old, impure air being released from your body as you pave the way for a new, fresh batch of life-giving oxygen and prana to enter.
Spend a minute or two breathing this way now and practice it at least a couple of times a day. Good times may include while driving, watching TV or sitting in a seminar. It can also be used as a stand-alone remedy when feeling stressed or anxious, experiencing tension headaches, or if unable to sleep at night due to an overexcited or restless mind.
NOTE: Consciously utilizing your abdominal muscles during exhalation can be particularly effective when experiencing stress or tension or in the recovery portions of higher-intensity exercise. However, it need not be employed during exercise itself. In general daily activity and most exercise, do not try to force or control your breathing in any way. Keep it as natural and effortless as possible.
Nasal breathing in exercise
Although many people learn to breathe properly when doing yoga, pilates, tai chi or similar stress management classes, in the case of aerobic exercise most of us don’t even consider it. However, the same deep, relaxed nasal breathing outlined above is how we are meant to breathe at even the highest levels of exercise. All the problems associated with mouth breathing, such as increased physical tension, inefficient metabolic functioning and mind-body disconnection, are all significantly exacerbated during higher levels of activity, e.g. exercise. By employing Mother Nature’s way of breathing, as opposed to the stress-based mouth breathing that most people employ, you can transform your experience of exercise.
Nasal breathing during exercise:
* makes the body more relaxed and reduces physical tension
* improves respiratory (breathing) efficiency
* reduces fight-or-flight activation and slows heart rate
* delivers oxygen directly to the brain, heightening connection of mind and body
* eliminates light-headedness or shortness of breath
* significantly reduces asthmatic reactions / exercise-induced asthma
* increases endurance and resistance to fatigue over time
* promotes a higher proportion of fat rather than carbohydrate metabolism
* indirectly reduces free radical damage and muscle soreness via effects on metabolism
* reduces incidence of colds, sinus congestion, upper respiratory infections and even sleep apnea
* makes it more enjoyable (exercising feels better) and increases the likelihood of having ‘peak experiences’ or ‘flow states’.
Real life nasal breathing examples
At this moment, you may be thinking that you couldn’t possibly get enough air in through your nose when exercising. As this is a common response, and although we are focused on everyday health and wellbeing here, I thought to share a couple of examples of how this breathing technique has been used even in the sporting arena to convince you that everyone can and should breathe this way during exercise.
I first learnt about employing nasal breathing in exercise back in 1994. I was still playing AFL football at the time and it was mid-season. While it was difficult to incorporate immediately, by the pre-season (the hardest training phase of the year) of 1995 I was able to complete about 90% of all training while breathing nasally. The only time that I couldn’t maintain nasal breathing was during flat out, high intensity activities such as 50m sprint repetitions, maximum weight training lifts or one-on-one competitive drills. The only other time was when I would burst out laughing at my teammate’s attempts to nasal breathe during 400m sprints without any prior practice—that was a good laugh! This is not to suggest that I found the training easy just by breathing differently. It was by no means enjoyable. However, in comparison to the previous years’ training, the difference I experienced in terms of subjective pain, time to fatigue, and particularly the reduced time for recovery following sessions, was dramatic. Although I was still pushing myself, I didn’t feel the usual exhaustion after sessions. I would feel better the next day and felt generally fresher throughout the entire season. (Too bad it couldn’t help the other deficiencies in my game!)
After convincing myself that this way of breathing was a far more intelligent way to go, I started teaching it to others. Results from other AFL footballers, national league netballers and a colleague who subsequently taught it to some Olympic-level athletes showed the benefits were universal. If people did not have any structural problems, e.g. a severely deviated septum (nose bone), nasal breathing comfortably at any decent level of exertion was not a problem. The only obstacle was that people had to be willing to persist through the first few weeks of reduced performance and possible breathing difficulties.
One of the best examples I saw was with a colleague and friend, Murray Beveridge. Murray was a professional middle distance runner. Middle distance races such as the 800 meters are arguably the most challenging in terms of being able to complete them while maintaining nasal breathing. Murray was at the elite level. He was state level and ran at many high-level competitions including National Championships. When I explained the benefits of using nasal breathing, Murray really liked it and was very conscientious in his efforts to integrate this method of breathing into his training and competition regime.
The benefits seemed to accumulate steadily each and every month. Within a two-month period, he found that his heart rate for his regular 5km run dropped from 157 to 148bpm. He also cut his time by more than two minutes—an incredible improvement. He attributed all this to changing and committing himself to nasal breathing. Being a professional athlete, Murray was training every day. So within just a few months, he became quite proficient as a nasal breather. After about six months, he was actually able to introduce some nasal breathing into his competitive races. Less than a year after starting to nasal breathe, Murray won the Stawell Gift 800m handicap race. The Stawell Gift, held over Easter in country Victoria each year, is the best known event for handicap racing throughout Australia. However, the part I love the most was when Murray explained one day that he was becoming known as a bit of a freak around the race meeting circuit. You see, the most common sight at the end of races, particularly 800m races, is that of athletes straining, red-faced and with mouths wide open trying to gulp down every last ounce of air. Murray, however, became such an effective nasal breather that at the end of his races he was still breathing through his nose. His mouth was completely shut. The image of him coming to the finish line, seemingly not even breathing, became a topic of much interest among spectators. He remarked, ‘People would come up to me after races and ask me what was going on. They would say, “You weren’t even breathing”. Their reaction was hilarious. I almost felt like a bit of a freak show.’
These examples, as well as countless others, show us that if athletes can nasal breathe at high performance levels then we should be able do it in lower level activities for our everyday health and wellness. The key is to simply start integrating nose breathing into exercise gradually. The first few weeks can be a little frustrating as the airways are usually not very well conditioned due to previous neglect, i.e. improper breathing, but be patient.
Nasal breathing in exercise—Ideas to help
Step 1: Practice nasal breathing without activity
Before you try to integrate nasal breathing into your normal exercise sessions, take some mini-steps. At every opportunity, practice comfortable, full-capacity breathing while you are in a completely rested state. As mentioned, this might include while driving, watching TV, working (daydreaming) at your desk and even while sitting on the toilet—‘things’ move better the more relaxed you are!
This will help open up your sinus channels and condition your lungs, diaphragm and rib cage to more comfortably nasal breathe once you start exercising.
Step 2: Nasal breathe during light daily activities
Before using nasal breathing in high-level exercise, first condition your respiratory system with low-level daily activities. Starting on an exercise bike is ideal as it is highly controlled and allows a low level of activity while having full attention on your breathing. Other possibilities include walking around your home, walking to work and walking your dog.
Step 3: Nasal breathe in warm-ups, cool-downs and low-level exercise
When you start employing nasal breathing in your exercise sessions, start at low intensities first. If you don’t want to reduce your exercise level too much while waiting for your breathing to become more efficient—maybe you are exercising with others or are involved in a team sport—simply focus on diaphragmatic nasal breathing during warm-ups and cool-downs, and breathe however is comfortable during the main activity portion.
NOTE: If you are going to exercise beyond your comfort zone (see Point 5), warm-ups and cool-downs are highly recommended to minimize any adverse effects.
Step 4: Nasal breathe throughout your whole exercise session
As you become more conditioned to nasal breathing, use it as is comfortable throughout all of your exercise sessions. If you play a sport that requires you to go beyond your comfortable nasal breathing limit, focus on coming back to your breathing during any rest or recovery periods, e.g. in between points during tennis, when the ball goes out of play in soccer, or during free throws or substitutions in basketball.
Follow your nose
In Ayurveda, our ability to nasal breathe is said to determine how much and how quickly we are supposed to exercise. That is, our breathing dictates our optimal exercise intensity and duration.
With this in mind, if you are exercising purely for health and balance purposes, once you have established a moderate level of nasal breathing proficiency, begin tuning in to your breathing to help determine your ideal exercise pace. Perform your chosen activity to a level where you can breathe through your nose in a comfortable, relaxed way. If your breathing becomes strained or loses its comfortable rhythm, reduce your exercise level until it again feels easy and comfortable. At higher levels of activity, the depth and rate of your breathing may initially increase slightly, but it should still be completely relaxed and comfortable. Assuming a minimum of three to four exercise sessions a week, within four to twelve weeks you should be able to perform whatever level of activity you could previously while nasal breathing. This can include high-level aerobic exercise, should you choose to do it.
At a seminar in Hobart (Australia) in 2007, a gentleman came up to me in the morning tea break to tell me that he had been using nasal breathing as his exercise intensity barometer all his life. He told me how he really enjoyed exercise when he breathed through his nose. However, whenever he had to push himself to the point of finding it difficult to nasal breathe, it ‘just didn’t feel right’. He explained how his whole body would react once he started mouth breathing, and that he just couldn’t understand why anyone would exercise this way. I wholeheartedly agreed.
The more you can condition yourself to maintain comfortable nasal breathing while exercising, the more you train your body to integrate this more efficient, high-performance state into your everyday activities.
Whether you are sleeping, doing your weekly yoga class or are involved in a high stress situation, this more resilient inner functioning will enable you to do it more effectively.
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Breathing to supercharge stretching and weight training
In considering the healthiest people to have lived, it is apparent that it is not just living a long time that is important. Living with energy, vitality and inner contentment is the real beauty. In this regard, both the practice of yoga and the martial arts are commonly found among individuals who have exemplified exceptional inner and outer health. From the remarkably robust Shaolin monks to age-defying yoga masters, practices that unite the inner and outer body are often found at the basis of a healthy life. In many forms of yoga and the martial arts, it is the power of attention and breathing that accomplished practitioners combine to supercharge their results.
Yoga masters are known to be able to store prana or life-force energy in their bodies, and even channel it to particular organs, through the focus of their attention. By combining proper breathing with the power of attention, it is said that they can direct the all-important life-force to strengthen or even heal a poorly functioning heart, liver, spleen or kidney. Kung fu students are taught focused exhalation breathing techniques that quickly release bodily tension to add incredible power to their kicks, punches and blocks. The seemingly amazing feats of certain martial arts practitioners do not come from sheer physical strength but also from the strength of their mind’s attention and the power of their breathing.
Focusing on our breathing during weight training, body circuit training or flexibility stretching can similarly enhance our results. Traditionally, the inhaled breath is associated with drawing the life-force into the body, and the exhaled breath is associated with releasing energy and tension from the body. As such, in weight training or lifting exercises, a simple rule to remember is the ‘E’ Rule. Whenever you are doing the exertion phase, exhale. On any recovery or resting phase, inhale. For example, if you are lifting weights above your head, breathe out while pushing the weight up and breathe in while bringing the weight down. In a chin-up, breathe out while lifting yourself up and breathe in while lowering yourself down.
To enhance the mind-body integration aspect of weight training, some people also co-ordinate the speed of their repetitions with the comfortable rhythm of their breath. That is, they lift the weight in time with their exhalation and lower the weight in time with their inhalation.
This creates a nice connection between mind, body and breathing and is often enjoyed by those who already practice yoga or simply like a bit more refinement to the conventional way of lifting weights. Generally, it is best to breathe both in and out through the nose, especially for aerobic exercise or moderate, circuit-type routines. If you are lifting heavier weights with lower repetitions, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth if it is more comfortable.
When performing stretching exercises, inhale while holding your mind’s attention at the comfortable point of the stretch. You may even
like to visualize the healing breath coming into the muscle or muscle group you are stretching. During exhalation, let the muscle or muscle group relax and release any tension. If it does, gently extend into a deeper stretch during this exhalation phase.
Try it now stretching exercise
Sit on the floor with your left leg bent, so that the sole of your foot is on the inside of your right knee. Bend forward at the hips to stretch your hands towards your toes. This is a common lower back and hamstring stretch that most of us normally do with minimal attention or focus on our breathing.
Having your full attention on your right hamstrings (the muscles at the back of the thigh), bend forward until you get to the point where you cannot comfortably stretch any further. There should be no pain, just some gentle resistance. Pause at this point and bring your attention to your breathing. As you breathe in, mentally direct the energy and power of your breath into your hamstring muscles, particularly to any areas of tightness. Feel the power of your breath move into the muscles and help dissolve any tension. As you exhale, allow your hamstrings and your body generally to let go of any tightness.
NOTE: Only increase your stretch if your muscles relax naturally. Do not try to force the stretch with the will of your mind. You will notice that the more you push your muscles to stretch, the more they will resist. This is symbolic of everything in the natural world and a good reminder that what is most evolutionary and health-promoting comes not from forcing but from allowing.
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Even apart from exercise, diaphragmatic nasal breathing is a pillar of health and happiness. Look to incorporate it into all your daily activities, and use exercise as a way to condition your breathing efficiency to new heights. During exercise, do not force, control or try to manipulate your breathing in any way. Don’t try to excessively deepen your breathing or consciously extend its duration. Just be conscious of breathing comfortably through your nose. Breathe from your belly rather than your chest or shoulders, and simply allow your breath to find its own comfortable depth and rhythm. Keep it natural and easy and you will enjoy a whole new, more enjoyable experience of exercise.
By employing deep nasal breathing during aerobic exercise, you will maximize your exercise efficiency and open up the possibility of enjoying heightened states of integration and flow.
In such ‘peak states’, you may feel as if you are hardly breathing at all. This is a perfect reminder of Mother Nature’s eternal recipe for success.
Breathe less … achieve more.
5. Stay 'IN' Your Comfort Zone
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
Lao Tzu
Despite the almost universal credo that we have to work hard and ‘get out of our comfort zones’ to achieve success in life, this was not always considered the height of wisdom. Mother Nature never ‘works hard’. She works by the principle of least effort. The changing of the seasons, the cycles of day and night and the falling of rain all occur as part of an effortless flow. Karl Barth once commented on the joys of listening to Mozart. ‘Mozart’s music always sounds unburdened, effortless, and light. This is why it unburdens, releases, and liberates us.’ Similarly, it is only when we do things, including exercise, in ways that are unburdened, effortless and light that we truly experience release and liberation.
Wise teachers throughout time have contended that Mother Nature always guides us to what is best for our life and our success. On the one hand there is the feeling of ease, enjoyment, joy, exhilaration, bliss and ‘being totally in the moment’. On the other hand there is the experience of strain, effort, fatigue, and the feeling of being disconnected or ‘out of sync’. The experience of ease, enjoyment and comfort is our way of knowing that what we are doing is appropriate. Pain, exhaustion and discomfort are signs that something is not right. Stop! Wrong way! Go back! They are not signals that we are getting somewhere worthwhile and need to push on through the pain barrier. While working hard, in the sense of putting a certain amount of time, energy and focus into a job or relationship, is critical for our success, the concept of needing to push or strain is not a part of Mother Nature’s eternal success formula. Exercise is no different.
In the Tarahumara Indian culture, where running is based on ease and enjoyment rather than ‘no pain no gain’, the older one gets, the better a runner one becomes. The grandfathers are esteemed as the best athletes. How can this be? It seems that without years of accumulating stress and strain from pushing themselves beyond their comfortable limits, their bodies become more efficient and thus move more effortlessly. Zone states, the ultimate experiences any exercise enthusiast can enjoy, are associated with effortlessness and ease, not stress and strain. Throughout the history of elite sports, a common experience from world record-breaking, gold medal-winning, or personal best-setting athletes is that their greatest performances were often the most effortless and enjoyable of their careers. The media rush up to them saying, ‘What a performance, you must have worked so hard’. The athlete replies along the lines of, ‘It’s funny you know, I just felt really comfortable out there. I wasn’t straining at all. I got into this really nice rhythm and it all just flowed. It’s like my legs weren’t even touching the ground. I felt like I could have kept going all day’.
When we think of our own most enjoyable experiences, whether they be in sport, work, an artistic Endeavour, a hobby or a relationship, all are more likely to have the qualities of ease, effortlessness and flow rather than stress, struggle and hard work. With this in mind, it seems odd that burdening ourselves with stress and discomfort could in any way help us attain the ultimate exercise benefits. In fact, according to ancient wisdom, the final pillar for making exercise most effective is to do the exact opposite of what we are commonly told. Instead of getting out of our comfort zone, the ancients tell us that the highest wisdom is to stay ‘in’ our comfort zone.
Your dynamic comfort zone
In suggesting that exercising only to the point of comfort is ideal for our mind-body health, this does not imply that we should only exercise at very low levels. We know that being a couch potato is disastrous for our health. Similarly, regularly exercising beyond our body’s comfortable limits increases our risk of injury, illness and in some cases even sudden death. However, like ‘the middle way’ that the Buddha taught, the middle of the two extremes of exercise is where the ancients declared our ideal exercise zone to be.
In the 6000-year-old records of Ayurveda, it is specifically recommended that exercise be performed at 50% of our capacity. That’s right, just 50%. While such a figure sounds extremely low to most people, at 50% capacity we have adequate oxygen to meet our energy requirements. At this level, our bodies burn fat as their predominant fuel and generate minimal waste products in the muscles. In Ayurveda, this is also known as the intensity where we experience maximum mind-body integration and set the foundation for peak exercise experiences. In short, we get the many benefits of exercise while optimizing our subjective enjoyment. Once we go beyond 50% of our capacity, we initiate the body’s fight-or flight response and produce energy far less efficiently. This inevitably comes with a corresponding feeling of heaviness, muscle soreness, fatigue, reduced enjoyment, and a diminished sense of mind-body unification—the key goal of exercise.
At 50% of exercise capacity, we get all the benefits of exercise— including a natural shower of ‘feel good’ endorphins—without strain or discomfort.
By exercising in our comfort zone, we maximally connect mind and body, and experience the joy of exercise rather than the pain of exercise.
Knowing where your ‘comfort zone’ is
If you like measuring your heart rate while you exercise, the most accurate correlation of 50% capacity is approximately 60% of your maximum heart rate. However, I generally recommend against monitoring heart rates when exercising at this level. This is not to contradict athletes, fitness advisors or personal trainers who use them. We are simply talking about two distinctly different approaches here. As the whole purpose of yoga-styled exercise is to enjoy the experience and to connect mind and body (yoga literally means ‘to yoke’ or ‘unite’), we don’t want to divert our attention away from our body and have our awareness governed by a wristwatch.
Heart rate monitors can help some people get motivated to exercise and show fitness improvements, which is obviously good. However, they can reinforce the belief that ‘science’ is more reliable than our body’s own intelligence. We think the heart rate monitor or the latest scientific recommendation of exercise intensity is God, and we forget to tune in to our body’s infinite inner wisdom. Eventually we end up like robots, focused on heart rates, calories burnt or exercise time endured, and overlook the fact that our bodies have their own perfect, in-built intensity monitor. It’s called enjoyment. Do we really need some external digital device beeping at us to tell us we are exercising too hard? Surely gasping like a two-pack-a-day chain smoker and wondering ‘when is this all going to end?’ should tell us that. The best way to assess your ideal (50%) exercise intensity is to simply tune in and LISTEN! Like life, exercise is much simpler than we make it. In its infinite wisdom, your body will correlate all the innumerable factors affecting it at any one time and tell you whether your exercise level is appropriate via the experience of comfort or discomfort. Exercise comfort means maximal efficiency, motivation and long-term effectiveness. Discomfort or pain equates to compromised motivation, mind-body disconnection and short-term fitness gains, often at the expense of long-term health. As mentioned, this exercise approach can be fine for individuals with strong, highly driven constitutions—the natural athletes, fitness instructors or highly determined types—but it is not ideal for most people.
The next time you exercise, try the following. Start your activity at a very low level and gradually build up your exercise pace—or weight resistance etc. While tuning in to your body, gauge your overall comfort level and assess the suitability of your exercise according to feeling:
1. physically lighter
2. more energized
3. more connected in mind and body
If you feel the opposite of any of these—maybe your legs or arms start to feel heavy, your breathing becomes strained, or you experience some mental disconnection—just reduce your pace or exercise load. The key to enjoying exercise that will unify your mind and body and motivate you to do it time and again is to stay below this level of discomfort. That is to stay ‘in’ your comfort zone. Rather than trying to go faster, which you could do temporarily by going into ‘stress mode’, get used to staying at the upper limit of your comfort zone. Notice how exercising at this level makes you feel lighter, more energized and more centered. If you are just after general health benefits, your exercise will also be maximally enjoyable. If you are more into performance improvement then, as your body becomes more efficient, it will gradually learn to perform at higher levels of efficiency. You will gradually go faster based on improved efficiency rather than on adrenaline.
Mark is a friend of mine who learnt these principles some years ago. I asked him to recount the typical experiences he has when he goes swimming. He responded as follows:
It’s funny, although I’m still reasonably fit, I always start off in the slow lane. For the first few minutes I almost sink I’m going so slow. Even some of the golden oldies give me dirty looks (and often a sly elbow) as they have to swim past me. However, if I take it super easy to begin with, my body gradually becomes lighter and looser. After ten minutes I’m usually into a nice cruisy swim and soon it’s me who’s banging up against the notoriously slow swimmers in front—every public swimming pool has them! I find the key at this stage is just to keep things easy. When I do this, the time seems to fly and I can really enjoy the actual process of gliding through the water. If I’m patient enough and restrain myself from wanting to swim faster, often after twenty minutes I’m swimming at quite a good speed, commonly having to progress to the fast lane. However, even at this pace I’m not gasping for air or feeling that my arms or legs are tired or heavy. I’m still cruising and often feel like I could keep going all day. Usually at the end I like to push it for the last few hundred meters. Even then, while it’s not entirely effortless, I feel the exhilaration without the normal level of strain and discomfort I used to experience when I went hard right from the start. I love it.
If you are used to pushing yourself to your limits or feel guilty unless you punish yourself to the point of exhaustion, you may initially find exercising in your comfort zone quite frustrating. However, just as removing dirt from the tracks of a train allows the train to run faster with less power, the more stress and inefficiency (friction) you remove from your body, the more quickly it can move with less effort. Exercising this way will also protect you from injury, motivate you to exercise more often, and promote the optimal conditions for you to experience an exercise high.
By regularly exercising within the limit of your comfort zone, especially when combined with more efficient nasal breathing, in time you will find that your body has the capacity to perform at higher levels of performance while simultaneously experiencing comfort, ease and enjoyment.
Staying in your comfort zone—Ideas to help
1. Recondition your thinking to see exercise as a completely enjoyable and pleasurable activity.
2. Exercise according to the experience of comfort and ease rather than stress and discomfort. Exercise at the highest level you can while still feeling comfortable. Don’t push yourself to go faster. Let improved efficiency increase your performance rather than increased effort or strain.
3. If you play a sport, or just like the exhilaration of pushing yourself beyond your comfortable limit every now and then, that’s fine. In such cases, however, look to do an extended warm-up where you spend five to fifteen minutes slowly building up to higher levels of performance. Such a graded build-up, where you establish a foundation of comfort, ease and efficient breathing, will at least minimize any detrimental effects and allow some level of mind-body connection to be integrated into your activity.
6. Exercise For Transcendence
The human individual, ultimately, is spirit, and can participate to some extent in the larger consciousness even while embodied in flesh.
George Leonard7
This section will not be for everyone, but has been included briefly for those who want to explore the possibilities of higher levels of exercise experience.
The Tarahumara Indians, mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, have races with neighboring tribes that can go for days. The races usually consist of tribes running together kicking a small ball. If a tribe loses their ball, they lose the race. Interestingly, the ball serves not just as an integral part of the race but as a central focus for the runner’s attention. Combining the physical feat of long-distance running with the constant mental demands of focusing on the ball creates a mind-body integration similar to meditation—an ‘active meditation’ as it were. Thus, for these tribes, the experience of running for hours or days on end is not mind-numbingly boring, but can become an experience of almost spiritual significance. Other forms of exercise can bring similar results. As George Leonard explains, ‘The rhythmic, repetitive movements of the body and the steady flow of visual stimuli are well constituted to induce visions and reveal mysteries’.8
When we combine physical exercise with something that entrains our mental functioning, we too can experience ‘mystical’ moments of timelessness and transcendence.
Exercise as an active meditation
If you ever get sick of just going to the gym or enduring some form of structured exercise, try the following. Think of exercise as an active meditation. As when meditating, try to find a location that is relatively quiet and free from distractions. To begin with, look to engage in a consistently repetitive type activity where you can easily govern your exercise pace. Good examples are walking, jogging, cycling, rowing, kayaking or swimming. In most forms of meditation, something is used to focus the mind’s attention and promote mind-body integration, such as one’s breathing or a mantra. Similarly, doing an activity of a consistent, repetitive nature will allow you to better connect your mind and body to promote the highest degree of union.
Focusing on the natural rhythm of your breathing is a great way to begin integrating your mind and body. By taking your attention to your breathing, you not only maximize its efficiency—‘where attention goes, energy flows’—but internalize the whole process of exercise. This automatically reduces external distractions. After a very gradual warm-up, establish a nice, comfortable pace using deep, diaphragmatic nasal breathing. At this point, simply direct your attention to the repetitive nature of your breath: in, out, in out, in, out. Do not to try to control your breathing in any way. Do not try to make it deeper or longer. Do not even forcibly hold your attention on the repetitive nature of your breathing. Just be aware of it. Simply enjoy the experience of comfort and notice your breathing. If at any point you become aware that your attention has been drawn away, for example you start thinking about what you are doing on the weekend or how strange you might look by enjoying your exercise, just comfortably bring your awareness back to the repetitive nature of your breath.
Once you find your breathing is completely easy and your mind’s attention is remaining comfortably on your breathing without distraction, gradually let your awareness expand outwards to the repetitive nature of the activity itself. If you are jogging, take your attention to your legs or your feet as they hit the ground. If swimming, focus on your arms or your hands as they glide through the water. If kayaking, it might be the alternating pulling of the paddle through the water. Finally, after having your attention on the rhythmic nature of the activity itself for a while, allow your awareness to go to the overall flow of the activity or movement. Gradually allow your awareness to expand and almost feel yourself ‘witnessing’ your body doing the activity. It might feel as if you are on autopilot or that you are almost outside your body looking in. Note, however, that you are not trying to create an out-of-body experience. You actually want to have an ‘in-your-body’ experience.
The last stage before slipping into the flow state of exercise involves an expanded state of awareness. Having your attention on your feet hitting the ground, your arms pushing through the water or on your breathing helps direct your mind inward and away from external distractions—that is, you zone in. Ultimately, however, you do not want to direct your attention in any way. Eventually, just let your attention flow with the enjoyable, rhythmic experience of the activity and let what comes come, i.e. zone out.
If you find you are getting distracted or caught up on a particular external thought, by all means come back to your breathing or another specific aspect of the activity before again letting your awareness expand. Don’t try to experience a particular thought or feeling. As with meditation, the more you try to reach a higher level of experience, the less likely you are to do so. If your physiology is in a state conducive to a ‘flow state’ experience, you will naturally slip into it. If not, the experience will still be enjoyable and maximally effective for eliminating stress and connecting your mind and body. Either way, just enjoy it. As they say, ‘just go with the flow’!
Far from having transcendental experiences, in recent years exercise for many people has come to be seen as simply a means to lose weight or reduce stress. While exercise certainly has its place in regard to weight loss and stress management, these were traditionally seen to be supplementary to the higher purpose of creating greater mind-body connection. Many people reading this will question the idea of exercising according to ease and comfort as they equate vigorous exercise with being better for burning calories, losing weight or eliminating stress. However, it can be valuable to appreciate why this view is not necessarily ideal.
In our hectic, high-stress modern world, it can be easy to get out of balance. However, instead of reaping the true benefits of enjoyable exercise, many of us look to exercise, and more particularly high-intensity exercise, to address what is already out of balance—that is, to try to reduce stress and/or burn off calories that have resulted from excessive food consumption. Diagram 3 below illustrates a common cycle.
Diagram 3: Excessive stress commonly leads to overeating. Overeating leads to excess weight. Being overweight, and having a time-poor lifestyle, increases the tendency to over-exercise (i.e. exercise beyond what is comfortable) in order to burn off extra calories in the time available. This leads to exercise lacking enjoyment and even becoming a further stress in itself.
From a broader, natural wisdom perspective, the real problem here is not our inability to do enough strenuous exercise. If one enjoys regular, enjoyable exercise, in tune with the natural laws of health, but still has a problem with weight or stress, then something other than exercise is causing things to be out of balance. While it is not always easy, rather than trying to correct stress and/or overeating with exercise based on pushing beyond one’s comfort zone (‘I’m going to eat like a horse tonight, but I’ll run it off tomorrow’), it is far healthier to address the underlying causes. This may involve starting a stress reduction technique, changing personal or work situations that are causing ongoing stress or simply learning to eat moderately in the first place. Diagram 4 illustrates how, by addressing the underlying stress, one will naturally tend to eat more healthily and maintain a more balanced weight, so can engage in exercise purely for its enjoyment.
Diagram 4: Reducing stress leads to more balanced eating. More balanced eating leads to a healthier weight. A healthier weight allows one to exercise more from comfort and enjoyment rather than stress. Balanced, comfortable exercise further reduces stress.
Exercise is no doubt a great antidote to stress and an expanding waistline. Ideally, however, its highest purpose is not to compensate for other areas of our life being out of balance. By creating balance in life generally, like Mozart’s music, exercise can be an unburdening, effortless and joyful experience—purely for the pleasure and fun of it. When we start to make pleasure and enjoyment the basis for being active, our motivation soars and we naturally want to exercise more.
In times past, exercise was seen as a means to reconnect to our deepest self and to experience the very core of who we are. Its purpose was not simply to lose weight, manage stress or have a firmer backside but to unite mind, body and spirit. In its highest form, exercise can be used as an active meditation to help culture higher levels of mind-body integration and open up the possibility of experiencing the ultimate paradox—moments of inner timelessness and transcendence within dynamic, outer activity.
The first step, however, is simply to reconnect to the intrinsic joy of movement. Exercise that is stressful or involves strain or pain (‘no pain no gain’) not only disconnects our mind and body, but also destroys Mother Nature’s most fundamental source of motivation—enjoyment. When it comes to exercise, keep it simple. Just pick fun activities that involve moving your body. First and foremost do things you enjoy. Do what makes you dance.