And while I’m not aiming this at those special individuals who fly out of their mother’s wombs ready for boot camp (and there are some of you who fit into this category – God love you), I am directing this toward the rest of humanity who may
not exactly enjoy sweatin’ to the oldies – or anything else for that matter.
So how do we take something we don’t enjoy and make it bearable – or even pleasant for that matter?
By being present during ‘the during’.
“What does that mean?” you ask.
Well as long as I’m here typing, I’ll tell ya… Being present during the during simply means connecting to your workout by practicing mindfulness with each and every exercise you engage in.
See, when we don’t wanna do stuff, we hurry things along while wishing we were somewhere else doing something else. This creates resistance - and since what we resist persists, if we want to feel good about our body, we have to find a way to feel good during the process of creating the version of it we wish to see.
And if we aren’t present during exercise, injuries can and do happen as well.
When rushing through your workout ‘just to get it done’, you think you’re doing something beneficial because you’re exercising, and on the surface it may look that way. But in reality, your true feelings of disdain are what’s creating your result (or lack thereof).
However, by being present during your workouts, you have the opportunity to think about what you’re looking to achieve. You allow yourself to connect with your intentions. You specifically communicate with your muscles – creating a relationship between thought and physical activity.
There’s a good possibility that the reason you ‘feel you have to work out’ stemmed from a lifestyle that didn’t practice conscious living to begin with. When we live by default, we create by default.
And since that didn’t seem to work so well, why not try being present? You’d be amazed at how quickly and pleasantly the time flies when you aren’t wishing it away!