Mindfulness for Longevity
My mindfulness story began in a climbing harness. Indeed, the first place I ever noticed my mind and body being in the same place at the same time was while rock climbing. Sure, it had happened before, but I hadn't ever realized it. It was a profound shift in my physical rock climbing technique, and even more in my personal mental and emotional life.
Mindfulness is defined as "the state of paying attention to one's internal and external experience in the present moment, with an attitude of openess and curiosity." When we step into that state, we adapt more efficiently, learn more deeply, and make more effective choices. Beautifully, this can be applied to any activity in any part of our lives!
The adaptability, learning, and decision-making improvements from mindfulness have been found to improve our mental and physical longevity. The mental part may be more obvious, since "mind" is part of the word, "mindfulness..." But, physical? Allow me to explain!
It is helpful to think of physical agility as a process, not a trait. While it may seem like some folks are "natural athletes," they have also invested much time and energy into that process and skill development. For all of us, though, mindfulness is a super power in physical abilities and longevity.
The Process Model has four stages. Let's talk about them specifically for learning, adapting, and making movement-decisions biased toward long-term health...
Pay attention -- notice how your body feels before, during, and after movement. Turn off auto-pilot and tune into potential cues and lessons. What hurts? How do you need to prepare? Where do you feel strong? Weak?
Get curious -- More than noticing, it's crucial we turn the date we collect into understanding, even and especially if it challenges our comfort zone. This means giving yourself permission to change and maybe reroute course if it means actually taking care of yourself and your body.
Experiment -- Take that insight and try it out, change it, and try it out again! Staying attentive and curious means these experiments result in movement and activity that will feel good because the body is prepared and care for for every step of the way. Get excited about some uncertainty and change. Our bodies (like everything else) are changing; embracing that reality, rather than clinging to the past. This is how we serve a healthy, aging, moving body.
Reflect -- Settle back into attention and curiousity. Step back, see the context from some distance and review where you have been, if it's working, and where you'd like to go from here.
The hardest part of learning something new is feeling pretty clumsy about it first. That is also the important first step for everyone. Keep that in mind -- that we all feel the uphill struggle at the start, and bring it into your mindfulness practice as you build your attention "endurance."
To learn more about Blake, and see all her adventures, follow her @blake_cason!