“Sports Meditation” — What It Is and How It Can Improve Your Life

You probably don’t know what sports meditation is. And that’s normal, it’s a term that I somehow invented.

I’m going to give you a quick introduction to this concept, and how it can help you in your daily life!

What is it

It is well known that doing sports allows you to clear your mind. In any case, this is what some sports like running, biking, etc… allow. It looks like meditation, don’t you think?

The concept of “sports meditation” consists of introspection while doing sport. By introspection, I mean actually thinking about something of your choice, without distraction. As a bonus, it has a productive side, because you are doing two “useful” things at the same time.

Of course, to do this, you don’t want to be too intense, because you can’t really do two things at once. Also, it is more complicated for team sports, or any sport that requires the implementation of a strategy.

In fact, the sports activity must be done in the background, mechanically, to allow you to direct your thoughts where you want. We’ll talk about it later.

Why not meditate “normally” instead?

Simply because it is not that simple. The easiest exercise would actually be to sit on the floor and stare at your wall or to lie down and stare at your ceiling. That would bring your introspection to the forefront. But it’s not that simple. Try, now, sit down and try and stay at least 5 minutes staring at the wall in front of you and letting your thoughts come, you will see that it doesn’t work.

Sport has a kind of liberating effect that other activities do not have. It actually allows you to separate yourself from all distractions very simply.

Also, when you are exercising, you are on your own and have no choice but to continue your sport. If on the other hand, you are meditating, at any moment you can get fed up and take out your cell phone.

What to think about during a sports meditation session

The truest answer is that you can think about anything you want. On the other hand, it’s too easy to tell you that, so I’ll give you a few pointers based on what works for me.

First of all, I like to think about the day ahead in sports meditation. I go over my schedule in my head, and I try to come up with ideas to solve the problems that will arise during the day, or I think of new tasks that I can add.

I also like to reflect on my current projects. Do they still make sense, am I moving in the right direction, should I pause some or activate some that were just inactive?

I also think about the content I have consumed recently, for example, the books I read, the movies I watch, etc… I replay the stories and ideas in my head, reinvent them, modify them, etc… In short, I make my creativity work.

And finally, I also think about the present moment. It may sound like a cliché, but when I run, the fact of thinking that I am running makes me feel good. I forget the rest, my constraints, my problems, my responsibilities, and I enjoy the fact that I’m doing sports, without taking my head off.

There you have it, you have a few ideas, it’s up to you to adapt them to your desires and needs.

How to put sports meditation into practice

This is all very well and good, but in practice, you will see that it is not so simple to practice sports meditation.

The basic principle is that the sports activity should be in the background. So it really should not be intense and should not require any decision. If you play soccer or tennis, for example, it won’t work, or it will make you lose all your matches.

Ideally, you should also keep the sports activity going. This will avoid breaks in your thoughts and will be much more effective. As when you work, you may know the deep work: it is better to work 2 hours in a row than to do 25 minutes slots with 5 minutes break (Pomodoro).

Ideal activities for this are running, cycling, swimming, etc… Anything that is cardio in fact. Even weight training can be used, but it is not a continuous activity so it is not the most effective.

Now, it’s not enough to say that running is good for example. You really need to keep your sessions quiet. Typically, I only practice sports meditation during rest running sessions, so not even once a week. Similarly, when I do weight training, I do supersets, so I rarely have time to pause and think because the rest times are too short.

And yet, even if I only do it once in a while, I still feel the benefits of sports meditation. If you have a more leisurely pace than I do, you can certainly fit in a few more sessions.

Final Note

In short, sports meditation is a simple concept that consists in taking advantage of the moments of escape linked to the practice of a sports activity in order to refocus on oneself.

However, this practice is not compatible with all sports activities. Indeed, we are not really multitaskers, so if one activity comes first, another must be neglected.

Finally, even if you don’t practice sports meditation regularly, you can still benefit from it, so try it out!

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