Saumya's MindfulRunning

  “How did we even get here?”  This question comes out like a bullet wrapped in frustration, sorrow, and fear; shot aimlessly into the open air, from most of us from different backgrounds and different life experiences. Some mourning the bereavement of their loved ones due to COVID-19, some recovering from the infection, some caregivers to their significant others or family members in recovery, and some who had not been physically affected by the virus. Yet, all of us have the same question in mind.  And none of us are expecting an answer. This bullet in our hearts just needs a release.    Why are people who have not witnessed death or even had a positive COVID 19 infection in their family, experiencing grief? The answer lies in the larger connection among them - the human connection.   The COVID19 nimbus clouds have rained...

  The Pandemic Has Greyed My Hair   Spring is the time when the weather becomes warmer Trees begin to bear leaves and plants start to flower Alongside comes the pandemic sweeping the world away Making its way through my layer The pandemic has greyed my hair   While we thought that was the worst that could happen  We did our best for the curve to flatten With jobs and migrant workers left to sadden What more is there to say? The pandemic has greyed my hair   Work from anywhere becomes a norm  Sweeping and mopping take us by storm Children lean to a new platform While teachers too need to transform Marathons being run inside people’s homes Is this a kind of a new syndrome? All this seems so rare The pandemic has greyed my hair   While things didn’t look as bad  Cooking and baking became a new fad  From dalgonas to exotic dishes Only if these were to last as wishes Little did we know these would be soon to wear The pandemic has greyed my hair ...

“To practice regularly, even when you seem to be getting nowhere, might at first seem onerous. But the day eventually comes when practice becomes a treasured part of your life. You settle into it as if into your favorite easy chair. It will be there for you tomorrow. It will never go away.”  George Leonard, the late aikido master and philosopher of human potential   Everyone can benefit immensely from cultivating a regular physical practice. Physical means using your body. Practice means something undertaken for its own sake. Examples include running, cycling, swimming, lifting weights, vigorous walking, gardening, martial arts, rowing, yoga, climbing etc.  The indisputable and measurable benefits of physical practices include enhanced physical health, mental health, and creativity. Beyond that, such activities bring about deep confidence that comes with getting to know yourself from the inside out, the transcendence of peak experie...

"The makeup of your social circle has profound implications for your own behavior"  Brad Stulberg & Steve Magness Fitness is contagious. Who impacts that the most? The least fit person in your group. Researchers found: "If half of your friends were to become among the least fit for reasons unrelated to you, your own fitness level would drop by nearly 20 percent…" It turns out that motivation can function almost like a disease. It is contagious and can work its way through your peer group in the same way that the flu potentially can. To coaches, teachers, managers, leaders or anyone who deals with motivating groups of people this shouldn’t sound too surprising. It’s referred to as “team culture.” In 2010, the US Air Force Academy set out to understand why some cadets increase their fitness while others do not. They tracked the cohort of cadets over 4 years. Cadets spent a vast majority of their time interacting with peers in their squadron where the squadron was ...

There are no magical workouts or magical zones. People always want to know how certain exercises impact and how one classifies them. Every time someone asks you a question about a workout, and you tell them exact details, then they’d say “you mean, a Vo2max workout” for example. In your head you think “No. There’s more than that”, but mostly agree. Training has become engrained with the idea of classifying workouts based mainly on distance and speed. It’s human nature to divide the world into neat and manageable pieces.  How can you break free from the grasp of classification and not lose your creativity? Getting “stuck” We have lost all creativity by making it more scientific and calculated. If we see 400m repeats, it gets automatically processed as “anaerobic” or whatever it is in our classification. In the words of Daniel Kahneman (psychologist, economist & author), we default to our fast system 1 thinking, never allowing system 2 to even have a check. In other words, t...

  “Being intentional about our surroundings is essential to eliciting our best performance.”  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. From his book ‘The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium’. You are tired after a long day’s work. When you sign off from work, you have intentions to exercise, but that nice comfy couch is calling your name. You can’t resist the pull of sitting down, turning on the TV or just eating and relaxing thereby skipping your exercise.  There is a battle between the goal (e.g. exercising) and your body’s natural pull towards the path of least resistance. Sitting is a lot easier than stepping out and burning calories or picking up the weights at home (since you can’t hit the gym in these times). Our bodies are made to conserve energy, especially when we feel drained. Your brain has tied that piece of furniture (couch/bed) to relaxation and areas in your brain related to taking that action begin to light up. This occurs well before you’ve made the act...

People who push themselves physically are much calmer when it comes to life stresses because they have trained to be with discomfort. Long-distance runners, cyclists, triathletes, mountain climbers and endurance athletes in general can teach us a lot about how to deal with the current situation. The pandemic feels like a marathon and marathon’s require patience. Initially COVID-19 felt like running an 800 m sprint but now it feels like a marathon or more likely an ultra-marathon. Unlike endurance athletes, who choose to participate in prolonged and grueling events, we did not sign up for COVID-19. Yet there is so much we can learn from their experience on how to move through extended periods of discomfort.  Patience, Pacing, Process  and  Purpose  are four important aspects guiding successful endurance athletes.  Patience “If you are kind to yourself, most of the time you’ll get through the dark spot in a better mood and without wasting precious energy rumi...