How To Meditate While Running and its Benefits

If you are searching for peace of mind, you have to listen to your heart. When does your heart speak loudest? Learning how to meditate will help you listen to your heart. If you haven’t tried it already, give a running meditation a try. It’s not discussed as often as other types of meditation, but it can be very rewarding.

I usually have a very stable temper. I don’t get angry very often, and when I do, it is short-lived. There is a secret to my serenity, and it involves running. When I feel my self-control slipping, I put on my jogging shoes and go for a run. Running relaxes me and creates a calm sense of peace. 

My mental health runs are always three miles long. That’s a hold-over from my days in the Marine Corps where they made us do a three-mile run to prove we were fit for duty. That distance has stuck. When my mind isn’t exactly the way I want it, I run for three miles to prove to myself that my mind and body are fit for duty. You might say this is part of the Marine mindset that stayed with me over the years.

Keep reading to discover the benefits I have found from running meditations.

Self-Control

Peak performance starts inside your head. I perform better and get more done when my mind is calm. Meditation is already helping millions of people improve their mental health, and is one of my favorite stress reduction techniques. 

When you develop good coping strategies and make them a regular part of your life, you will be calmer and have better self-control. The great thing about learning new ways to maintain self-control is that you don’t have to wait for results. You get better immediately, just by trying. The more time you put into it, the better you will get, and it will impact your entire life in positive ways. 

One of my favorite mind-hacks is to simply start things. Every journey begins with a single step. The first step is also the hardest, so I have trained myself to be really good at taking that step. When I’m feeling a lack of motivation, I tell myself, “I’m just going to start this project; I don’t have to finish it.” Once you’re moving, it’s a lot easier to keep moving. By focusing on what I am doing right now, it gets easier to make progress on big projects. 

When I feel my motivation starting to slip, I grab the nearest project and do one thing to improve it. The easier, the better. Then I find one more thing I can do. Little successes give me energy and build excitement. This emotion is infectious and carries over to my other projects, no matter how big or difficult. 

As you learn how to motivate yourself to stick to difficult projects, you will find your self-control increasing. You don’t have to be perfect or do difficult tasks at record-breaking speed. It’s all about small improvements.

Running and Mindfulness

Meditation is a powerful tool you can use to improve your life and reduce anxiety. Running meditation has a lot in common with guided meditations. Instead of a voice telling you where to focus your attention, how to breathe, and when to make changes, your guide is the road.

When I go on a run, I get into the rhythm by singing songs or calling out cadences I learned when I was in training for the Marine Corps. This helps me focus on what I am doing and soothes any turbulence in my mind. One of my favorite cadences is a chant I heard in the movie Shaka Zulu. It’s a salute to bravery and heroism, and when I chant like that, I can feel the hero inside me take control.

Running is a good time for self-reflection. You are alone with your thoughts and have to exercise discipline and control. As you get deeper into your run, your ability to focus increases, too. This makes running a perfect match for meditation. Many runners will tell you that they run for more than just physical benefits. It’s the mental changes and inner peace that makes the biggest difference.

The meditation with muse 2 is a useful tool that can teach you how to meditate or enhance your practice if you’re already an expert. It comes with useful tools to track your biorhythms and gives you access to a library of guided meditations. If you use these tools consistently, they can take your practice to the next level.  When you want to run and the weather isn’t cooperating, you don’t have to do without. Speedroping, yoga, and other forms of cardio can create a similar effect until you can get back out on the street again.

Understanding How to Meditate While Running Taught Me Peace of Mind

Anything that sharpens your focus is a form of meditation. No matter your circumstances in life, peace of mind will help you find happiness.

When I was young and went running, I didn’t realize the potential it had as a form of meditating. I figured that out by degrees, and by the time I could put a name to it, I’d been practicing running meditation for years. 

Everything in life is temporary. During difficult times, I’ve often heard the advice “this too shall pass.” Sometimes it feels like the hard times and our current trials will never end. When you realize that there is a light at the end of every tunnel, it immediately makes the journey easier. A big part of meditation is realizing this fact. 

Many people will tell you they can’t meditate because they can’t sit still for long. Group meditation can help some of these people find the will to continue. The human body was built to run. If you develop the skill of meditating while running, it will eventually become as natural as breathing. If you need extra motivation to learn this technique, you can run with a friend or join a jogging club. And you don’t have to start out big. If you commit to five minutes a day, it is enough to build a habit. Once you have built a tradition of running every day, you may find yourself naturally wanting to run for longer times and distances. It gets addictive, and a runner’s high is one of the best feelings in the world.  

Running meditation is a gift that can keep on giving. It is the secret to my self-control and peace of mind. When was the last time you went for a run? Take a few minutes today and give running meditation a try.