Rannoch urges us to practice mindfulness, be present and “be the best imperfect person you can be” in our physical fitness.
There are certain words that get used with such ubiquity that they lose all sense of meaning. When everything is either “fantastic” or “disastrous” there is no sense of proportion. Think about it. Do we have to reduce everything to “lol” or “UGTBK”?
Similarly, words get appropriated and concepts and meanings get obscured. The deluge of information we are subject to encourages a bullet point approach to comprehension. Surface knowledge rather than a deep and meaningful understanding.
When someone tells me they completed five rounds of Tabatas last night, I immediately know that they either don’t understand the concept or they are simply confused. The Tabata protocol is prescriptive and clear.
The original Tabata Protocol study conducted at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan used highly-trained endurance athletes in peak physical condition, performing 8 intervals on the bike at over 85 RPMs until they couldn’t maintain that level of intensity. Anyone who decides to perform the 8 minute protocol is not going to be doing five rounds. End of story.
The point is, we are quick to appropriate words and concepts without actually embodying them. What I refer to as “air guitar”. We are throwing shapes but there’s no sound coming out.
Mindfulness is a buzzword at the moment. And it is as if knowing the word somehow confers its meaning.
Jon Kabat Zinn tells us “Mindfulness practice means that we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now.” – Wherever You Go, There You Are
Mindfulness is not an abbreviated route to happiness. It is not zoning out, changing yourself, escaping, going to your happy place or achieving perfection. It is practice, it is training.Training the mind, like the body. One and the same.
Try as we might, if we approach training and practice with expectations we find ourselves focused on the outcome. If we strive for transformation we get lost in a world of false hope and disappointment. The purpose is to be present, to embody whatever the given activity might be. None of this reflects our sense of entitlement, that craving for the quick fix or easy answer. Everyone must work with whatever they bring, the only benefactor is you, yourself. There are no comparisons to be made, there is no summit to conquer. Practice is base camp. As George Leonard, author of the exceptional book “Mastery” tells us:
“To love the plateau is to love what is most essential and enduring in your life.” – George Leonard
Your decision to turn up, whatever the weather, that is the key.
Again, from Jon Kabat Zinn -“Discipline provides a constancy which is independent of what kind of day you had yesterday and what kind of day you anticipate today.”
I am currently reading Oliver Burkeman’s new book “The Antidote – Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking”. Whatever my reservations about the title, the book itself is a wonderfully pragmatic look at our fixation with happiness and the strange idea that the answer is somehow “out there.” If there is a key message so far, it is to embrace uncertainty. Of course, that is an uncomfortable message to absorb when our minds, surrounded by the media of insecurity, are doing everything in their power to escape any sense of vulnerability.
In the book, Oliver Burkeman quotes the Japanese psychiatrist Shoma Morita. Whilst on the surface this might seem like a resignation to our personal inadequacies, it is in fact a celebration, a celebration of our potential, of everything that is possible, despite our most human imperfections.
“Give up on yourself. Begin taking action now, while being neurotic or imperfect, or a procrastinator or unhealthy or lazy or any other label by which you inaccurately describe yourself. Go ahead and be the best imperfect person you can be and get started on those things you want to accomplish before you die.” – Shoma Morita
what about good habits ?
There is no sense.
Interesting thoughts, and something I am starting really to explore in my own lifting (I’m an olympic weightlifter). Was discussing this with my coach the other day. We both agree that we see lifters who all too often focus on the desired outcome (“I will make this lift”) without also focussing on the effort that they will need to put into the lift to get there. You can’t approach the bar simply wishing that it will happen. Making it happen involves applying yourself in the moment. Likewise, hanging your happiness or sense of self worth on an outcome that hasn’t… Read more »
Great points. When we become performance focussed we need to do it from a foundation of deep practice. I would go as far as to say Performance is 99% practice. Unfortunately our obsession with PRs and personal bests come with a heavy price. How many people do we know whose training is regularly curtailed due to injury and fatigue. To perform we need resilience. We don’t get there by breaking ourselves down, we get there by building ourselves up.
Now you’ve got me thinking!
Rannoch, please write more content- end of!
Simply brilliant.
Thanks so much for all the positive feedback. Very much appreciated. Jez, day to day, that is how we “just do it”. I love the Shoma Morita quote. Embrace the imperfect! CJ, no question, I think that mindfulness and awareness are interchangable. Mindfulness, I would characterise are moment to moment awareness. K, I agree, we live in a world of black and white when in truth it is the spectrum in between that counts. Sadly, we are quick to look for “solutions” that come pre packaged. It is the awareness of our own experience that matters. It is too easy… Read more »
Always a pleasure to read your thoughs and agree with what you say 100%
DMC
Some great points there Rannoch. Definitions have become blurred to the point of becoming almost invalid. Mindfulness is one such term, and you hit the nail on the head.
One of the things that I struggle with is the notion of mind and body as separate entities, and is not something I subscribe too. The brain is an integral part of the body, with the mind an expression of the brain. Perhaps the key is not mindfulness per se, but awareness. Full stop.
Excellent reminders Ran.
Very inspiring!
Thanks Rannoch!
I like this! As someone who competes and trains for long events I feel you need to be present at all times as the finish is often a long way off. To paraphrase a quote ” Not focusing on the present is like saving up sex for your old age”
It’s very interesting to contemplate your point that training (whether mind or body) without an agenda is somehow the key to mastery.
I enjoyed this post, Rannoch.
I particularly liked your initial point about the over-simplification of experience. I see it all the time in fitness circles. Life is much more than awesome/not-awesome and fitness is much more than better/worse, strong/weak, or fat/skinny.
There’s a full spectrum of experience out there to savour in all that we do. Why limit ourselves to an ‘on/off switch’ type experience of life!
Cheers.
Very nice article Rannoch, thanks. I was going to sling the word ‘mindfulness’ in toward the end of a status the other day – I’m glad I didn’t now. I think I’m fairly certain what is meant by it but I’d have to admit that if pressed I’d have probably mumbled something about ‘being present in the moment’, which doesn’t say much at all! (Maybe I’m doing myself a disservice, I might have got as far as ‘giving our fullest attention to our every fibre whilst carrying out an action or exercise; be it reading, running or just breathing’.) Either… Read more »