The Power Of The Mind: A Critical Aspect Of Endurance Training

Hi! Folks,

Life is a funny thing, and if someone tells you they know what is going on, don’t listen, no-one does. It is just too interesting for us wandering tube creatures to work it out, but we are having a lot of fun trying. Basically, it would appear, we look ‘out there’ through our senses from conception onwards (and maybe before that  – just consider DNA-methylation patterns?), take in data, build a map of the world, use it and hopefully modify it as new data come in, and try to work out how to live our lives. However, just take a quick look at the universe through the Hubble Telescope and look at things like the Sombrero Galaxy and consider it’s size and if you have any humility at all you’ll give up claiming to be so sure about stuff and maybe just start to enjoy life while y0u can.

The Sombrero Galaxy: Another Wonder From The Hubble (Thanks! Hubble People!)

The interesting thing about our minds and their ‘road maps’ is that they apparently affect the world around us. For instance, if you are kind to your fellow creatures, generally they’ll be kind to you. I know very little about grokking, I have experienced the power of Chi over pain as a martial artist (of little skill!), and I sure try to keep an open mind, which is not so easy if you are a left-brain scientist kind of person. Interestingly, your mind can really influence your non-brain body parts a lot also, and you can take advantage of this as an athlete.

If you don’t know where your body parts are, your mind will have the wrong body map to work with, and then you won’t be able to move your body about optimally, which is why my Feldenkrais instructor, Karen, has a mounted human skeleton in the instruction room.

Karen and Mr. Bones

Boy! That skeleton sure helps by telling you when you don’t know where your skeletal bits and pieces are located. Surely the skeleton is the basis of our location in space, and through which we express the activity of our muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, and all the other gooey stuff that takes energy from the world and uses it to move our various tubes over the planet in search of food and pleasure? If you want to test the power of your mind for yourself, I recommend that you work through the exercises in the best running book I know, Running With Your Whole Body, by Jack Heggie. There is one exercise in there that will blow your mind. You’ll know it when you see it, but please work through the exercises exactly as instructed, in a calm manner, taking your time. It is really worth it. Sure changed my approach to running, and everything else for that matter. Preparing for races in your mind really works because of this mind-body connection (though our mind is in our head and in the rest of our body, don’t forget!!).

Cheers,

Kevin