{"id":24,"date":"2010-10-06T16:59:44","date_gmt":"2010-10-06T16:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/medicinetomoveyou\/2010\/10\/running-for-mental-health.html"},"modified":"2010-10-06T16:59:44","modified_gmt":"2010-10-06T16:59:44","slug":"running-for-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/medicinetomoveyou\/2010\/10\/running-for-mental-health.html","title":{"rendered":"Running for Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Running.  <\/span>How do people
\ndo this activity for minutes and hours on end in one day?  <\/span>And then when you think they had all that
\ntime to think about what they were doing step after step after step, these
\nrunner people wake up the next day and do it again!!!  <\/span>“Amazing,” I used to think.  <\/span>Well, that’s because I was part of that camp
\nthat could not understand how people could do one monotonous motion over and
\nover and not go crazy in the head.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Secretly, I was really jealous of them.  <\/span>Whenever I ran, my mind would get the best of
\nme.  <\/span>“Shilpa, just run to that stop sign…you
\ncan do it, you can do it… run, run, run…wow, the stop sign doesn’t seem any closer
\nand I’ve been running here for at least 30 seconds.. what were you thinking making
\nthat stop sign the goal!… ok, just get to the tree instead and then you can
\nwalk….thump, thump, thump… wow, did I mean that tree over there… flop, flop,
\nflop, jiggle, jiggle, jiggle…you know you can’t do it, you had asthma, you are
\nnot in shape, you are not meant to be a runner, just go inside and do your
\ncircuit training.”<\/p>\n

Truth is, I have been avoiding running for years for 1 big
\nreason and it was never about my physical limitations.  <\/span>I was afraid to be alone with myself and my
\nnegative speak about my exercise potential. 
\n<\/span>So instead of facing my fears head on, I have been busying myself with
\nother exercises that suit my ego.  <\/span>That
\nis to say, I preferred to do exercise programs that I could pick up easily and
\nconvinced me that I was at my full potential. 
\n<\/span>Well, what’s wrong with that? 
\n<\/span>Nothing- at face value.  <\/span>However, there
\nis no growth in that mindset and I secretly knew I wasn’t really at my full
\npotential.  <\/span>That’s right; Dr. Integrative
\nhas some healing of her own that she works on! 
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong, I am proud that I am a much improved
\nyogini and that I can do Turbo Jam with the best of them, BUT exercise is so
\nmuch more than being able to lift a certain amount of weight, run the quickest
\nmile or do the prettiest downward facing dog. 
\n<\/span> <\/span>There is a meditative space that
\ntrue athletes attain that brings them closer to the peace that resides in each
\none of us.  <\/span>Our minds are our biggest
\nenemies.  <\/span>The mind, the house of your
\nthoughts, is constantly in motion- sometimes for your benefit but mostly for
\nyour distraction, if you really think about it. 
\n<\/span>Your mind is constantly jostling you from activity to activity, emotion
\nto emotion, reaction to reaction.  <\/span>But
\nwhen your mind is focused on one thing, for example run, run, run, run, run…
\nyou hit the sweet spot of meditation.  <\/span>When
\nour mind is quietened and focused, the sounds of all the “I can not’s” are not
\nheard anymore.  <\/span>It is at this time, at
\nthe moment that you are free from all distraction, that you are poised to overcome
\nyour perceived potential and push beyond it. 
\n<\/span>THAT is what I was really afraid of having to face!<\/p>\n

I am happy to report that Saturday morning, October 2, 2010,
\nI completed my first 10K supporting the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.  <\/span>Did I run the whole thing… heck no!  <\/span>But did I run…YES, I did!  <\/span>And in the midst of all my mind taming, on
\nthis day of the race my thoughts were quiet enough for a short glimpse of time for
\nme to notice a beautiful thing.  <\/span>I felt the
\nstrength and energy of all the breast cancer survivors and their friends and
\nfamilies and grew more than any 6.2 miles I had ever walked in my life.  <\/span><\/p>\n

I still have many more miles of mental calisthenics ahead of
\nme, but I made it past my personal hump- once! 
\n<\/span>The second time will be easier and third even easier.  <\/span>I encourage you to be silent with your thoughts
\nand see what ‘I can not’s’ you have been flashing around for years and see
\nwhere you can find the peace of mind to move beyond it.  <\/span>Perhaps, it’s running that will be the field
\nwhere you practice the taming of your thoughts, but wherever or whatever it is,
\njust do it!  <\/span>Sorry, Nike and readers- I
\nhad to say it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running.  How do people do this activity for minutes and hours on end in one day?  And then when you think they had all that time to think about what they were doing step after step after step, these runner people wake up the next day and do it again!!!  “Amazing,” I used to think. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-get-moving","category-mindful-medicine"],"yoast_head":"\nRunning for Mental Health - Medicine to Move You<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/medicinetomoveyou\/2010\/10\/running-for-mental-health.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Running for Mental Health - Medicine to Move You\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Running.  How do people do this activity for minutes and hours on end in one day?  And then when you think they had all that time to think about what they were doing step after step after step, these runner people wake up the next day and do it again!!!  “Amazing,” I used to think. …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/medicinetomoveyou\/2010\/10\/running-for-mental-health.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medicine to Move You\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-06T16:59:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dr. Shilpa P. 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