Weightlifting as Meditation

Last night I was sitting on the edge of my bathtub cutting my fingernails. Halfway through I noticed my right calf was flexed, and my foot in a weird position. I stopped and let my foot relax and then continued cutting my nails.

Sometimes I forget I have a body. I get focused on a task or lost in thought and I lose track of the physical space I take up and way I move in the physical world.

In college any physical awareness I developed was due to acting. Work with masks, miming, and pantomime are particularly helpful to increase awareness of our own physical bodies. What I’ve found is that I could turn on the awareness on stage but in my regular life it slips and I retreat back to the comfort on my thoughts.
Getting back to this state of body awareness is grounding. Spending too much time in my head wreaks havoc on my mental health. If I’m not actively bringing myself back to my body and feeling the present moment I tend to be more:

• Critical
• Judgmental
• Anxious
• Paranoid
• Tired

I felt more stable when I was consistently on stage doing improv. Having an outlet that necessitates being present grounded me for my professional work in front of a computer.
As my time in front of a computer increases I’ve needed to increase the time grounding myself. I have turned to weight lifting as a primary activity to help with this. Slowing down the motion and having the right amount of resistance forces my thoughts to match my movement; bringing me into the present. This has turned going to the gym into a meditative practice.