I’m at the gym – TV screens in front of me all showing different things, music playing from the speakers and I’m having to focus a bit more on staying present with my walking. And I’m wondering why there are so many distractions at the gym? Is it deliberate, and if so, why?
I imagine that some would say that it helps them having something to focus on and that it makes the workout easier – that is, having music playing and a TV show to watch. But in what state does that leave our precious body? If the body would have a say, I reckon it would probably also be wanting to join the show. Not the show on the television in this case, but wanting to be present in and with the workout.
My experience is that if we are focusing too much on something else, like a TV show or the music from the speakers, then the focus on the body is left out of the equation, when the whole purpose of exercising is to get healthy, alert and present in the body, is it not?
It’s a bit like driving a car – we need to be present with the driving otherwise we will have a car crash, even though many these days do focus on other things, such as looking at their phone, or messaging or whatever we might be up to in these modern vehicles of ours. My point is that preferably we would be focusing on the driving and, if we relate this to exercising and working out, my question would be how present are we when we work out?
Are we deliberately checking out while we are ‘driving’ our body and where does that leave it? When we drive a car and look away for a split second, we can easily drive off the road or have a front on collision. For some reason we seem to be blessed from that happening too much considering how many of us are doing other things while driving, but we are still bound to keep a certain amount of focus, otherwise we will eventually end up having an accident.
But how about the body and not being present while exercising? Does that not have an effect on the body? Surely it has to. But maybe it takes longer for the body to manifest an ‘accident’.
When I say ‘accident’, I’m referring to the body giving us clear signals that something is not quite right and this can be experienced as an injury or some other physical ailment. In other words, the body says no more of that please. But do we correlate the two? Do we consider that not being present in and with our body can lead to the body having a breakdown?
One thing we do need to consider here is what actually happens when we are not present with our bodies. What happens is that we are not fully attentive to what our body is communicating to us, and in that state, it’s easy to push beyond how the body would otherwise perform the exercise. If we have music pumping, we can easily push ourselves more than we would without the music, as most of us can attest to, but is that really healthy? I would claim that it’s not. Eventually our body will have to show us whether what we are doing with it is healthy or not and if we find ourselves having accidents, injuries and feel overly tired, then we know that something is not quite right.
Something I’ve discovered over the years is that the more present and in tune with my body I get, the more aware I become of how much more present and in tune with my body I can actually be, like there’s no real end, just a continual deepening.
With that in mind, we could easily suspect that many of us do not have a very strong connection with our bodies and all the so called entertainment, in the forms of music and TV screens in the gym, make it even harder to establish one. But why so, if being present is important?
I would say, and I’m sticking my neck out here, that if we were to get more connected with our bodies, we would feel a lot more of what is truly going on, both in our bodies, but also in our lives and that is often too terrifying so we keep on doing the same old same old, until of course our body has to take itself “off the road to get a repair.”
But it doesn’t have to be that way. I’m not going to give a lecture from this experience I had this morning, but I will say this; it’s well worth looking after ourselves and our bodies and pushing ourselves, as we do right now, with a lot of help from the entertainment squad at the gym, is not helping our bodies to get truly healthy – quite the opposite. Hard facts but it needs to be said.
Fact is that our body is super tender and is not made to be roughed up and pushed beyond boundaries, even though we think we have to ‘push through’ to make it perform. It will perform if we give it the proper space to do so, but that might look a bit different from the image we currently hold of how the workout is to look like.
Let’s face it, our bodies are the temples in which we live and we have to look after them as best as we can… only not from an image of how we think they should look, but from what the body says is right and true for it. But it’s quite hard to listen when we have a myriad of distractions all around us and this is not just at the gym, but everywhere. So why is it like this? That is for us all to contemplate – meanwhile I will stick to being as present as I can with myself because I know it feels way better in my body and it also makes me not want to crave too many sweet things, because I get energised just by being present with the way that I move around in my body, which is actually a science in itself.
By Matts Josefsson, Student of Behavioural Science, Stockholm, Sweden
Further Reading:
That’s entertainment? Wired for distraction
Shock! I Achieved a High Level of Fitness with Gentle Exercise
Discovering the Power of My Body Through Gentle Exercise
Something I have noticed Matts is the more present I am with myself during the day the deeper the sleep at night so that I wake up more energised the next day.
Allowing distractions to be the ‘norm’ keeps us away from feeling the beauty of who we are.
I have started doing exercise more lately and oh my do I feel the benefit, more clearer, more stronger and generally more steadily joyful.
I may not go to the gym but I’m no stranger to driving my body to do things in an energy of function. of stress, of getting the job done no matter what. This feels so harmful and what’s done is done in an energy that leaves a residue that confirms the mundane, the functional existence of life rather than the beauty and divinity of who we are.
It is always good to check how present we are in the moment, no matter what we are doing, ‘how present are we when we work out?’ I suspect many of us have been checked out while exercising, ‘Are we deliberately checking out while we are ‘driving’ our body and where does that leave it?’
I have recently joined a gym which seems quite tame compared with the one you describe here. It does have music playing but not loudly and it has mirrors which I find useful in checking my posture. It’s interesting the other day that I went to the gym after a stressful morning and having a smoothie that had fruit in it and I could feel the difference in the way I approached the exercises and how I moved. I was not so in tune with myself and more willing to go with the beat of the music that was playing. I had to keep recovering myself until I was steady again. Going to the gym and exercising is a great way to ‘see’ how present we are and how connected to our bodies natural rhythm that we are prepared to be.
I often observe the determined drive of so many who over work their body in effort to achieve the prized goal of reducing weight and looking strong. It is not the way to do this though. We can strengthen our body effortlessly and lovingly actually.
One ought to not take what you share here flippantly or be ignorant about it. What we are talking about is a serious topic. It is the quality of our everyday lives!
Facts that convey Truth needs to be said.
For me once I started to be present and feel my body while exercising it became a whole different ball game with out the ball! I also started to realise how checked out I had been and was in the my head the whole time. To really feel the body and connect with it as you are exercising feels amazing.
It does feel lovely to be present and feel our bodies, whatever we are doing.
It sure is tough to be in ones body today – we’re bombarded with images of the ‘ideal’ physique from social media, advertising and TV to name a few. Furthermore, inexpensive fast food and delivery services plus generally unhealthy supermarket options make it easy to make unhealthy choices. So it’s pretty awesome to read this post – a reminder to listen to our bodies first and foremost.
At the ripe old age of fifty I have just joined a gym for the first time and have found one that feels quite tame, no pumping music. The older I get the more I am learning to support my body and listen to its needs and I felt the time was right to take that step and give it the extra strength and exercise needed to support me in daily life.
Listening to the body and exercising with that tender love and care is a completely different consciousness to the one of old which is to push, become ‘better’ and achieve (at the expense of the body).
The same can be said for how we choose to work: do we metaphorically leave our bodies behind at home while we spend the day at the office pushing and driving forward work projects? Or do we work in a sustainable way where we support our bodies with what they need, and so it becomes not about trying to get more done in less time but about feeling what’s needed, moment to moment, and honouring that? Simplifying and working with flow, and getting on with it.
“Do we consider that not being present in and with our body can lead to the body having a breakdown?” A nurturing exercise for our body is to listen, with no distraction, to all it has to say.
It is interesting that when exercising, which we feel is good for the body, we allow and absorb all sorts of distractions around us, leaving the body to exercise just like a robot, not at all tuning into the drive and hardness we are putting the body into, until one day the body reacts, and says no more.
If you haven’t been to a gym for a while… It really is an education very very different from the old days 🙂
It is so true, I have been practicing being in the gym and being present with my body but the music and the Television screens are so hooking. I can see that when I get pulled into them I am less connected with my body and far more likely to overdo the exercise.
Great exposure of the current workout culture and how it is about anything but true connection but instead blocking out the body’s messages and driving it to a pre-determined point rather than listening to what feels true for it that particular day and honouring that.
We try to avoid what we came to the gym to attend to – our physical body, our fitness level, our stamina, our commitment. Does that really make sense? is it too simple, being in our body? Do we want it hard, arduous and complicated so we have a forever excuse to put it off?
Any distraction that keeps us away from tuning in to the messages from our body will lead us down a one-way street to illness.
Its like we want to exercise our bodies without being in our bodies! Hilarious when you think about it.
Hilarious and very sad at the same time; we don’t want to be where we are but we keep being there for the lack of initiative and will to change what is not working.
If I am not present with myself it’s easy to over exercise and I feel it the next day. Same as if I am staring at my phone while eating, chances are I will overeat. The point is when not present I ignore the bodies boundaries. Bounderies that when listened to bring vitality to life, the complete opposite to the ‘raising the bar then superseding it gym mentality.
So true that if we are distracted when doing any activity then it’s our body that pays the price of this lack of connection.
When we let ourselves be really honest and get to feel that actually it isn’t just an accident but there is something more to it. It took me a while to fully understand this but thanks to Universal Medicine teachings I have been able to fully appreciate that as everything is energy then there is always going to be cause and effect. How I live and what i choose will determine my future. Makes total and absolute sense.
“…that if we were to get more connected with our bodies, we would feel a lot more of what is truly going on, both in our bodies, but also in our lives and that is often too terrifying” – This seems to be the essence of this great blog Matts, as it shows what is the source of our many faceted attempts to distract and numb ourselves as you (and I) have experienced at the gym. There have been many times when I felt very settled in my body, went to the gym, and lost that contentment because I had not stayed present with my body as I was working out and before you know it I am lifting way too much weights and stressing my muscles/body out instead of gently working out as I usually do. The level of distractions there are almost comical and shows to me what lengths we will go to in order to not feel what is really going on for us in the inside.
Thank you Matts — workout is so much more than exercising in the gym.. it is as shared above, a movement that we can either choose to be with or escape from! And it is our body that eventually will sit with the consequence of our choices. So let’s be truly clever. And choose to do that which is in line with our body and what it needs, not our mindful needs.
Yes when you write that I realize that vitality and strength come from the body, that is from within the body, and not from outside of it as the focus usually is. We do the exercise because we think that the exercise itself will bring vitality but if we are not connected within first then it’s not going to work. We might get fitter physically but in the long run that approach (just focusing on the body) will eventually drain the body of vitality and energy. Connected first we will feel what the body needs and we will not push beyond what the body says is truly good for it.
and it comes back to our inevitable truth that we can spin and spin around the sun as much as we can, but we do not go anywhere, hence appreciating the quality and movement of who we are, is our everything.
” If we have music pumping, we can easily push ourselves more than we would without the music, as most of us can attest to, but is that really healthy? I would claim that it’s not. ”
I would agree. I find that the beat of the music can be a distraction for the heart and therefore distraction of presence with self and ones body.
Like I’ve said, it would be a dream if the gym was pitch quiet, part from the sounds of us working out but I guess that is not everyone’s flavor.
I agree staying present with my body is my choice and on-going learning, ‘I will stick to being as present as I can with myself because I know it feels way better in my body’.
“when the whole purpose of exercising is to get healthy, alert and present in the body, is it not? ”
While this is true, some people use exercise to harden and numb the body so as to not have to listen to what the body is impulsing to them. I find this is why music is constantly on in the gym at a high volume.
Yes, and it is offering the service people are asking for. We are only just starting to consider exercise and over-exercise as a concern as, till now, it has been something we have championed as being healthy. Yet the outplay in the body is now showing us the truth and we are seeing more and more hard bodies that are disconnected and breaking down physically and emptionally. The body never lies and we can only hide the message for so long.
I used to want nothing more than to pound the pavement or play sport as hard as I could and get completely caught up in the competition and distraction of it… so I didn’t feel how sad and hurt I was. I would praise myself if I could get through a really hard workout without feeling it all because I was in my head thinking about how I needed to better my self next. Now, I love the feeling of being present when moving my body. That way I can’t possibly injure or hurt myself because I’m there with what I am doing, I’m feeling my muscles contract and extend and how much is supportive to do or not.
True, not being present with our bodies can lead to us ignoring or even abusing them, when ‘we are not fully attentive to what our body is communicating to us, and in that state, it’s easy to push beyond how the body would otherwise perform the exercise.’
Also have we misplaced the meaning of fitness and being fit, we choose to be energetic and energized by the quality of our movements. If we choose to walk by stress this energy will go through us, which eventually makes us feel tired.. So, we can and have to look in a different way to our fitness and being fit mentality – as it has not served us any way.
I guess this goes to show that because there is a call for more stimulation in the gym that many people are using exercise as a way to relieve tension and check out from it, but if we don’t change the energy then it is there with us all the time, it might just be suppressed for a bit but it will continue to resurface until it is dealt with.
I was at a swimming pool and watching a training clock as I decided to rest and plan my next lap – that minute I allowed to pass felt long a really long minute! And then I realised that when we give ourselves space and don’t rush with the clock, there is plenty of space and a minute felt like forever – and was also quite regenerating. I remember most of my swimming training used to be focussed on the clock and timings and there is no better way to stress out than race against time.
Beautiful Matts, If we asked the body how it would want to be when doing something such as working out, It would definitely want to be present with its activity – and we reward our abilities to have a show running in the mind while the body has a completely different reality, but this is proving to be very damaging to our minds and bodies.
I recently saw a promotion for children to keep active and in touch with the latest IT gadgets. Attaching an iPad into the inner case of a trampoline barrier. Combing supposedly the best of both worlds. Far from the focus of connecting and enjoy the body with a simple and joyful activity.
I grew up with the belief that if it doesn’t hurt, it’s not working. WOW! that perspective on life certainly didn’t do me any any favours when I later realised that my body was not a machine in a factory. It’s all the programming we are given from an early age that suggests life is hard, and you have to be tough to survive it etc etc. It’s crazy, cause it certainly doesn’t seem to be working for us a whole.
What I see around me at the gym is that people often put a goal for themselves like working out at this speed for this long on this machine and to reach this goal often distractions are needed because it is not natural for the body to do this exercise this long at the speed we want. I have to catch myself doing this too like thinking if I have been long enough on this machine, especially the treadmills do have these time clocks and calorie meters on them which can really make you want to reach a goal. But in the end it is about listening to our body’s and when it is soar it also means you have to stop because pain is the bodies signal you are hurting it and not that we are doing good exercises and we need to keep going.
I get depressed immediately every time I push my body, whether it is at the gym or the thoughts that come in in regards to work, the body is this sensitive and honest that immediately, I will respond/react with depressive and needy thoughts.
That is very interesting Adele and I can relate to that. We are so used to a life of struggle that most probably don’t notice the difference but to what degree are we creating this misery ourselves? And are we able to allow feeling amazing all the time?
When we are are present in our body we are so much more sensitive and in tune with the present moment and, aware of what is occurring around us in our environment.
The analogy of driving a car is a great one Matts – as without being in connection to our bodies we are constantly allowing them to crash and burn, without caring and nurturing the delicateness that they are. As such we forgo the invaluable support and guidance that our bodies constantly offer us.
So true Matts if we are to come truly present and connected to our bodies we will be faced with the truth that the body holds and communicates very loudly.
I like what you say about the science of the way we move, Matt. There is so much in each movement indeed to understand and unfold throughout our bodies, that to have access to it, we need deeply feel it.
Isn’t that the normal, the no pain no gain type of thinking. But I guess that could also be seen as a way to feel your body, to feel when it’s achy. But as you say when we feel a bit deeper we might see that pushing the body is just numbing ourselves or the messages the body would otherwise give us if we were to listen.
I once watched someone using his phone in every little break of a workout set with weights. He felt like a puppet and on a wire. Because you are actually very reduced of being with your body in a gym ( because it is the actual purpose) all the behaviours are coming very obvious to the surface.
Being with our body is the key for true harmony and power in life in my opinion. No wonder, that in a gym, where the actual purpose and focus is on the body, to train your body, being with your body is full of distraction overload. Question is why actual humanity does not long for a true connection and as a result power?! Why does the majority enjoy this overload and total numbness. Totally forgotten knowing how it is being at ease and in presence with the body…
So true, why would we even want to check out of our bodies? Because it does not feel comfortable? If it does not feel comfortable could our response not rather be more loving with ourselves so we want to be present with our bodies? It would make our life much more enjoyable.
I have started going to the gym. What strikes me is the way I exercise is very different to everyone else and everyone in the gym can feel that. I am learning too not to get distracted and hold the connection to my body and therefore to everyone in the gym no matter the way in which they exercise is different to me.
I go to the gym a lot and the TV’s and entertainment are on 24/7. I go to the gym to exercise and strengthen my body and in that I need to listen closely to how all that feels and the gym doesn’t support me to do that at all. I make my own space in the gym to be able to exercise in a way that I feel. You could say this is the same everywhere because when I go shopping it’s no less on the entertainment scale. You have no need to go to the movies or watch TV at home these days because there’s enough going on at these two places to give you your fix. How can we truly be with what we need to be when there is some many things happening around us? You would need a steady dedication to live a certain or true quality that would then allow you to ‘be’ with yourself while you are with everything. This ‘every day livingness’ is The Way of The Livingness.
It’s important our bodies are strong and we are fit for what we need to do, but it’s like gyms are used to push the human body to extremes, for us to change how we look, or escape what we feel and clear the heavy excess of a day, rather than to ensure our bodies are fit, supple and ready for service.
Gym certainly has become about distractions and entertainment to take us away from feeling our bodies. It is interesting that when my mum was growing up, her gym was playing outside after school or riding her bike with friends on the weekend. Now we’ve almost made it a chore to workout and then we reward ourselves afterwards. I used to go to gym and then justify eating bad food or drinking When really I had made exercise about achieving a goal rather than part of my everyday. I still go to the gym, but I don’t look forward treating myself in a bad way afterwards, and I am learning more and more to be with my body during my workouts and listen to that rather than the hard core music.
It is a unending vicious cycle if we exercise without presence and allow an energy that is not us to enter, then we crave to eat sweet things after the work out, and so we are tied to coming back to the gym but with the same distraction until we choose to change our movements.
What energy that is running in our body is the key to everything that happens thereafter. Serge Benhayon presents something that should be shouted from the roof tops but unfortunately we tend to listen only when everything else has been shown to fail. I hope this is not the case but if we just applied the simple fact of what Serge presents we will be heading in the right direction anyways…
The mere fact we call exercise a workout rather than movement that supports us in every day life shows how we have compartmentalised all aspects of our lives to a point where we have to allocate a time just to look after our bodies. Rather than living life where we are aware of all our movements as a whole and what is need to support the body.
Basically it’s a trap doing the working out and then leave the rest of the 24 hour to not focusing on what we do with our bodies. This take exercise and working out to a whole new level. Basically it never stops. So true exercise is to always be aware of what is going on with and in our bodies. And doing stuff that is not good for the body is then an example of a bad exercise.
The intention to stay present in our exercises means the TV or music do not become the focus or distraction…our bodies and our own wellbeing take their places instead.
Its so true what you say Matts about distractions being all around us all of the time, constantly there to pull us away from staying connected to what we are feeling. Even in the supermarkets and shopping malls, as well as music, specific fragrances are pumped into the air to entice us to buy freshly baked bread or a cup of frothy coffee, and so often it has the deisred affect even when it may have been the last thing on our mind.
And it makes sense with what Adele Leung wrote a bit further down with what energies are we allowing into our bodies that then produces what we call thoughts…
Yes gyms definitely foster ‘working out’ to be in complete distraction, as you say, TVs everywhere, loud music, there isn’t a lot to take you mind away from your body. I have had to learn to really slow down at the gym. To not take myself out by the music and really focus on my body. To really feel where it is at each movement. This is definitely a work in progress.
The music is very disturbing for me in a gym, because it wants to put you in a speed you are actually naturally not. For some people doing sports is actually a chore, so it seems to me they do everything to not feel that and how they are actually moving. Totally understandable, as it looks to me they move is so hard which is draining the body, I feel it would be supportive to switch of that music…
The ‘gym culture’ is not confined only to the gym – everyday there are people out on the local roads, running in a way that is so hard, pushing themselves to the point where they can hardly breathe and the exhaustion showing in their faces and dragging bodies is clear to see. This is being checked out – complete unawareness as to the communications signals from the body.
Yes I hear you!!! I have recently joined a gym, which I love …. apart from the constant dance music that is on which I find exactly as you say makes it that little bit harder to just be with me and be present with my body and enjoy the movement of exercise. So much so that I was wondering how I could listen to music that I do not find imposing while at the gym instead of the music playing. The other day when I went there the music was a lot quieter and it felt sooo much better so yes I agree ‘if we are focusing too much on something else, like a TV show or the music from the speakers, then the focus on the body is left out of the equation, when the whole purpose of exercising is to get healthy, alert and present in the body’. It would be beautifull to be and feel supported in this way in gyms etc instead of being imposed upon in how people ‘think’ it should be with their music/tv screens etc.
The similarity between driving a car and steering our body through life is a wise one. We have a vessel our body, we choose what we use it for, how we treat it, be it exercise or some other movement, it is our choice and if we do not pay attention to the road we are choosing then yes, we can end up in crisis, pain and have bumps along the way.
‘ our bodies are the temples in which we live’ yes Matts , a vehicle of expression. How we treat our body matters down to the smallest detail – precious and tender we are.
It is interesting to ponder why gyms have so many distractions when we actually go there to exercise our bodies. Why is the mind so stimulated and distracted to look elsewhere, hear else where. Our bodies need listening to, it is so easy to get exhausted, hurt ourselves, and become demotivated when we are not with our bodies when we exercise. One idea perhaps is that we do not want to be aware, it is a chore, or we want to be motivated by a tune etc…all of which do not mean long term health, I have done both of them and they do not work…being body aware and connected does, then I go back to the gym, then I do not over work an area, then I feel ready for what is next and am not exhausted.
When our movements are a true reflection of our soul , there is not a need to push and strive when we exercise to achieve the perfect body as naturally there is an acceptance of our essence and strength within.
In former times I exercised sometimes in the gym. I only had a really supporting time when I was in a gym of a medical center. There was played no music, the exercising tools were only applied for certain muscles and I had to be aware that I would use the right muscle when I did the training. I went there because I had pain in one of my legs.
After 10 times of efficient training my leg was strong again and the pain did not come back. Most gyms which I had experienced before did not have this focus and accuracy I experienced there.
When I exercise now, I do with focus and commitment to my muscles and bones, being aware of my whole body as well.
There is plenty of anecdotal and controlled research evidence to show that when we are distracted, we are way less aware of our body. You would think that the gym would be one place we would go to focus on our body., especially when the potential for injury through lack of presence is so possible.
When i-pods came out I was in heaven, (obviously not the real heaven) I used to listen to music the whole day at work, a whole new world of not being present with my body or life and how those days used to fly. Just another thing to thank Serge Benhayon as that I haven’t done this for years now as I would probably be losing myself to Alzheimer’s by now.
It’s a good point that it’s hard to listen to the body when there are distractions all around us. This is the case everywhere we go. It’s like the world is deliberately set up to keep us from ourselves. How amazing would it be to live in a world that is deliberately set up to support us to stay connected to our bodies, so we can feel the absolute truth of what is going on.
When I am not present with my body I easily have an accident or make mistakes. Usually when I am tired or low in energy I find it even more difficult to stay present in body. So, choosing to look after my body by choosing self-care and self-nurture is the best way to support my connection with my body and with others.
When we want to exercise and not be present it would seem to expose more about how we want the body to fit a perfect image or the like instead of truly and honestly exercising to simply support it through daily life. After all the body would never want to check out from itself so what is the true intent for exercising in the first place?
Is it possible that if we really stayed in connection to our bodies when working out, we would push it less hard? We would certainly feel the pain more!
This is exactly what it is like, we need to be with and honour how our body feels, when we are at the gym or anywhere else… “It’s a bit like driving a car – we need to be present with the driving otherwise we will have a car crash,”. Going to a gym often does not support this conscious presence, but it is essential to truly exercising well and with care and true purpose.
Many venues where expertise is promoted come loaded with the ideas of how to exercise to better the body to look a certain way or to bring levels of hardness that are far from our natural state of being. The choices to make our body a figurine or a body of working and living vitality is a choice that is often clouded by our willingness to fit in with others rather than exercise in ways that we know support the body.
I went to the gym last week, first time in over twenty years. Normally at that particular time of the day I would feel an urgency to eat something usually sweet but taking myself off to the gym supported me to connect to my body and therefore I ate foods that were not heavy on my body during the evening. Giving myself the space to connect and feel my body is certainly helping me to reduce the overeating and therefore be much more loving with my body.
It always amazes me how people can exercise and do something else at the same time. They can run on the treadmill and watch a video. They can jog next to a friend and have a chat. They can sit on the cycle in the gym and answer emails. When I exercise I can literally do nothing else. If I am asking my body to do something active I need to be with it while it’s doing it. Anything else is a distraction and can lead to me feeling dizzy or out of sorts and can even cause accidents. Some say it is a skill to multitask, but when it comes to exercise it really is worth focusing on just one thing.
I recently did a little experiment at the gym whereby I closed my eyes while I was lifting weights. What I noticed was that I was way more present with my body and able to feel how much my muscles where being worked when my eyes where closed. But when I lifted weights with my eyes opened with all the visual stimulation at the gym mentioned in this blog it was much easier to push my body past the point it wanted and was straining it more as a result.
The world is perfectly set up for us not to be present in our bodies, whether you are at the gym, the shops or simply waiting on hold on the telephone the hooks to distract you are everywhere, it takes commitment to be present but once this is lived consistently we have access to a wisdom beyond our wildest dreams for the benefit of all.
It is an interesting one using music to motivate us to work harder than the body needs to do, or watch television to distract us from what we are doing. All disconnecting us from what the body is communicating to us.
The gym is but a snapshot that is symbolic of our lives – distractions and stimulation from all directions, fortifying protection or escape in our bodies, an emphasis on form and creation rather than true substance and love and great self-abuse on every level.
To approach the gym as a means to support ourselves and to build a body that can express more of the light of the soul, and our truth is another way altogether, and one that is deeply called for and requires us to connect to ourselves and listen astutely to our body’s wisdom and feedback.
Returning to the gym this week after a break of a few months I was able to observe just how absorbed in the culture I had become previously. I realise that being there again is going to be a learning process because this time, rather than being wrapped up in what I was doing there I could not wait to leave the weights area.
It is wise to revere our body and heed its infinite wisdom for our body is the vehicle through which we express the universe.
When life has become so much about living from the mind and constant stimulation, it makes sense that we can’t fathom any form of activity without it.
It is such a wonderful feeling to be really tuning in to ones body when exercising , to not let one bit of push in , to keep that simple loving connection, and to stay with this all the way through
It’s frightening how some of us push our bodies beyond all capabilities, without being aware of how tender and sensitive we really are.
Great comment Elizabeth – who indeed is driving it all… something to really ponder upon. I know I’d rather be in the driving seat of all I do – am not that keen of something else popping in and taking over …
Indeed, and a much more pleasant place to spend time in, when connected to our selves this also invites connection with others and a mutual sharing can then occur, support and fun being had with others instead of bone-headedly working though ones program come what may …
Reading your blog today Matts what stood out for me was this:”Fact is that our body is super tender and is not made to be roughed up and pushed beyond boundaries, even though we think we have to ‘push through’ to make it perform. It will perform if we give it the proper space to do so, but that might look a bit different from the image we currently hold of how the workout is to look like.” A timely reminder for me to stay tuned in when I do physical activities – thank you,
I can recall going for runs with headphones in and music going – the music selected specifically to get me going. I would feel pumped up by the music and run until I felt like I couldn’t run anymore and then feel exhausted and depleted leaving my body to feel the aftermath of my mind pushing it too hard.
The analogy of the car crash is a good one…if we are distracted whilst driving, we may crash. The same goes with working out…if we are distracted then we have a high chance of injuring ourselves.
I used to be so scared of gyms, EVERYTHING about them put me off, the intensity, no widows, the notice, the smell, people pushing themselves to crazy pain and the competition and comparison…truly I had no plans of entering…and then…. I found that I could enter, because I could take me in and if I observed what was happening rather than reacting to it all, I could enjoy being in the there. I have found music to listen to that does support me and helps me stay with my body, not distracted, this has been great and I constantly check in with my breath to ensure that I do not get caught up in the force and competition that occurs in there.
This is beautiful Samantha and I can feel the stillness you bring to the gym when you exercise in this way. Great to show that there is a choice to those who are still full on in the pursuits at the gym.
I remember training when I was younger – in particular 30 mins of intense pain on a rowing machine… and we all knew that a bit of music helped ease the pain. It distracted us from the moment by moment gasping for air, burning thighs, or aching back. So yes it worked, but at what? Removing us from our bodies… which I’ve now realised years later, is the whole purpose of exercise – to connect us more deeply.
Great point Matts, if exercise is all about the body, why do we have so many ways to distract ourselves in the space that is meant to be dedicated to supporting it? Is our physical being really something for us to drag along to events in life, like a badly behaved dog on a lead? Or could it be that our body is the best friend we’ve ever had, but we just don’t like what it has to say about how we live? We seem to think we can turn it into a silent partner. But just because we have cellotaped it’s mouth shut, doesn’t mean everything is ‘all good’. Why wait till I have an outright fight, when all i need to do, is stop and see it wants to help and support me?
I never really enjoyed exercise growing up but I now love to feel each movement with the connection of my body and to note that the exercises do not need to be intense to be working. Our bodies work best when we are connected to each and every move and the rhythm and flow felt thereafter is amazing. What I also find interesting to explore with movement is that it is a constant learning and refinement for what feels right and where I can even further deepen my connection in certain aspects of my movements too. Always learning and refining is the key to full fiery expression in our movements.
Awesome what you share here about feeling energised from being present and the way you move…I walk differently from how I did 5 years ago say, and this is a movement that is going to forever evolving, I used to be heavier on my feet, shoulders slumped, neck projecting forward, this is adapting to a more supportive posture and my feet actually feel light. Of course I would feel more tired if I walked heavy and slumped, this makes perfect sense that I now feel more energised and less exhausted, though being aware present and adapting as I observe my movements. Going to the gym really supports adapting and reefing how I move an amy posture, Ido not push through I now make sure I pay attention to how I am breathing and how my body feels.
It’s interesting how we are conditioned to focus on everything except for how our body feels. It’s the last thing we actually think about. It’s quite radical to be living a life where the body comes first. It’s not the norm in today’s world.
One of my measures of overdoing it in a workout is in how much more food I need to eat to compensate for the muscle soreness. That alone is a measure that less is more, and it has allowed me to see that where we source our energy from is not as simple as calories in, calories out.
Workouts have a number of useful purposes but finding love or truth is not among them. However, it is easier to have the energy to look for love and truth when our body is in reasonable shape – though it becomes much harder to do when we work out so much that our body becomes harder and harder as well.
There are forever more distractions in the form of music, entertainment, games and portable everything. It seems like we are forever trying to get away from our body and what it is communicating to us.
Realising that the workout culture is actually based in a powerful consciousness reveals why it is so easy to become hooked on a seeming ‘trend’ for exercise and fitness which is far from being truly healthy.
‘What happens is that we are not fully attentive to what our body is communicating to us, and in that state, it’s easy to push beyond how the body would otherwise perform the exercise.’ – if we don’t feel an immediate consequence from that, like a pulled muscle, that doesn’t mean we haven’t harmed ourselves. Our connective tissue is an intricate web stretching throughout our body and in it’s natural state it’s very fluid and flexible, allowing our body to move pain free. When we over stress our body, or exercise in a harsh way, we cause tension in the connective tissue resulting in a hardening of the tissue. This is where the consequence starts and will continue to build if ignored.
We have to ask why do we seek so many distractions from feeling our bodies when we want to exercise?
That is a great point and a very interesting one. If I take TV, for example, I could go to it wanting something say to ‘relax’ but then afterwards feel more tired than before even though I have been sitting still. So yes what do we actually allow in when we choose to essentially take a vacation from our body/life?
It’s interesting for me I use distractions as a way to push through and get through life. So say at the gym the music can be used to get through the pain etc.. from the workout, enabling us to go to more extremes. Whereas when you use gym to connect deeply with your body I find I generally do not want any music or only certain music I know will support me with my connection. So the focus is then on my body and not something outside of me, which means I then can feel more into my body and what it needs that day.
That is true, James. Once we remove outer distractions that makes it easier to work on our inner distractions.
The way we exercise today is far from being in our bodies feeling everything and allowing the flow and connection with the universe through us. We have come a long way from when we are born and the natural flow we belong to and the importance of presence and quality in the way we look after and treasure our bodies and it is harming us enormously. Bringing back our movements to presence and quality really makes all the difference.
Body awareness, love for, and nurturing of is vital if we are to develop a loving true relationship with our bodies, the universe and God. I loved reading your blog Matts, thank you for sharing your experiences and your wisdom.
I loved what you have shared Matts, especially this line, ” I get energised just by being present with the way that I move around in my body, which is actually a science in itself.” So simple but difficult at times due to being caught up in the myriad of distractions around us.
A wise man shared with me that we should be allowing our bodies to educate us, rather than allowing the world to educate us, which makes so much sense as our body knows exactly what is going on and how every choice we make affects it, either in a positive or a negative way. Whatever we are choosing and the quality we are choosing to do it in, whether it be exercise, eating, working ….. each choice has an effect on the body, the body does not lie and is a marker of every choice we have ever made. If we are truly wanting to live a vital, healthy life, listening to our body has to be the most important and fundamental choice we make.
Everything we do in our ‘temple’ or body is important, and to check out at any time allows all types of thoughts to enter our temples. Could it be possible that being distracted in one area of our life causes problems including illness? Maybe when there is so much distraction, this causes the chaos we are having in the world today, from the simple arguments all the way to full on war.
If we look at the opposite end of the scale as presented by Matts then what are the possibilities? Life becomes about filling our temples with conscious presence and the internal connection that takes the opposite course, people that explore being present are already showing a different way in what is happening to their workouts.
It is only through body awareness that we can start to develop a healthy relationship with our bodies, free of pictures of how we should look like and more of a deeper appreciation for our beauty within.
Body image is something that we start to invest in at such a young age, we are bombarded by our role models and media telling us that we need to look a certain way. If this is our influence and we go for a workout because we want a certain outcome we ultimately are doing more harm than good. We confirm that the way we are is not enough and try to change this in anyway to look and be better, we are telling ourselves we are not enough. Nothing more can be worse than this self-abuse.
I know that very well Michelle, I get easily carried away in my thoughts, seeking refuge in my mind and it takes a constant conscious choice to be present with my movements and the delicacy and precious nature of my body.
I can really relate to what you are saying as some mornings when I would go to the gym, i really hated the noise of the screens, how loud and disturbing they used to be. It was almost like you couldn’t do a workout unless the music was blaring. I would find it very off putting and would loved to have had the option to not hear it.
Yes indeed… It was the most beautiful day yesterday just perfect… And I saw someone out walking… They had these big headphones on with an aerial sticking up out of them… The links that we go to to not to connect with the extraordinarily divine beauty that is all around us
In the summertime I was going to my local pool in the early mornings and the pool also has a gym. There were many people who had a begrudging attitude towards going to the gym. It was as though it was an obligation, they would have preferred to be asleep, they just wanted to get it over and done with. I don’t think there were many people who really wanted to be there – which then helps to explain why gyms are filled with TVs.
Exercise is such an interesting thing, because it can be so healing, supportive and developing or it can be so abusive, hard and disregarding – making it the perfect tool to relearn how not to be abusive but rather to exercise with presence and care for the body.
Great observation, why do we have this situation of checking out of the body when we are in the gym to exercise the body…so much can happen in the session to our body that we may not be that aware of if we are looking at a music video or the news. I make sure when I am at the gym that I stay with how my body feels. When I am doing weights, say a rhomboid strengthening exercise I am with those muscles, no distractions, just breathing and observing how my body feels, this I feel is essential to really appreciating exercise and how it supports the body.
With the invention of the i-pod, I thought all my christmases had come at once, all my albums in on place at the touch of a button, I would plug into this thing in the morning at work and check-out for the whole day not paying a blind bit of notice if my body was saying I was working it too hard and it needed a rest. At that point I was unaware it was even a distraction I thought it was that I just loved music.
Music is another big distraction, which maybe so many people use as without it, being more aware of how the body is truly feeling, many would realise that what they really need is to lie down and rest, go for a gentle walk or at the very least move their bodies in a far more gently flowing way, which may be considered as not ‘working out’ as it isn’t strenuous and therefore, can’t be doing any good – which is such a harmful misconception.
‘I’m wondering why there are so many distractions at the gym? Is it deliberate, and if so, why?’ – I feel this probably came about as a lot of gym members do not particularly enjoy exercising but go to tick the ‘healthy’ box, or for a specific goal, often to get more toned or to loose weight, so having a TV screen to watch, helps pass the time and you are not as aware, so can maybe push your body more than you would without the distraction. However, it causes way more harm than good to work the body in dis-connection, for we are then forcing it to work against it’s natural flow. This results in hardness, strains, tension in the muscles and can expand into more serious conditions. Like anything, exercising can be very enjoyable and shouldn’t hurt, when done in connection with the body.
Ah the gym the place I would love to go but just can’t seem to find the time or commitment. Things like excercise and dieting don’t benefit our health if they are seeded from a box ticking excercise but do flourish when they come from self love, and this totally revolutionises the way we excercise.
Human life is intense. No two ways about it. What goes on is somewhat crazy and there is no wonder why so many choose to check out on their phones and seek distractions in some way. Feeling the reality of our choices and this intensity is not something many want to feel especially as it is so loud and clear in the body. But the body also has another way to be with these instances which we are often not aware of and when we reconnect to it is also soon made clear that this is also being communicated to us. There is a way to be with the intensity of life without feeling we have to react to it.
TV screens have made it to gyms, waiting rooms, buses, hoses, cars, and a long etc. They are everywhere. They are associated with an image of providing a service. Yet, do they really? If so, what service are we really talking about?
I was talking to a young gentlemen recently who admitted being obsessed with going to the gym and wanting to get bigger, I told him he is absolutely lovely as he is, and he lights up a room when he walks in.
He showed me a magazine called abs which is (you guessed it) full of pictures of men with abs and how to get it. No wonder we are seeing a rise in male mental health and eating disorders when there is so much imposition from the outside world in how they should look.
The disconnection from ourselves seen in exercise, sport and all we do is highlighted in the world today as the way to be as a sport culture and livingness . However it is so beautiful to know exercise does not have to be like this but is a joyful way of being in connection with our bodies and all the wisdom it shares with us honouring who we are at all moments and in all movements we make. Quite a contrast and way of being with ourselves and very loving.
It is quite bizarre how the places that are there for health and fitness and promoting healthy living are so often doing the complete opposite, with people pumping iron and taking steroids with no regard for what it is actually doing to themselves but I suppose in those cases its more about image than wellbeing.
If we are not with our body while we exercise then it seem inevitable that the amount of exercise, the effect of it on our muscles, the risk of injuring ourselves and levels of exhaustion will increase. It is only through true connection with our body in every moment that we can read what is needed in each moment and live ‘loving’ intent.
Having had many many years of abusive exercising with things such as cycling across deserts, walking across France, martial arts, and the list goes on but none of it ever brought true health. I have now found that gentle exercise and being with my body at the same time (not looking at videos or listening to loud music) is far more beneficial, feels great and I am more able to feel which parts of my body are communicating to me, instead of overriding the sometimes subtle messages.
I used to throw myself into workouts, and as a result my body was quite hard and driven. The drive can still be there but these days my body is a great deal more tender. It is worth taking time and space to move rather then tightening up with tension. A workout can be ever so gentle and full of space and grace. It can be a time to be with ones body in an honouring way rather than giving it a trashing. It is so much more loving and the body feels very different afterwards.
I love the example you give about the car, imagine us watching a tv serie whilst driving… it would be a dangerous situation, and so too is exercising without being present, sports injuries, (adrenal) exhaustion, muscle pain after exercising etc are not normal and can be prevented by being considerate of and present with our body when we exercise.
‘Fact is that our body is super tender…’ – these simple words are a show stopper for me this morning, giving me the permission and inspiration to treat my body with respect and care, at the very least.
It’s interesting that we don’t choose to stay present when we are carrying out a physical activity…how easy it is to drift away from what we are doing whilst our minds are thinking of something else. I would often deliberately choose to think of other things and enjoy it, but now I realise that this does not support my body, I am making a conscious effort to stay as present as I can in everything that I do.
Exercise is not just moving the physical body, but moving with the physical body.
We need to get back to our true essence which brings with it that we need to connect deeper to our bodies, which not all people want to truly feel and make possible. It is our choice to connect or not, but it a sure thing that the world around us doesn’t support this at all.
Gyms can be quite intimidating places. When you walk in there is loud pumping music, flashing TV screens, people pounding on the machines and struggling under heavy weights. They are not places that are inviting to anyone who is feeling the least bit sensitive. In fact someone in connection with their sensitivity would probably want to run in the other direction. With this in mind it feels important for a different reflection to be given in gyms in the form of people who do not pound themselves or over-do the weights and who exercise while staying present with their body. People have a habit of following what others are doing, so seeing someone doing it a different way would be interesting and maybe challenging for some.
It has been an amazing journey for me to reestablish the relationship I have with exercise. Recently I had a baby and only the other day did I get back my period – and when I did, i simply took it very gently on my body. This was not how i used to be – where no matter what my body was going through I was pushing myself at the gym. So I have to appreciate how I now approach gym – where it is a case of listening to my body first and foremost. And if feels amazing.
I used to loathe exercising, which was why I had to be distracted, now I love exercise (because I don’t pummel my body anymore) and I need no distraction. I want to enjoy being me.
What you shared is gold because it is actually that simple: we don’t like pushing ourselves and being hard on ourselves so we want to check out and be distracted. Yet we can also love ourselves and then checking out is not needed.
The mind drives the body even in exercise unless we make the focus of connecting and listening to our body first and bring the mind to what the body is currently doing.
Sometimes it can be difficult to be present in our bodies, simply because this can show how separate and numbed out we have been, which is sometimes a very challenging re-awakening that can cause much reaction. But the key is not to judge yourself for the choices you have made and to appreciate that no matter what has been before, you are back now and willing to be present once again, without perfection. Self-love is super key when it comes to reawakening to our bodies once again.
Rather than turning up the music at the gym it would be more helpful if we paused for a moment and asked why it was that we needed to be distracted, that is what is our body telling us that we do not want to hear? Our body shows us exactly the result of our choices and if this is honoured then our body could actually be the best friend that we could ever have as it tells us the truth.
I have recently been chatting to a friend about going to the gym and we were discussing the gym’s ability to be a support for life – rather than seeing it as goal driven, needing to keep increasing your stamina, flexibility and weights, see it as relevant to life – how heavy are the things you normally need to be able to carry around without strain – shopping bags, chairs or perhaps a physically active job – work towards making the body fit for life and capable of handling your day to day without exhaustion.
‘ The more present and in tune with my body I get, the more aware I become of how much more present and in tune with my body I can actually be, like there’s no real end, just a continual deepening.’ Spot on and very true Matts, what a beautiful support to continually deepen in our bodies and to feel the ripple effect this has on everyone around us.
Thanks Matts… gosh imagine what would happen to so many sports and exercises if our bodies were really listened to… Do we really reckon that the triathlons would still be happening? Hey… What about all martial arts, boxing, contact sports like a Australian rules football, or rugby in Australia where occasionally someone dies. When we really look at, this disregard seems to be endemic, and a totally new paradigm really does need to be introduced to humanity
When we approach exercise in connection with our bodies there is a flow that is honoring of our beingness, where gentle exercise is far more effective than moving at the beat of loud music or distractions that push and torture our bodies.
There is a way to exercise that leaves you feeling supple, open and aware of what is going on around you, and there’s another way to exercise that hardens the connective tissue and thus numbs out the sensitivity and awareness we naturally have. There is a lot going on in the world today, and a lot of it is far from pretty. People want to numb out what they can feel more than ever before and extreme behaviour is rising and rising – and this includes gym and exercise. It is no longer really about getting fit. Its about building bodies of steel that do not feel.
Do we work out to support us in our service or to display typified desireable traits?
When we do not want to feel something we all have our go to vices…. For some it is the gym, for others it is food, or alcohol, or books, or over work, TV etc, and usually a combination of these. And we get stuck in these abusive patterns, going round and round until we reach a breaking point which allows us to take a stop moment to reflect on how we are living, and with honesty we can make different choices and transform our lives.
I love the comparison to the car; we wouldn’t ‘take 10’ while driving to put our feet up, watch a film and get distracted WHILE still driving on a road or motorway, so why in life do we make choices that take our focus elsewhere and have the potential to harm us and those we’re in relationship with?.. It’s not about TV, food or any other distraction but how we approach these things and truly see their effects.
Distractions are on offer everywhere, all of the time and the gym is a perfect and gross example of this. Do we accept the offer or do we choose instead to see the distraction for what it is, another opportunity to say no to disconnection and yes to deepening our connection with our body and the glory that lies within.
We need the distraction of ‘entertainment’ because we are not used to simply being with ourselves, and the exquisiteness of that, being enough. We avoid the stillness that we actually crave.
In the past distraction was the name of the game. If I could keep myself distracted from the pain of the dizziness or exhaustion I could push myself to the next level and the next until i couldn’t really exercise for 2 years because I sustained a back injury. So I found myself with my body correcting all the damage I had done, I had to be very present and very connected and very gentle to move my body and get it moving again, without overrides, distraction and supporting myself with what was needed in the moment. This has proven much trickier than going to the gym and switching off, and something I am still developing.
Is there a fine line between the exercise that our body needs and overdoing it? I was always active when I was younger but as I became a teenager I never undertook purposeful exercise, riding bikes and walking to school was my everyday but there was a clear distinction now and my body started to feel different and more dense, walking around at school I would notice small aches and pains, my walk became altered and sometimes I would be thinking about something else completely while I was walking. Come to think of it from about 15 onwards every step was consumed in anxiousness and with always a pre- determined result or idea in mind.
There is Harrison and one of the most important things that I’ve discovered when it comes to exercise is to have a proper breath, as in being the one controlling or navigating the breath. Then you will be the one in charge of the exercise. If not you will be controlled by whatever you have around you, as the beat of the music or the checking out state you can be in when you’re watching the show on the TV screens that are usually placed on the wall in front of the tread mill machines.
I never really was one for working out, I would go for runs instead, what I didn’t like about the gym was some of the people would be so into how they looked and simply the whole vibe was really intense. So I never really went. But I got to feel how running was not loving on my body and stopped this. Recently I have joined a gym and not much has changed in the way people go about the approach but what I noticed this time I really was focused on me and my body and feeling what I was doing. So whatever is going on around me is just going on around me.
I am always taken aback by how much my mind wants to wander during exercise, but also aware of how much better it feels when I bring all my attention to what I am doing. It become more effortless and less of a push. It makes sense if we want this feeling to get rid of the distractions like TVs. Having distractions just demonstrates that how we are exercising is not for an enjoyment or a love of the body, but as a punishment, and that definitely doesn’t sound like fun.
When we do something without conscious presence, we put an enormous strain on our body and can easily override what it is telling us and end up working out too much and straining muscles and feeling exhausting. Perhaps this is why people go for sugary, starchy foods and drinks following a workout.
I’d say music in gyms encourages people to workout harder. The music is fast, furious and gets the nervous system and adrenelin pumping. Sadly, this is viewed as positive and fuels the ‘no pain no gain’ belief that you have to hurt after exercise otherwise you haven’t worked hard enough.
I was someone who checked out alot in various ways and totally agree with you Matts.. the more present I am with my body the more sustaining energy I have. I have also noticed how much more awareness I have of everything as I stay present. My body is certainly showing the benefits of this and also showing me when I push it, am hard on it and any other unloving way.
There is such a difference between taking care of our bodies and the work-out mentality of our gym culture. The former is a loving and responsible relationship with our bodies with long term benefits; the latter is driven by physical appearance and short term gain that leaves us further disconnected from our bodies, with many long term problems.
I am still working on how I work out in the gym and at home but having had breaks and returned to the gym i have noticed just how much the ‘gym culture’ has increased since I first started training years and years ago.
It is so easy for exercise to become something that merely distracts us from what is actually going on for us in life, from things we don’t want to feel or give focus to. Coming from a background where that is exactly what I did, I can also say that it is exhausting and very wearing for the body to use it this way. To exercise gently and with presence is a whole different experience, the opposite really, bringing a beautiful steady connection with yourself and the loveliness of who we are in our essence.
So much exercise these days is totally over the top with no actual regard to the body and what it needs to remain in good working order. I suppose the way some people train, they need distraction so they can’t feel the strain and the pain that they are causing the body.
This is a good point Kev – in addition they are working to numb themselves to their pushing in the gym so that they are also feeling less out of the gym.
When exercising we need to listen to our body and stop when we have had enough and not keep going because we have a set no of sequences we think we need to do to get fit. I see women at the gym pushing their body beyond what is good for them, they are only able to do this because they are not present enough to feel that they have passed their limit and they are actually hurting themselves by continuing.
If I am honest, the main reason I went to the gym has been all about body image, trying to obtain a certain ‘look’, which, of course, I never felt I obtained. However, now, I absolutely treasure my body and all it’s sexy curves. What changed? I chose to re-connect to the divine, precious woman that I am, listening to the impulses from my body rather than external influences. I have never loved myself so much.
If we need to have so many distractions to do our gym workout, it makes me question how much we are truly enjoying it? If we are not enjoying it, why are we doing it? Maybe it’s more supportive to take a regular walk after or before work …. our bodies are great at sharing what they would like, it’s up to us to be aware enough to listen.
These are pretty straight forward and practical questions, Alison. Worthy of consideration as we slip further and further away from relationship with, and respect for, our bodies.
It is through the body that we have access to the universe. We therefore need to treat it with much greater love and respect and cherish it.
Matts, you have nailed it – there are distractions in the gym to keep us from connecting to the true needs of our body. And this can also be said for many other places too – when you go shopping these days (supermarket or clothes shopping) they often have music blaring from the speakers in some shops so loudly that you can hardly speak and be heard; in queues in the bank they offer free coffee and have TV screens with adds constantly streaming; at the doctors waiting rooms they have piles of magazines, play music and also have 2-3 TV screens playing different things on them etc etc. The list goes on…our society has turned to a mega distraction fest with sound, sight and even smells too (restaurants or fast food chains pump our the smells of certain foods onto the street to entice customers) – all designed to take us away and distract us from the body and what its actual needs are. So it is for us to realise this, and then in the process develop a strong relationship with ourselves so that this does not affect us and out connection within. Thanks Matts for opening the conversation in a much needed area.
There is much at gyms designed to take us away from our beautiful connection with ourselves it made me ponder on what a truly supportive gym would look and feel like. Lots of space, rest areas and no music would be a great start.
There are many amazing reasons to exercise in connection with our body but I cannot think of one positive one to exercise in disconnection
Me neither!
That’s a very interesting point Matts … and there really is SO much distraction in gyms… hmmm just imagine starting a gym where there was silence and focus, with a banner… “Connection- Your Body and You”
I learnt from a friend today that in America they now have TV screens at petrol pumps – our hunger to be able to check out with entertainment continues.
We love a TV these days and I remember the gym in days gone by there were a few around it, some didn’t have any but they all had the music as a normal part. These days nearly every machine has a TV with it or at least it oriented towards one. We have TV in cars, elevators, shopping malls, in phones and when you walk into an electrical shop the TV display is nearly the largest part. What are we truly selling people, or ourselves? I know for me TV use to be down time and funnily enough it use to be called the “great escape”, time away from life. But that doesn’t make sense, why is life bad enough that you need something to take you away from it. Not only takes you away from it but then returns you more diminished then when you started. TV has always been a drain and a time waster I’ve known that and often said it but never done anything about it. Now TV doesn’t have ‘pride of place’ in our home as there is more to watch in what is going on around you, what’s more this quality of watching doesn’t take you out and returns you to life with more then when you started.
Living a life in disconnection from the body, feels like no life at all, and yet so many of us are doing just that on a daily basis. Totally ignoring the vehicle that we are using to exist in and do all of those things we think we need and want. No wonder illness and dis-ease is on the rise more and more. It is so great that you and others have chosen to connect to and listen to their body and live from this level of self care Matts as everyone needs to see it can be done.
I love what you are presenting here Matts, it is simple and just requires us to be observant and honest and maybe a bit of curiosity about life and how it works and our part in it. With this willingness to be open to see more, every moment becomes a new moment to explore something more.
“Fact is that our body is super tender and is not made to be roughed up and pushed beyond boundaries”, so beautiful to read and hear. Life does not have to be rough and tough and hard, we are allowed to be tender and fragil with ourselves and with all that we do.
And adding to this I would say that the more tender and fragile I am with myself the stronger and more well I feel. It is about respect for my body, my greatest guide and ally, and from this place I can then exercise very effectively and committedly.
This blog is a beautiful exposing reflection of the disconnection from our bodies exercise has become as a culture and way of being in the gym and with all sport numbing ourselves and not truly feeling honouring and respecting our tenderness and knowing and feeling all our body shows us. In taking time and space to honour our every movement we can beging to heal and build a body that speaks to us and is filled with love flow and harmony and our health responds accordingly.
There are so many distractions out in the world today that take us away from feeling our bodies, let alone being in our bodies… ‘working out’ at the gym (an interesting phrase in itself!), entertainment in all its various forms, seeking of knowledge through the mind, competing in sport – living from our minds agenda rather than the wisdom and truth of our bodies.
The way we workout is pretty messed up. We tend to do exercise to our body rather than with or from our body. This way the vital ingredient and master of knowing how to exercise (the body) is left out of the equation and we are left with following a workout or instructor without asking how it feels, or if it is right for us.
We have become very used to overriding the wisdom and communication from our bodies. In fact having our body become a martyr to our cause, while we push through regardless, is championed as a great sign of will power. Let us at least have the activities and institutions that claim to be behind the health of our bodies support us to actually connect with our bodies. And if they are not interested in that , let us at least be honest enough to declare them as yet another money making activity.
Could the Gym be simply a microcosm of life in general – there is so much distraction and opportunity to zone out in life no matter where we are or what we are doing, it is no wonder that this has been replicated at the gym.
Well said, Rebecca, and the repercussions of this disconnect are clear to see in our current physical and mental health stats… we are not doing well.
So many great points here, why is it that we can not willing be present in our bodies, I know there are times when I have checked out, and it is a choice, to watch TV, listen to conversations, eat comfort food and it is all around us all of the time pretty much, a culture of distraction…so what is that we are wanting to be distracted by…I used to be scared of feeling more, there was a tension and I thought I would not cope if I was honest about it and felt it. I have since opened up too feeling that tension, and I am still here, not crumpled, exploded or melted away…that tension was and is offering me wisdom and understanding of the world and myself. It is something I still deny at times, but it is essential to my well-being to feel it and be honest about it, it also allows for me to feel how lovely and sweet life also is, to feel is to feel it all love and not love, but the benefits of observing life and us in it are profound.
There are no such things as accidents just the wanting to ignore what is truly going on. So often we use the term “it was bad luck” “these things happen” to cloud and brush over what we know is true and is offered for us to stop and take a moment to check in with the quality we are living. How responsible would we be to share with others the truth when these accidents occur so that what they are offered is an opportunity to feel safe and not judged for their actions as we do?
This is a revealing blog about gym culture and the reason for the numerous distractions. A point to ponder from the last paragraph being that we are energised through exercising in regard and connection of our bodies and not tired by it.
There is a notion out there that we will perform better if we are under stress and pressure but this is not true. I found when I do things in my own time the results are much more complete, as in good result and me feeling good too. With the pressure approach there is a result which can be good but it always leaves me feeling exhausted.
If I think my body is actually a finely tuned receiver that picks up on all the messages and communications in life; and if I am not fully present with it, I miss out on really knowing what is going on and what I should be responding and listening to.
Our bodies communicate everything to us whether we are willing to listen and be aware of this or not.
I’ve always exercised as my body lets me know that when I don’t it doesn’t feel so good. I can exercise on auto pilot as I generally know my body’s limits. But when I truly am with my body when exercising, it’s a different story. It’s glorious – its like we are on a date together, just loving being in the company of each other. It is precious.
The world does not support us to be present with ourselves, and this is clearly seen at gyms where there are a myriad of distractions as soon as you step in -all taking us away from our connection where we can discern what is truly needed and supportive for our bodies and not get caught up in our heads where we exercise based on an image of what we think we need to look like as sadly this comes at a cost as it is not real and allow tolerances for abusive behaviours and ways of treating the body that are far from the truth and dishonouring of the true nature of who we are. Thank you Matts!
Regarding our endless evolution of presence and awareness in our bodies, it is perhaps not something we like to hear, but presence is either deepening or it is lessening. In other words we are either continually becoming more and more aware or we are becoming more and more numb and checked out. There is no middle ground here.
I have definitely found that when I work out in the gym and really stay present and connected with my body (and not distracted by thoughts or whatever else is going on), my body feels amazing after exercise and very energised and strong. I have also discovered that I don’t need to lift the same amount of weight if I really focus on my technique and quality of movement and have been able to achieve the same strength and toning benefits as I would normally expect with heavier weights, with lighter weights therefore even less strain on the body.
Great article Matts, I love the questions about why we want so many distractions at the gym. I have found not wanting to feel what my body feels like when I move a key part of my interest in finding a distraction!!
It’s interesting that we find ways to distract ourselves from what we’re doing in so many aspects of life… when driving we can focus on the music and not the driving, make phone calls etc. or just plain day dream. When walking we can plug in ear phones, or simply get lost in thought; when eating dinner with the family we can turn on the tv, or get caught up on our mobile phones – all to avoid the very thing we are doing at the time we are doing it. Gym culture is no different in that we have found ways to entertain and distract ourselves away from being very present with what we are doing to avoid connecting more deeply – and to ‘sweeten’ the ‘dullness’ of the things we think ‘we have to get through’ in life.
So much to consider here Matt. I totally agree with your suggestion and always aim to stay present in what I am doing. I find it frustrating when I get sucked in though, which sadly is still way too often!
I can relate Matts as I go to my local gym regularly and it does take extra focus to stay present with my body during exercise whilst TV screens are running different shows and music clips in front of me. When on the treadmill, doing my walk I usually look a bit down and also bring my own music as the screens tend to suck me in and the music dictates a certain rhythm that is not necessarily my rhythm – it is a good practice though to be in the world and amongst it all without getting distracted by it.
This propensity for our society to want to be constantly entertained or distracted away from real life combined with the ‘no pain no gain’ attitude makes for a dangerous combination when it comes to exercise.
I regularly go to the local all women’s gym close to were I live. I turn up in my scarf, jumpers, warm track pants, while most of the women are in shorts and singlet even in the cold weather. I walk on the treadmill while they are all running. I exercise on the different machines still in my warm clothes, while they are dripping in sweat looking at me as if I am a weirdo. I have made some great connections with the women and they now know I am not a weirdo just a woman who exercises differently to them.
I have noticed that some parts look as though they are being tortured while they do their workout; and I wonder – is that really good for us? And what does the body have to say about it?
I think the tortured look says it all really.
It is possible the music and flashing screens at gyms are just another magnification of how people choose to switch off, to avoid feeling into the nurturing, honouring and connection the body is so desperately crying out for? For example it might sound ‘good’ to say I go to the gym, I go running or I play football, but it may well be time to ask ourselves the question if any of these activities are done in disregard of the body to look good or for recognition; what message are we truly giving to our bodies. I agree Matts our body “will perform if we give it the proper space to do so, but that might look a bit different from the image we currently hold of how the workout is to look like.” And self-love needs to be part of the equation.
What I can remember I found myself doing when I was at the gym when I was starting out at going to a gym was being caught up in how I looked and that the music was a way for making me feel better. What I have come to realise is that I had been completely disconnected with my body and not connected to how it felt when I did do exercise and movement. Such a different way of exercise when we bring our awareness to each move.
‘Entertainment’ at the gym shows us just how far we are as a humanity from wanting to truly connect to our body and feel everything that we do…. and are.
So true Jenny, we do not really want to feel our bodies because it can be quite confronting to discover what it is in truth telling us, especially if we have not listened to it for a while.
As a temple our bodies are well looked after when we do what we are doing with our-self and not being distracted, problems occur when we are even distracted while driving so do other things is well know for causing accidents while driving.
‘meanwhile I will stick to being as present as I can with myself because I know it feels way better in my body and it also makes me not want to crave too many sweet things, because I get energised just by being present with the way that I move around in my body, which is actually a science in itself.’ so well said Matts. And this feeling of being present with the body is far sweeter than any food we can consume. Therefore leaving no space for things that are not good for us.
Honouring the body in the way you describe is so important. It is not worth trashing it in the name of health and fitness as we see so frequently in the gym. This culture has become so huge and so popular it is now considered the norm. Coming back to the tenderness of the body and truly feeling what is needed would seem quite radical to some.
“Coming back to the tenderness of the body and truly feeling what is needed would seem quite radical to some.” – This is a beautiful statement and one to take very seriously, as if this statement would seem quite radical to some we can ask what level of disconnection is happening that the knowing of what is needed and nurturing and supportive is fully suppressed …
The invasion of TV screens in gyms seems to be a worldwide phenomenon. TV monitors are located in such a way that it is very difficult to avoid images even if you have no desire whatsoever to see them. They bring more images to a world that is already pretty tainted by images of how should we look like if we are doing well in life. They also confirm another image: we need distraction in order to have a good time. Distraction makes life a more pleasant experience.
We are selling ourselves way, way short when we use our body as a machine that responds to commands from a mind that does not consider the true health and vitality of the body in which it is enhoused within. We may well think that we are being healthy by working out in this way (being at the gym but watching TV at the same time) but the truth is that if what the mind thinks is not in tune with the movements of the body, we will create a dis-ease in our body simply because our body is a finely tuned instrument of great precision that is able to receive vast amounts of communication from the Universal intelligence we belong to, that we know of as God/The Universe (love), and to use it for anything less is to create a separation between the body and mind and thus cut ourselves off from being able to access this wisdom.
What a setup the gyms are? The message they sending is “working out is hell and we know you don’t really want to be doing this so why not take your mind off the pain you are inflicting mindlessly on your body by watching TV or listening to pumping music that will make you move in time with it”. . . in fact do anything but tune into what your body is telling you and move according to your own rhythm as you may become aware of what is really going on and have to feel and consider things deeply.
Love this Kathleen – you totally nailed it – that is exactly what is going on. To stay connected and feel into the body and the breath as exercising allows for us to feel what is truly supportive for our body on each day that we choose to exercise, as it may vary depending how the body feels.
Exercise is still on many of our ‘to do’ lists – and simply another thing that needs to get done in the day to be ‘healthy’ or to take care of ourselves on a certain level. And yet, it can be much more than this – a moment to effectively stop and re-connect know ourselves on a deeper level through our body. The gym culture simply reflects the former approach – and therefore making the ‘doing’ as enjoyable or tolerable as possible and won’t change until we want to make it about the latter.
Another blog here has the title “The name of the game is distraction” – the same seems to be true for a workout.
So true – and the distraction and workouts are often presented through loud music as well as some personal trainers that are in for the ‘push hard’ game … or even by feeling competitive through comparison.
Matts, this is key what you share here: “I would say, and I’m sticking my neck out here, that if we were to get more connected with our bodies, we would feel a lot more of what is truly going on, both in our bodies, but also in our lives and that is often too terrifying so we keep on doing the same old same old, until of course our body has to take itself “off the road to get a repair.”” – so many of us choose the distraction over the awareness because we are not sure how to handle the things we actually get to feel! And yet there is a way, a way to allow ourselves to feel and handle things gracefully – this is something I have done and continue to learn to do with the support of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
We absolutely need to get comfortable with feeling our feelings and how our body feels in order to let go of felt tension and learn to support ourselves and our bodies. It’s ok to feel and it’s ok to not be perfect. Two things that I use to struggle with and have learnt through self acceptance from what I have been presented through Universal Medicine.
The sad reality is that most people in our world operate on distraction and think this is a ‘normal’ way to be – and in all honestly, I was one of them and this still happens to me a lot of the time! We grow up with everyone watching TV when they eat their dinners, listening to music, podcasts, or radio whilst going for a walk, listening to music, radio or even watching movies whilst in the car or on public transport, watching TV screens whilst at the gym…distractions are rife, and distractions are everywhere. Even when you go clothes shopping it is not enough to have some music on in the shop, it has to be blaring out of the speakers so it is hard to talk and connect with another. Our surroundings are designed (by us) to be filled with distractions that pull us away from any awareness of the body and its true needs. This means we live from the head most of our day, and that we are not encouraged in any way to tune into the body and how it really feels. So what you are presenting here Matts is actually our normal – the no music and distractions, however, it seems so far away from how we live today that it has seemingly lost its ‘normal’ and has been replaced by sheer numbers who choose distraction! And so it is a slow process of realising that what we thought was normal (the distractions), is in fact not normal and hence we have much habits to undo in order to come back to the normal that really is our normal, the one without the distractions and the one that actually feels the body and connects to it and those around.
Yes, Henrietta, we are now bombarded by distractions in daily life and have to actively choose to have space in our lives to connect to, and be in relationship with, our bodies. It is against the tide of the current crowd, but it is our choice.
Everything is a choice and I love that every second we can choose anew, it’s constantly on offer for us to connect and discern, we just have to take up the offer…
Just imagine if every single child was taught from very young that “our bodies are the temples in which we live and we have to look after them as best as we can”; how amazing would that be? And then we would need to add to that the fact that the world is full of distractions that are set up to take them away from this precious temple, but by staying connected to themselves and being aware of these distractions will protect their wonderful body that is their best friend and wisest companion through life.
It would enormously empower our children.
There would be absolutely no disregard in the world for everything would be about supporting our bodies.
This is a truly beautiful expression Ingrid, and if it not be taught in our schools, as parents we can start teaching this by living it, so it is totally the norm and anything else will just be so off that it does not become an option .
I am learning that whether it is exercise or writing or driving or what ever I am doing if I stay with myself and don’t let my mind wander off and keep focused on what my body is doing then life flows and magic happens, because I am enjoying every moment of my life, there is a purpose that I never knew was there before in everything I do.
It’s such a gorgeous feeling to be with myself and my body. When I am present and I allow myself to surrender deeply then my movements become so delicious and enjoyable to be with.
“But it’s quite hard to listen when we have a myriad of distractions all around us and this is not just at the gym, but everywhere.” This is so true, my mind used to be so over active, that it was very hard to listen to what my body was saying, so I used to push it to the point where eventually it would make me stop.
Spot on Amita and Matt – and you can add to this our rampant coffee culture that encourages coffee before going to the gym and the caffeine added in many sports supplements – this only increases the busyness of the mind and further widens the rift and dis-connection between the mind and the body thus increasing the distraction and the dulling down of any messages from the body, allowing us to push push push he body well beyond what it is designed and can truly handle without any damage or repercussions.
Our bodies are capable of the most amazing things, but it helps when we work together in harmony, because pushing will eventually cause some aspect of our body to fail, with illness or a disease. Working with the body, loving it, respecting it, will enable it to support us with great vitality for a long time.
Tonight my mind ruled the roost and I ate more than I needed to as it was ‘tasty’. Now I am in a mini-food coma with bloated belly and feeling super tired. You really can’t get away with anything…overeat and you feel like crap. Push yourself at the gym..pull a muscle. The list is endless. It is best to be with your body and not override. A loving work in progress.
This could be said in any context and not just this great example at the gym, – whether that’s at the office, in the home, or on a night out: “our body is super tender and is not made to be roughed up and pushed beyond boundaries, even though we think we have to ‘push through’ to make it perform”
For many people, this is the only allure of the gym, the relief found in not only pushing the body and releasing temporarily the built up tension, but also in the opportunity to check out in a very effective way.
And because this tension is only getting relieved and not healed then it always returns. Much like someone who drinks or uses drugs will eventually need to increase the dose to dull feeling the tension because the body becomes used to it – also those who exercise will need to work out longer or more intensely to achieve the same effect.
Matts as you share this “Fact is that our body is super tender and is not made to be roughed up and pushed beyond boundaries, even though we think we have to ‘push through’ to make it perform. It will perform if we give it the proper space to do so, but that might look a bit different from the image we currently hold of how the workout is to look like.” it really makes one appreciate that perhaps we are driven to do things based on a perception of how they should be, based on a picture we have read rather than what our body feels like, we then see others doing the same which confirms to us that that picture was correct and try to then copy it. All the time missing out on the reality.
Matt this is so true about the distractions in the gym, what is the point of it all? Years ago I used to train in this manner, smashing the weights around, hurling them here and there and I could honestly say I was never with my body.
I have recently joined my gym at work and re-imprinting the way I used to be with my body and I love it. I am listening to it more, there is no set routine, no set amount of anything, if my body signals no more- I stop. I attend early in the morning before my shift commences. The radio would be blasting away and some people have their personalised headphones listening to their own music at the same time the radio is in the background.
One morning when I was at a machine near the radio I slowly started to turn the radio volume down so we could be with our ourselves instead of the nonsense blasting from the radio – no one noticed. Then one morning there were only 5 other women and no one cared that it wasn’t even on. They were working out in silence and I observed one woman purposefully working her body in a slower rhythm than before, had her eyes closed so she could be with herself in contrast to what I observed weeks before.
It’s quite funny really that we invent all these exercise machines and put them in ‘gyms’ so we can ‘work out’, when a good walk every day keeps the body supple and all our fluids circulating freely. The real art is not in the speed, but in connecting to our rhythm, in allowing our shoulders and backs to move freely, our hips to rotate and our knees to bend with ease, on noticing the quality of our footfall. When we bring such focus to our movements, a simple walk can become the most amazing work out everyday.
“the more present and in tune with my body I get, the more aware I become of how much more present and in tune with my body I can actually be, like there’s no real end, just a continual deepening.” This is a beautiful place to come to and well worth it and in marked contrast to what goes on in most gyms ,sport, yoga and exercise classes with the way we exercise in distraction and pushing and far from the simplicity, gentleness and love of moving with absolute harmony and connection with our bodies.
I listened to a radio interview yesterday promoting running, marathons, half marathons and shorter distances as the must do thing with children encouraged to join in on shorter runs. Action and activity has become the dominant force sold relentlessly by media and charities as the way to fitness. But does it make us more fit for life and what of the damage to the body caused by running miles and punishing the body. Gentle exercise in moderation and with presence is a beautiful thing.
Great to have presented this analogy of body and car. I often use it myself, but not always apply it. Before a long road journey my body gave me a signal, (reminder) I hadn’t followed advice to check my car tyres for wear and tear. Rather than head off regardless, I delayed the start of my journey to fit it in. Tyres checked and pronounced ‘good to drive’ I started my journey worry free. Writing this comment brought to awareness that my own body has been signalling to me and have delayed doing something about it. Time to make that doctor’s appointment i’ve been putting off.
We have learned as a race that one way to handle discomfort in our bodies it to distract ourselves away from the body, to escape the pain or the discomfort. As normal an approach to life that is, there is no doubt it does not take us to what we are actually missing, which is connection with ourself.
How about a fresh new workout culture that is based on appreciating ourselves and then enjoying what ever exercise feels true on the day to support and strengthen our appreciation? If we approached exercise this way this would be all the motivation needed. Exercise is simply a chosen way to celebrate who we are to support, strengthen and deepen our commitment to our well-being, allowing us to be as fit for life as needed.
It makes no sense to buy into a belief that one size fits all when it comes to exercise and working out. Our bodies have very different requirements on different days, and simply going for a walk reveals what the body truly needs for that walk. When I walk ‘trying to keep up’ with another’s stride my hips let me know immediately that I’m not walking me.
We do load up things like the gym with many forms of entertainment and we seem to play music everywhere these days. I remember exercising and using it as a time to think about other things, especially when I was running. Part of the ‘success’ of running was to have your mind elsewhere thinking of other things, I was distracting myself so the run went quicker and so I didn’t feel any of the pain or just want to stop. It was a way of pushing through and getting to the end of the workout and the better you did this the better the workout was perceived to be. I actually thought this was a strength, the ability to make the pain seemingly go away until the workout or run was finished. To be honest I never looked forward to any of my runs, I can remember and I would always pep myself up even though I was really good at it the overriding sense was that I didn’t like the pain I felt when I ran.
Interesting partnership – a being that likes to choose checking out from the body and thus from being honest and truthful and a body that is never checking out from who we are, always reflecting honestly the truth of our choices, may they be in line or out of line with the nature of our true being.
This brings back the importance of being present in the body. There is so much to distract us these days – not just gym but life in general – and we can actually see this as an opportunity to stay true to our bodies no matter the level of distraction. Because no food or music or TV show feels as supportive and absolute as being present.
Great article Matts, I can feel how more and more exercise seems to be accompanied with music, such as exercise classes, I have observed joggers with head phones, and skiers with headphones listening to music, the list goes on and so the body can be overridden and not listened to with the distractions. I love going for a walk in nature, with the gentle sounds of the birds and feeling my feet as I walk, it would feel very different if I had music blarring out as I walked, more difficult to stay present and feel my feet as I walked and easier to get distracted and not be present in my body.
Drinking coffee, talking on their telephones, reading the news on their iPads, face-timing their families…I spend a fair bit of time in gyms in various hotels and am amazed at what people will do whilst exercising. That said, often I am the only one in there because I get up early and I have become a bit of a master at finding out how to turn off the music or disarming the speakers!!
Going to the gym is seen as a good thing, and on one level it is if we go with the intention to connect to our bodies, and to feel how much exercise is needed on that day. However from my past experience it was so far removed from what has been described and now I can see was clearly abusive. Along with all the exercise classes which were high impact, fast paced and required a pushing beyond what my body was capable of – all in the pursuit of being healthy.
“… the whole purpose of exercising is to get healthy, alert and present in the body, is it not?” Yes it is Matts, and astonishing to observe how when quite a few people, who I have observed working out in the gym, even sit on the exercise bike reading a book … absolutely no presence whatsoever .
I once heard some one say that if they didn’t have all the music and distractions in the gym, they wouldn’t be able to ignore the pain they felt in their body while they were on the running machine. I wondered then and still do, is this working our bodies out in this way truly helping us, or are we racking up a whole load of wear and tear that will just take its toll on our health as we get older?
Perhaps all the TV screens and the loud music are there so people do not have to focus on and feel the damage they are doing to themselves when they are pounding and pushing their bodies into the ground. Without the distractions perhaps we would be left to actually feel the body and how it actually likes to move and be treated.
It would be amazing if it was possible to do some research on the prevalence of injuries occurring when exercising from connection compared with exercising from disconnection. A simple starting point would be to measure what happens in gyms over a period of time with music blaring than no music. The results would make an interesting read.
I found that even if i didn’t work out at the gym, simply the way I moved in life and the tension I held constantly in my body was enough for me to have very strong arm muscles, almost masculine in definition and strength, simply from holding my arms very protected and pushing in life. As I have dropped this protection and hardness, and worked on my drive and developing more stillness and valuing more my quality of being over the doing, my arms are soft in shape and although are still strong, are less masculine and more a part of my body.
A Gym would be a great place to establish connection and love for our body, but instead it gets used for the opposite, to push ourselves to strive towards an ideal or an image we have believed in. When I have gone to the gym I have found they are full of comparison and competition. And you have exposed it so brilliantly Matts, why are they set up with televisions, loud music, and other distractions? its a sign of what we are asking for as society to run our lives in a way which is not truly supportive for the body.
‘our bodies are the temples in which we live and we have to look after them as best as we can… only not from an image of how we think they should look, but from what the body says is right and true for it.’ – very true. It’s not how we look on the outside that matters, it’s our connection to how we feel on the inside. When we take care of our body the love and joy that we feel radiates out for all to see and feel.
i would suggest in part the distractions are there to assist in disconnecting us further from the pain we inflict on the body under the name of exercise. Too often exercise is conducted in the belief that we must drive our bodies to the point of sustained exhaustion and pain in order to receive any benefit.
Is it possible we are trying to over ride an already existing inner pain in the way of thoughts, stress and worry with an activity that distracts us with excessive physical activity and possibly pain associated with the excess?
I used to have all sorts of expectations around going to the gym, how often I should go, for how long, how tired I should feel at the end to show I had worked hard ….. now I have a very different relationship with my body and I go when I feel to go, sometimes only for 30 mins. I work out to support and strengthen my body, enjoying the time with me, being aware of how my body feels, rather than having expectations on what I should or shouldn’t be doing, irrespective of how my body is feeling. Altogether, a very different experience.
I have found that the workout needed depends on how we live – if we live with lots of emotions and lots of food etc that needs work for the body then I found I needed a very different workout to what I need today.
I used to be a gym junkie many years ago and would have loved to have the distraction of to screens to watch while I exercised, as ticking that box and convincing myself that this was good and working for me was my drive and I had to numb out to do all of that. My gauge of a great workout was the sweat and tiredness that resulted from my loveless and disconnected workout program. I did once try a cross fitness class, but that was way too intense for me so at least I kept it to mainstream aerobics classes and some weights and didn’t overdo it too much. Now when I exercise, it’s totally different as I’m choosing to connect with my body and stop myself when I can feel I’m going hard or pushing and my body absolutely loves it.
When we look at life today compared to twenty years ago there is so many more distractions that are going on. Looking at our health statistics it will show us that ill-ness and dis-ease is growing year on year so then what does that have to tell us? The lack on connection and being distracted is actually having an impact on our health potentially? I know that when I started to look at this in my life and I started to change things my vitality and health changed dramatically.
“Do we consider that not being present in and with our body can lead to the body having a breakdown?” – so simple, and so true Matts, this line and truth is the key to reducing stress, tension and avoiding burnout at work/life. In fact it [presence] is the key to all of life and truly successfully living with natural confidence, and responsibility through having gained awareness.
When I look at the faces and bodies of people in the gym or running down the street, I can feel the determination and hardness that is there. The contrast with the stillness I feel when I gently walk or exercise is enormous, I feel very blessed that I do not feel the drive to exercise in that hard way any more.
I like this part about the way we move is a science. It makes sense because the movement of life all around us is scientifically investigated and observed, such as the clouds, the waves, animals, and the earths’ crust. So surely our movements must also hold a science to them just as everything else that moves on this planet – which itself is a moving object hurtling itself through space – which is also held within a science.
In which case what do you reckon the “scientists” in the clouds or waves feel about the way we move – I imagine they might be a bit bewildered by it?!
We seem to have music wherever we go gym’s, hotels lobbies and lifts and even at the Service Stations when you go to the loo there is music playing there too and I haven’t even mentioned the restaurants its as though we are not allowed to have any down time to ourselves with just the quietness, So I have to asked the question what are we trying to drown out in our society?
It really comes down to either living from and for the stimulation of the senses or living from the deep natural sense of harmony as known by the body.
And thus the choice to live from a nervous system based intelligence that gets triggered by overstimulated senses (absorbing the world and not observing it) and gives free reign for the mind to override what is felt deep within and thus dictate and impose on the body a movement that is not in accordance with what the heart feels, or we can choose to live from the vascular based intelligence that paves the way for true health and vitality by virtue of honouring what is felt first in the heart/body before the mind/head follows suit. Whole body intelligence begins with understanding we always have a choice as to which intelligence we will allow to run our body – the one that supports harmony or the one that runs against it.
Unfortunately it is quite common these days to have music blaring out in the gym, hairdressers and the shops, and sometimes it would be nice for just once to have some quite moments and a chance to actually talk to people instead of shouting or ignoring them.
I agree Julie and I suspect others feel the same way but do nothing about it. When in restaurants, I sometimes ask them to turn down the music, because we can’t hear each other speak. It’s important to let people know how we feel and for more of us to speak up or vote with our feet.
This is so true Julie. Taxis as well. I am always asking Taxi drivers to turn off their music and then within that space is an opportunity to connect. Like this morning I was driving to the airport in Paris and had an amazing connection with the driver who was being so open about her life, the french and the imminent election. It was fascinating – we even continued our conversation via text after she had dropped me off! We were both equally appreciative of the connection.
As a regular gym user it is interesting to watch how the marketing of weight loss and body building is the primary source of customer relations. When I joined and went through a fitness test and questionnaire I was told – why are you here as neither one this these sales pitches was the reason why I joined.? There is a lot of support that the gym can offer us when we make each session we attend about bringing consistency into our day that is no different to that which we take part of in our exercise regime. Is it possible that if there is distraction in our home/ work time there is distraction in our gym time?
I used to play a lot of squash right up to age 40 but as I grew heavier and heavier I gave that up and went to the gym or swam. With both the squash and the gym, I would be very unfeminine and sweat like a pig. Nowadays my exercise is way more gentle.
” why there are so many distractions at the gym?” There has been many times that I have asked myself the same question Matts, in fact just the other week I put a complaint into the Gym I go to, asking why the music had to be so loud, even with my head phones on I can still hear everything and the pounding vibration is quite unsettling on my body.
I know what you mean, I struggle to go to the gym as I find these loud distractions quite disturbing to my body. I now prefer to go for a swim or a gentle walk where there is less distraction and I can be more with myself.
Me too, Michelle! I always felt weak and pathetic because I was not up for pushing through and subscribing to the ‘no pain no gain’ approach to exercise. But now I know that I was simply not willing to override my body.
Yes, there is a big contradiction here when we go to the gym to be ‘healthy’ and yet actually harm our bodies, by pushing or abusing them and not staying connected to what is truly needed to support them.
Listening to the body’s message is so important in all we do, and working out in the gym especially so as there are so many distractions for us to easily check out and override what the body is telling us.
“What happens is that we are not fully attentive to what our body is communicating to us, and in that state, it’s easy to push beyond how the body would otherwise perform the exercise.” Before really understanding what being present with my body meant, I used to push through and put my body into exercises and stretches that it was not ready to do, because I could see other people doing them or because I felt my body should be able to do them. I was exercising in a functioning way without really feeling what my body was saying and the consequences were that my body had to harden to the demands I made on it. Now I stretch and do gentle exercises based on my body and what is needed and it is so much more enjoyable just to feel my body, each movement and be present with my body.
“if we were to get more connected with our bodies, we would feel a lot more of what is truly going on, both in our bodies, but also in our lives and that is often too terrifying” I would agree with you, its when I often want to not feel what is going on that I do something that disconnects me from my body, when the truth is that being connected is what supports me most. Yet without tools and support so as those provided by Universal Medicine how do we as a society deal with the mess we are in?
‘I will stick to being as present as I can with myself because I know it feels way better in my body and it also makes me not want to crave too many sweet things, because I get energised just by being present with the way that I move around in my body, which is actually a science in itself.’ We think and are told that sugar gives us energy, glucose tablets or energy bars, to name but a few but what you are saying Matts is completely different. You are saying that when you move with your body you no longer crave those sugary things and feel more energised. This surely is a science which needs to be studied.
There’s no doubt going to the gym is becoming popular with all age groups. With the hi-tech equipment and technology expanding it seems to be the trend to wear fancy workout clothes and pop ear phones in but at what expense to the body? I notice at the gym where I take my kids swimming there’s even a glass face where those on the machines can look out of the window as a means of distraction – anything to distance the connection to the body. The distractions are definitely increasing and it does make me wonder ‘what next?’
World sugar production last year was 174 million tonnes, in October 2016 the price was 23 cents a pound = $40 billion. Data from the US suggest they spend 40 to 50 billion a year, 60% or more that have a gym membership and never use them, 30 billion is spent on athletic apparel. Study’s show 60 to 90% is wasted on ineffective dieting where the weight comes back. Americans spend a TON of money on fitness… most of it wasted! This just show’s the cycle of abuse that only we can choose to end with the distractions we allow into our lives.
It would be very interesting to record how often I check out and not connect to my body throughout my day. I would say a huge percentage is in checking out moments which is not surprising even though I don’t watch television, play computer games or listen to popular music cte., I still often find myself retreat into my thoughts and then disconnect from my body. Being aware of this is great because I am learning to bring more awareness and connection back to my body. I realise, we don’t necessarily need external entertainment to check out, it seems we have an in-built one in our minds which can play out all sorts of images and movies in our heads at any moment. I find letting go of external distractions were pretty easy but it is my internal in-built distraction (my mind/thoughts) that I am working on letting go, which doesn’t feel so easy. For me practice and consistency is key to reconnect to my body and not check out.
Your question is very pertinent Matts and highlights something very key… ‘the whole purpose of exercising is to get healthy, alert and present in the body, is it not?’
There are many reasons people exercise but this is most likely not one of them for the majority… in all my gym-going days of younger years, and all my exercise obsessed days (about 15 years), I did not ever exercise for that reason. Wanting a particular body shape, enjoying the end-result, feeling I had ‘done something healthy and worthwhile’, keeping myself in a state of relative numbness (so as to not feel what some of my other choices were actually doing to me) etc. were all part of it. Pretty sure l’m not alone in those sort of motivations… to understand the purpose of exercise as I do now and as you’ve suggested here, has been transformational, and not just in attitude but has resulted in a far healthier and more vital body than any of those younger years.
Perhaps we want to check out when exercising… let’s be honest it can get quite painful. To be really present with our bodies when we exercise it would mean we would have to feel what we are putting ourselves through!
It is indeed very interesting to see the distraction we choose to not feel the burden we put on our body and the choices we make. I feel it is so important to become aware of these distractions as they are not always as obvious as they are in the gym.
Brilliantly exposes how we pretzel our body to do many things even sometimes st once whiich misdirects and mistreats it, no wonder we have many diseases and ailments whochncirrect is from living in this pollution and disregard.
I go to a gym where the music is blaring and the three TV screens are all on. I focus on the rhythm of my walk on the tread mill and all the could be distractions just fall away, they do not effect me, as I do not give them any attention.
I find the same Mary-Louise. We can just as easily get distracted in a quiet room with no one else in sight as the mind has a million and one places it can go.
Wow Mary Louise, that’s awesome. I haven’t been into a gym in ages and the noisy music doesn’t appeal but what you have written here makes so much sense, you’ve inspired me to try.
That is quite brilliant.
Yes Mary-Louise, it is the same for me too. I focus on my breath and stay with me. In the past I was not able to do that and got caught up in it all, no longer now as conscious presence is something that is so important now in my life, and in the Gym no different.
We really are quite stuck in our ways and not really willing to admit that the exercise that we do that ticks a box and works our body, may be helping to a degree, but if we are not with our bodies while we are doing it, how do we truly surrender into how our body is feeling so that we can move it in a way that confirms and aligns us to our true movement from the inner heart?
The idea of music in gyms doesn’t appeal to me, it is like that noise you hear for ages watching a TV and then you finally switch it off and there is silence and you wonder why you wouldn’t want more of that quality. Being with yourself and allowing your body to switch down a gear, how much more awareness is there of how you feel. Something we can do even in a workout, in fact perhaps it could be even more important.
In the past I did two kinds of exercise – one, where I enjoyed what I was doing and didn’t like distractions and one where I was pushing my body and then any distraction of any kind was very welcome. I may have taken the hint at the time but I didn’t.
True Christoph, whenever we welcome distractions and whenever we think we need them, there is either something is wrong with what we are doing or how we are approaching it, because there is a lack of joy in what we are experiencing.
I’m so glad you wrote this blog Matts as I’ve been wanting to write about the screens and distraction at the gym for a long time. I used to think music helped me to work out, I thought it motivated me… Now I see that music distracted me and allowed me to push my body beyond its limits. When I did this I actually damaged my relationship with exercise because I associated working out with pain. Now I exercise with minimal distraction and when I do this I feel like it is far more beneficial for my body… I have minimal pain and I feel the strongest I have ever felt.
Interesting that it is called a ‘workout’ because for a lot of people their reason for going to the gym is to work out previous detrimental choices e.g. to eat things that they know are not good for them and then use the gym to work them out of their system. No wonder so much distraction is needed because the purpose for being there is reflecting our choices to us if we would only listen.
Learning the importance of looking after and caring for our body is a beautiful gift and the presence and stillness from this is a loving discipline in itself and so well worth it. How we exercise and move listening to the messages from our body is a very different way from the distractions and numbing way reflected to us in the world today.
All my worst decisions in life have happened once I have stopped being connected to my body.
Hear hear – great sharing Golnaz, and one can ask without that connection to your body, what made all the decisions …
With all the distraction around, in this case in the gym, it is easy to impose upon the body with what we want it to be, look like and champion the outer appearance. I have seen young guys in the gym who after (too) heavy lifting pulled their shirts up to look at their six pack in the mirror and then continued to go on with a pride of what they are capable of. This unhealthy attention to outer appearance will definitely encourage and feed the entertainment factor in the fitness industry.
It is a good question you pose here, Matts – why do we want to avoid feeling what we do all actually feel? We are denaturing ourselves and shutting down a naturally intuitive understanding of life, dumbing ourselves down when we know the truth of everything through our bodies.
The workout culture is an aspect of the culture in which we are sold ideas that appear to be beneficial for us but in fact in the long-term are harmful. They succeed because there are components that are true but we do not discern the whole picture. How the benefits of exercise is presented is a prime example of this.
It’s a good point about checking out while driving a car. We do not usually have the same awareness when we are walking about in our bodies! But the same thing applies. If we are not present we are more likely to have accidents that could be avoided.
They have done studies to show that playing music in retail shops keeps people shopping for longer periods of time. This implies people would be focusing on the music while picking out clothing. The same must go for gyms, although you get the double whammy of a tv too. So it’s a great point you make here – how much do we let outside factors get in the way between our head and our body – the answer may differ for all, but asking the question is a start.
It’s a long time since I’ve been in a gym to exercise but I remember when I did go how I would disconnect from the pain my body was feeling by tuning into the screen and loud music. Even though this was pretty much how I was living at the time it still felt very strange walking into a room of people who were totally disconnected from each other as they were zoned out in front of a screen.
I was coming home from work the other day, and a young man got on the train with his gym bag and wearing the body builder, string work out vest and shorts. He had the all upper body shape look. His arms were the size of my legs and a chest chiselled from granite. There had to be, like his chest, a massive investment in time to achieve this body transformation! His body transformation was successful, for how real hard he was, as the temperature was just above freezing that day and he had no coat. My question is, what purpose is a body shape like that for, vanity perhaps?
In the workout culture of today we are trapped between looking a certain way or sitting on the sofa, it’s very rare to exercise to truly support the body – yet its what everyone actually needs, myself included!
Yep, I absolutely agree Matts, our bodies are deeply sacred. I am learning to connect to it more and more, listen to its messages, treat it with love, tenderness and care. Also to pay attention to the way I move, how I use my body and simply reconnecting to it as much as possible throughout my day and this feels amazing.
That men need to look ‘tough’ and ‘macho’ is such a strange distortion when you think about it. Who said so, and why? The men I know who don’t pursue this line of thinking are lovely and tender and embody something far closer to what I imagine our divine selves really are. There’s nothing wrong with being fit for life, but truly, anything beyond that is a distraction and a conceit.
In these days of mass distraction, the Gym is another thing/place that can completely take us away from what we are feeling so we don’t have to face what is really going on in our lives. It is quite scary how exercise in this way seems to be so addictive, but is it the actual exercise or the distraction?
Using the car analogy brings so much simple common sense to exploring our relationships with our bodies. It is also a playful way to get me to be really honest about a topic that is exposing and at first quite uncomfortable… how much true care and respect do I afford my body… my vehicle for life?
Yes I love the car analogies too as they put the point across so simply with no argument left to bring 🙂
Your words here Matts make me take a step back and want to do a ‘stock-take’ of my life, for all the different distractions I let in. And they are not just the obvious ones, like Facebook, the news or TV but spread into conversations and thoughts I just don’t need to have. The anger and emotions that seem so real are actually all there like a brick wall in the way of accessing our natural power. These distractions are just a big distraction in themselves from us liviing in a way that is awesome. If this is something we all see our true purpose here on earth will definitely start to ‘work out’.
I wonder how our health and well-being as a society would look and feel, if we put all the energy we use in distractions, into truly connecting and honouring our bodies?
As a society, we have become masters at avoiding feeling our bodies… with sport, entertainment, alcohol, drugs, coffee, etc – the list goes on, and yet as babies we know and need none of this – we are in the joy and delight of being in the world… so open, tender and following every impulse of our body. Why would we leave this?
Indeed, and when we reflect on this – we would never give a baby all these things so what happens that all of a sudden that changes?
There is such a strong message presented by sport, the fitness industry and the media of ‘pushing’ through, of pushing our bodies beyond when they are telling us to stop, and the accolades that come with doing that e.g. in triathlons… and then we wonder why there are so many sporting and exercise related injuries – but even these injuries get positively recognised – it’s almost like its an achievement to abuse our body. How far away have we come from deeply honouring, respecting and nurturing our bodies?!
Our bodies offer lots of simple and subtle signs of how they are and what truly supports them. With head-phones on, music and images from screens all around, it’s pretty easy to miss the communication that is the most essential to our well-being and even purpose. Dose the sound and images coming at us from all around add up to the quality of the sound that is innately available from with-in?
I know someone who goes with friends to the gym and I happened to walk past the gym one day while we were staying at the same hotel and they were on the running machine going flat out with their ear phones plugged in. And they do this so that they can eat and drink what they like because they say they run the calories off. Too me this didn’t make any sense they abuse their body by eating foods they really shouldn’t be eating and they know this and then they abuse their body again by running as fast as they can for as long as they can, where is the sense in that? Surely it makes more sense not to abuse our bodies by not eating and drinking that which we know is harmful to our bodies?
It’s a great point you make, Matts. about how we cannot drive our cars without conscious presence or else we will crash, and yet we are happy to disconnect from and disregard our bodies without much concern about the consequences.
It is interesting to say the least that the messages of our bodies that indicate that we are going too far with it, like the alarm lights in the car, are often seen as signs of good exercise. For instance, excessive sweating, trembling muscles, pain or even the extreme peeing you can hear about now and then (although that I think not many find normal) are often been seen as part of having a good work out even though it is a sign of the body it is going over its limits.
So true Lieke. Abusing the body by pushing it beyond its limits is considered normal and even desirable by many. Humanity champions people who run marathons and climb Mount Everest without any regard for the damage that is done to the bodies of the people who are chasing these goals. It is little wonder that there is a huge amount of distraction available to gym goers as it is simply a reflection of what most people are choosing all the time.
Yes, it is strange when we interpret alarm signs as signals of having done a good job!
Hahaha – well put Christoph – yes and so very true. Recently I commented on a friends post on social media who proudly showed off massive bruises on her body – claiming good job well done and proud of it. When I commented lovingly to gently ask about self love, reaction was massive and nothing else could be said.
Exercising with my body from a quality of true care is vastly different to exercising from the mental construct that it is good for me. Today I noticed this same aspect as I considered my day. Do I do the tasks needed from the quality that will bless my house or what I write, or from the got to get it done so I can feel the relief, the doing good that I’ve done what I am meant to have achieved for the day. One I’m with myself and I can feel my loveliness, I know the loveliness that I am bringing to life; the other I’m doing it from an energy of got to do what’s right and I’m not ok.
You titled this article ‘workout culture’ and there certainly is a culture. Working out and exercise seem to have become a trending topic with all the glitz and glamour to go with it – and it is turning into a major distraction. There are so many things to take away from being with the body whilst exercising. It is all about what clothes you wear, what brand, what music you listen too, what shows you follow, what program you follow – all in an effort to not come from ‘how does my body feel today’ – it has taken me a long time to get out of that approach to exercise and your blog sums up beautifully what it is to be caught up in that.
My relationship with life has turned around since I learned about the significance of being consciously present with the actions of my body and everything I engage with. I am far more steady, aware, clear, vital and confident. This has been one of the many deeply supportive changes Universal Medicine inspired in me. Yet it seems in all aspects of life we have a deliberate stance of building the exact opposite through distracting ourselves from what we are actually engaged in – it is particularly astonishing that this is so prevalent even in activities that are supposed to be building health.
For me I love time at the gym – its time to be with me, time to communicate and really tune into my body – I find the movement and exercise almost prayer like, in the sense of the time for reflection and connection with myself.
But I know that there has been times when the last thing I want to do is check in and feel my body, and then the distractions are key and exercise becomes a way to silence my body and beat it into submission by pushing past my limits and exhausting myself.
I love what you are saying here Rebecca, that exercise is a time to be with ourselves and tune into our body so we can learn not to push beyond our limits not only when we exercise and moving, but when we are attending to our responsibilities of daily life.
Watching tv while exercising is no different to watching tv while we eat, or daydreaming whilst we are in conversation with someone, or in our head problem solving whilst we drive…. anything we do not fully with ourselves will definitely have an impact on our body – unfortunately we’ve come to call it ‘normal’.
As I am learning the more responsibility I feel in everything I do, that when I exercising without distractions that this has been a gift from God as it makes all the difference to exercises. Being present with what I am doing while also having a focusing on my breathe is so simple and a key to being present.
I love what you have written here Greg, and it is that simple. No bells or whistle, loud music or half naked ladies dancing to the latest video – in fact no distractions at all.
Yes, we are all contributors to the amount of distractions that are out there in the world, as we have basically asked for them and so what is a business to do, but supply our demand. It seems out lack of self love and nurturing has brought us a society that would rather feel better with our distractions, than feel our own amazing.
I overheard some women talking about training for a marathon in the desert and saying how it would be a true test of resilience. It’s common for us to champion pushing our bodies to perform very unloving acts of endurance. It is seen as a mark of character and something to be proud of. Where do we get these ideas from?
Good point Debra – society loves the (enter the illness) survivor who comes back to complete the (enter endurance test here). It seems we have it backwards. It seems to me that the lifestyle change for the better brings stuff up for others, so is seen much less as an accomplishment.
I used to love exercising vigorously to music that pumped me up. The combination of the endorphins and the music were then amplified by a mega latte afterwards. The momentary high that I achieved was not sustainable and so I had to repeat it all again or, as I always did, use one of my many other strategies to not feel the gnawing agitation that I felt deep inside. Oh the absolute relief that I now feel at having addressed my agitation, which has left me with a feeling of deep, constant contentment and therefore no need to cover up how I feel.
Matts from my observations in the weights section of my local gym it seems that most people are not enjoying what they are doing and so the TV screens and loud music are a welcome distraction. The majority of people that I see would not want to feel their bodies in more detail and this fact alone points to the fact that our society is run on ideals and beliefs at the expense of our poor old bodies. i.e. a muscley body is desirable and it takes a certain amount of pain and discomfort to get one.
It is sometimes difficult to concentrate in many situations these days even something as simple as shopping. You are right Matts when you say we need to allow our body to be part of the process of exercise to get the full benefit it needs.
And so, with all the different distractions we are faced with in the world, it pays immensely to practise conscious presence in all we do no matter where we are. Like this great example I have heard from a wise man many times now – “to be like a fish in water without getting wet’. 🙂
This also goes for hobbies and activities we do where we over do it, such as gardening – it is easy to end up with a bad back if we are not present with ourselves and override the feeling when to stop. One example of what not to do is -whilst off work with a neck injury I decided to help dig a pond, which was a deep as I was tall 5ft 4inches, and needless to say my body was not up to it.
These days I exercise and take on activities which suit my smaller frame, and which do not put the body under a huge strain, and I would not dream of digging out a pond.
I have always found it quite intriguing how intense gyms are because of what you describe. I avoid them which isn’t necessarily the way forward. But I do use a pool and steam room at a local gym which I really love doing. I no longer am focussed on working out but rather stretching, feeling, moving and even playing in the water. This is a very new way of being with exercise and I really love going to the gym now, being with my body as I swim really shows me so much about how I am living my day.
A lot of the time we do not want to feel what is going on for us in our body and that is why we use distractions. When we stop and really felt what is going on for us we have an opportunity to face the tension or discontent we are living in and do something about it. If we don’t we just bury it deeper into our body.
Another element is that we’re a society today so hung up on image, that we would rather override what we feel to achieve a certain look than to address how we’re really feeling. It’s almost like smoking to look cool. Train like a beast for a six pack to appear healthy. Both of those scenarios often prove to be unhealthy.
Could being present in our bodies actually be one of the most healthy habits we can do?
Great question and one we can answer with a whole-hearted ‘Yes’. The difference how we are in our daily living when we connect and are present is so immense, as with that connection and presence comes the inner knowing when to do what for how long and how – leaving us feeling vital and abundant in our energy.
Exercising gives the appearance of caring and nurturing of our body but we are imposing upon what we believe is beneficial for it and us rather than being in harmony with it.
‘we think we have to ‘push through’ to make it perform’ – This is a great point Matts, and particularly with exercise when we feel ‘stretched’ we think that it’s a sign of success and progress, but often this does come with the onset of pain, aches and discomfort. What’s interesting is that nowadays we have so much TV, music and distractions in gyms that the ‘you’ve overdone it’ feeling is much easier to ignore.
Although I did, and do require support and advice to exercise, I have never enjoyed attending gyms because of all the distractions and so rarely went to them.
it’s interesting how it has become the accepted norm to have distraction everywhere in somewhere like a gym. This highlights the collective need for distraction and the fact that it is now not the norm to respect the body enough to stay present with it in order to take care of our movements. A huge paradox in somewhere like a gym.
The gym environment is a good example of what it is like in other parts of our lives, the level of distractions to keep us away from connecting to who we are and how amazing this is. Over years these distractions have become a lot more accessible and readily available and we wonder why ill-ness and dis-ease is increase year on year?
The more I listen to my body, the more I appreciate its constant messages and the fact that it is constantly backing me all the time. Why would I choose to shut down from this amazing wisdom on tap?
I agree the world is full of distractions, but I kind of get the sense that’s a bit of a supply and demand culture. Would the world still be full of distractions if we didn’t look for them, seek them and ask for them? If we make the call that living with constant distraction and stimulation is not how we want to live, then perhaps things may change.
Matts if being present and the quality of our movement is key to life, and gentle exercise is great to support the body then it would seem that we are avoiding the true benefits exercise can provide (a deeper connection to the body and support for us to work, live etc..) and instead “doing” without taking responsibility for the quality. To me this shows it’s easier to force ourselves to do fitness than to connect with how our body actually feels.
My local gym was re-furbished and re-configured recently. I found the new layout confusing and unwelcoming, went once and did not return. I prefer walking outdoors and swimming and find even with these activities we are not free of distractions, especially those we create ourselves.
Having said this and as a recent holder of a free leisure pass, I’m encouraged to re-visit the gym and curious to see how it feels to me today.
This brings new meaning to ‘out of body experience’. For many in and out of gyms this is daily lived experience.
Cheeky and exposing, Kehinde, this is a great call to consider how much time we spend in or out of our bodies and what wayward choices we make when we are ‘out’ and therefore not reading the signs and signals our bodies willingly share with us.
Without awareness that it is so, of course… when truly connected in Gym work one gets to wonder how on earth one has managed before…
I suppose at a lot of these Gyms, people need the distractions because they often seem to ask their bodies to go above and beyond what feels natural to do as probably need to check out to the pain they are causing themselves.
Matts I love what you have shared about our disconnection from our body and I only can agree that it is so much needed to see and feel that there is another way to be with it “Let’s face it, our bodies are the temples in which we live and we have to look after them as best as we can… only not from an image of how we think they should look, but from what the body says is right and true for it.”
All the distractions we have in life, whether they are at the gym, in our home, walking to the bus, are reflecting the extent to which we are avoiding being with our selves. We are avoiding the connection with our bodies and feeling what is truly going on for us, why? Maybe because then, it would lead us to consider why we are feeling the way we are, it would present an opportunity for us to take more responsibility for the way we are living, which isn’t something to be avoided, it’s an absolute gift.
I shudder when I remember how I used to flog my body by cycling over 100 km every week, as though I was punishing myself. Maybe what I was feeling was the hurt from treating my body in such dis-regard, but rather than stopping and choosing to connect with my body and treat it with more care and tenderness, I chose instead to disconnect and continue the self-abuse. I now have a very different relationship with my body where there is no place for disregard, my body doesn’t have to signal when it’s time to stop at the gym, I already know.
This change you have chosen, Alison, in your relationship with your body, is really remarkable and to be appreciated, deeply so.
Yes it’s an awesome feeling isn’t it, when we absolutely know when to stop something without first having to have aches and pains and such things. True presence allows for that deep inner knowing in all we do, not just exercise.
Yes, this is my experience too Matts, when I am more connected with my body I feel more energised. Also when I am connected and present in my body, the quality of everything I do feels amazing.
Yes I can say the same too, and the difference is marked. Conscious presence and connection in all we think say and do make a huge difference to the quality in which we do all these things and how we feel in the process.
A great blog Matts that opens us up to one thing – quality, and what type of quality is it that we are living our every day life in – in connection, presence with ourselves, or otherwise distracted often with disastrous consequences or accidents that can bring us back to our body and an opportunity to note our quality in how it’s been affecting us.
The interesting thing about exercising while music is playing is that our bodies tend to move to the rhythm of the music instead of to our own rhythm.
Great point Carmel. It is like plugging into a ‘program’ that very likely doesn’t really work with our own unique energetic design, yet we start to adapt and adjust for this to ‘fit’, but are we aware that by ‘fitting’ in to any external program we need a ‘re-fit’ back to our own afterwards?
It’s not just in the gym that we are surrounded by distractions, it’s everywhere. Even shopping for groceries there is music blasting, and to buy petrol means to enter a store where unhealthy snack foods and even porn magazines abound. Outside of TV, music and other distractions people are glued to their phones or other screens. People will say they don’t like to be “bored” but the truth is we have developed a society that cannot spend time with itself. Even as toddlers we are given food, TV, toys or another distractions whenever an uncomfortable feeling comes up, so we may begin this process of looking outside of ourselves to pacify and smother what we are truly feeling from an early age.
Body science, I like that…the body is a science, yet we do not treat it as such. We treat our bodies from ideals and pictures of how the body should be treated, such as the gym, work hard and you will get fit. Where does this come from?
What if we listened to our bodies, and stayed connected to the qualities, there is a knowing in our bodies, what works and what doesn’t – if we slow down to be present with our body, what will happen, what will we discover? Possibly how much we do know. What would it be like if we went to the gym, with no distractions, stayed with our bodies, felt what was there to be felt, after our training, would there be a sense of completeness and wellbeing, without extreme pushing and challenging it? Our bodies are actually very responsive when we move with our body, that’s what I have experienced. .
I like what you share Matts about a forever deepening quality of presence and awareness. When we connect with that possibility the idea of watching a TV screen at the gym just wouldn’t enter our head. I know for me such a thing would just be a distraction because I felt uncomfortable about just being in my body. That I would say is due to tensions of how I live and not fully accepting myself. It’s a wonderful scientific process we can choose to explore, or we can choose to keep reaching for those distractions.
Taking this further to those who are athletes and who constantly push their bodies for the glory of being ‘the best’ or ‘the winner’, it’s interesting to ponder on the effects of living in this way on the body. I saw a program recently where they interviewed a number of ex-high level athletes and sports people and where and how they are now a number of years later. Most if not all have chronic long standing injuries, some have mental ill health (with some even suiciding) and others struggle to find purpose in their life and struggling with going from hero status to no attention at all. But we still think that this is something to aspire to. But this was highlighting the truth of pushing our bodies in this way, what happens and the consequences to our lives. Being fit is absolutely important, but is it not being fit for our whole life rather than performing extraordinary feats with our bodies that serve no purpose for the rest of our lives?
It is interesting that the kind of abuse perpetrated here not only by the person participating in over-riding what is going on in their body, but the abuse coming through the music and every other movement is profound. To suggest that the moments of distraction where a person has drifted of in his/her thoughts while walking on the tread mill ‘revisiting conversations the day before or constructing arguments for an impending project or organising the day’ is abusive and not honouring our true connection to who we truly are – would be cut down. There is so much in this Matts – Thanks for sharing.
I agree Matts. Is it any wonder we are all so desperate for ‘time off’ from life because we’re so busy every day keeping up with all the stimulation bombarding us from every single angle. Massive billboards looking down on us to consume things that will make us better people, music to make us feel something (or rather feel the singer’s emotional turmoil), TV, ads etc further suggesting we’re not quite right, social media giving us glimpses into the lives of those who’ve got it all (but is that even real?), the list goes on and on. And the gym, well, it’s the new playground for distraction. It makes no sense to me at all. How far do we want to keep running from ourselves?
We know exactly where to go and what to do to avoid listening to the body. If we did listen we would have to change the way we moved, breathed, ate and slept. How many wish to do this? This is a great example of how most are happy to keep the distraction coming at us, to not feel the stillness that resides within. To feel the stillness is to walk responsibly.
Yes, Matts. It makes me cringe to recall how in the past I forced my body to exercise in absolute disconnection, and put strain on it in so many ways. Thanks to beautiful modalities such as Esoteric Yoga those days are a thing of the past, and I am developing an ever-deepening relationship with my body that is respectful and loving.
Spot on Janet Esoteric Yoga is so simple and a game changer as far as the way I exercise.
You are right Matts, we seem to exercise to get the body healthy, or looking good, but strangely we do that without wanting to focus on the body when we are doing it. Its like we are painting a wall, but we don’t want to see the wall we are painting. Insane really.
Great blog – so true and what you describe is not only going on in the gym but everywhere including in shops, in doctors surgeries, airports and waiting rooms that all have blaring TVs these days. Also of course when we eat as many do in front of the TV or with loud sounds so once again we are distracted from connecting to our body and what would nourish it.
We have been sold such a lie by the fitness and health industry about how to ‘get fit’ and have a ‘healthy lifestyle’.
I walk daily and pass many people pushing themselves to get fit, many with their little white earphones in their ears. I know this fitness well as I did it for many many years. It never really worked for me – I lost some weight, I gained some weight, I gained some fitness, then I lost some fitness. It was only when I started to look at how I was ‘driving my car’ and realised I was absent most of the days! that I started to be more present with my body and listen to what it had to say (and btw – it says a lot if we are prepared to listen).
I love what you share about the science of our own bodies….when we ‘check out to exercise’, we also check out from the innate wisdom and science of our own bodies, which knows exactly how much to exercise, when and what to do. And that varies depending on each person and their own cycle.
Thank you for taking the time to write this article and to share your authority and wisdom on the subject.
And thank you for this comment, Sarah, expanding on the reverence we can have for our bodies when we acknowledge them to be the fine tuned science that they are.
It is great you have opened up a conversation that is essential for our well-being. Our bodies don’t request the pressure we put them through under the culture of acceptable harsh treatments disguised as ‘good/healthy exercise’. The information on sports injuries backs this up.
The attitude of exercising is very much reduced to being mechanical, functional, physiological in the sense that simply because you move the body it is automatically activated to perform on many levels like increasing heart rate, blood circulation, muscle activity etc. We simply can do it on autopilot without too much awareness or presence and the body can´t but respond. So it works to a certain point, but it shows the relationship we have with the body, the same carelessness, disregard, function-for-me attitude… and not a caring, loving and nurturing embracement of the body as our precious vehicle to live and express.
It is an interesting phenomena that you have highlighted at the gym – so much distraction away from the body. In the summer time I went to the local pool early in the mornings and there is also a gym at the pool. At 5.30am the common talk was about not wanting to be at the gym and generally people were complaining they were there. For some reason this was not the case with the pool but was with the gym. It seems that people are forcing themselves to get to the gym and then when they are there, because they don’t want to be there they distract themselves away from what they are actually doing. It highlights a much bigger problem with how we are living.
We actually have to work very very hard to remain so stimulated and disconnected from our bodies. And yet the mind is being fed to believe that being present and in our bodies is where the hard work is.
Often these distractions are needed in the gym to take your mind off the fact your body is not enjoying being pushed way past its natural limits. Then not only are we ignoring our bodies messages but we are also spending a solid amount if time actively using the body – driving the car so to speak – but with no one present in the drivers seat
Being able to stay focused and not let the distractions and the comparisson take you out when your at the gym is super challenging. I have noticed that I have to be super aware of what is going on and not let this affect me and then I can stay present and feel what it is my body is communicating. Each day it is slightly different so the key is not to go into a default mode but to take the time to see what the body is communicating.
Many comments here talk about how we are filling our bodies with steroids, driving our bodies to look a certain way, pursuing an ideal, an image….which, since the analogy of this blog can go both ways…is the same as us pimping our rides. It all stems from the same root. A desperate desire for identification and recognition, a desperate attempt to give our lives meaning.
And then there are all the Apps that are coming out now. Measuring heart rates, numbers of steps taken, sleep patterns, BMI and all sorts of other things. If we listened to our bodies we wouldn’t need any of this technology. We already have everything that we need.
Yes, I agree Otto. Could many of these new fads just be distractions away from feeling our bodies and where we are at?
An interesting blog Matts – I will confess that in my time as a gym junkie, I would relish the TV shows and music because it means I did not concentrate on my body and the exercise but rather all the exterior stimulation. I was never with my body when I exercised because I did not want to feel the pain I was in whilst exercising. So the distractions were a welcome way to feel nothing. Crazy isn’t it! What a difference it made when I started to actually ask my body what the most supportive exercise was rather than my head!
Like you Matts I am beginning to appreciate my body more and more. The deeper I go the more my body responds and I am now realising that what my body has been patiently waiting for is for me to feel that within there is all the wisdom and tenderness waiting to unfold and Slet go of all the protection and let out the love.
What you say is so true Matts and we only need to look at the health statistics or even amongst ourselves to see that we are certainly crashing and crushing our bodies and driving them off the road.
It is so true we can engage in exercise present with our bodies or we can distract and disconnect with music or tv or even ruminating in our heads about our day past or future. All the time we are not in the moment and in union with the body and that energy of disconnection just get magnified.
When I used to go to the gym regularly I always used to feel disturbed by the TV screens and the music. I have never been able to exercise without paying attention to my body and what I am doing. It just feels wrong to stare into space or focus on a music video. In reality the distraction of a TV screen highlight the distraction that can also happen in our own heads. We can keep ourselves distracted even without a TV. The TV is just more obvious.
Love the analogy with a car Matts and I can feel how checked out I have been in the past when I have been at the gym. It was only when a friend’s son pointed out that it was not healthy (given my age) for my heart rate to go up so much when I was using a particular machine that I paid attention but instead of changing the way I exercised I stopped going to the gym! Several years later and I am still finding ways to deepen my connection to my body and listen to what would support it.
‘Are we deliberately checking out while we are ‘driving’ our body and where does that leave it?’ This is something we consider so normal and don’t even give it a second thought. It is great that you have brought our attention to it.
I realise now that I actually lived for many years disconnected from my body most of the time, ignoring the messages it was giving me. Yes although I chose to not listen to it my body didn’t let me get away with it for too long bringing me to a stop many times with illness, disease and sometimes an injury. And I wasn’t the only one doing so as all around me people were living in the same self destructive way – it was considered normal to live in disregard of our bodies. But our bodies are precious and they break in many ways but choosing to connect to them and move in union has, I have found, the potential to increase our quality of life and increase our well-being; finally, this is how I am choosing to live and I’m loving it.
An interesting point to consider Matts; gyms are meant to be the one place where we ARE present with our body and focussed on it, but even this is changing with the introduction of distractions, TV, music etc., making it so much easier to use the gym as an opportunity to escape away from things.
Great article Matts, you raise some really important points; ‘What happens is that we are not fully attentive to what our body is communicating to us, and in that state, it’s easy to push beyond how the body would otherwise perform the exercise.’ I had not considered how these outside influences such as T.V and music could distract us and take us away from being present in our bodies, but this makes absolute sense. I notice that if I am in a shop and there is loud music playing that it speeds me up, I feel distracted and find that it can take me away from being present in my body, so I can very much relate to what you are sharing.
The fact that our bodies perform beautifully when given the space to do so and don’t require any form of pushing beyond what is needed, is a gift that we often take for granted and override. It is so common to allow abuse through lack of awareness and presence and usually at great cost when the body then chooses to remind us loudly through some kind of injury or illness.
Taking the car/body analogy further there is so much more to be exposed. Do we put rubbish fuel in our car, poison, toxins, substances that we know it will not work on – No, of course not, we put the fuel in that we know serves it best to work best. Do we take our bodies for annual check-ups? No, but most of us regularly service our cars. Do we save money to take care of our bodies, to treat them well, to nurture them. No, but many of us save money to buy a new car. It’s really crazy when you look at it closely. Ultimately it comes down to this. Our car breaks down or we smash it completely – a hassle, a financial hit, but not a disaster. Our body breaks down or we smash it completely…..which is more serious??
Very true Otto we often spend more time, energy and money looking after our cars then we do our bodies.
When distracted I find I overpush my body in many ways from over exercising, over eating or spending too much time on a certain task and feeling drained. There’s a part of us that doesn’t want to be obedient to the body and so we have so many ways of life that put it’s intelligence down, belittle or flat out attack the body and it’s communications. This blog is great as a reminder that following the body and adhering to it’s messages and feelings is not the stance of weakness but actually the road to true strength.
This blog exposes how we can think we are doing one thing yet we are in fact doing exactly the opposite. In this case ‘caring for our bodies’. Many who go to the gym would be very shocked by or resistant to consider hearing what you have said here. And that is how deep we are burying our truth.
Interesting observation you make here Matts and one I have often wondered myself. I think part of the problem stems from the fact that most people if they are honest do not enjoy going to the gym. They see it as some kind of chore they have to do to avoid a health consequence. So the theory goes that if you do not enjoy exercise then you need something to ‘take your mind off’ what it is you are doing. I agree that this feels not right on many levels. Firstly if we really understood the true purpose of exercise as you have proposed here then we would naturally enjoy it a lot more and secondly we would not want to escape but would be wanting to be as present as possible and hence the gym environment would look and feel very different.
I had spent a few years in the gym. The first time when it was that new start time to get fit. The music tracks you put on your phone that had the right beat to see how abusive I could get with my body. The workout became a drug abusing my body by pushing it. I changed jobs and my available gym time was no longer fitting in my life. A few years later I returned to the gym with a different mindset in that I was listening to my body, not the external noise. I only did what felt right for the day. My new workout allowed me to observe other people and the drive they were chasing. Now, I have my gentle morning exercises I do every day, and I walk at work, 5 to 10k most days just as part of the job. I know which workout I prefer!
Fifteen years ago I was a regular attendee at my local gym. I was overweight and regular exercise was part of my self-care regime. One morning when I was on the exercise bike, my heart registered at 166 beats per minute. I assumed the machine was broken. It was not – that was the first sign I ever noticed that my heart was unwell. It was actually the start of Atrial Fibrillation, and I’d probably already had it a while but had ignored my body’s signals. I never recovered from it and although my heart rate is much lower now, the beats are still irregular. Eventually I may have to have a pacemaker fitted, but I am taking more care of myself now, so that is not necessary just yet.
Yes Matts, I find the music and TV screens in the gym very distracting. The music is also very loud and I have asked on several occasions for it to be turned down. It makes sense that if we are exercising the body, we should be paying attention to it so that we can listen to its signals.
“Fact is that our body is super tender and is not made to be roughed up and pushed beyond boundaries, even though we think we have to ‘push through’ to make it perform.” So very true Matts Josefsson and when we truly appreciate this tenderness and honour it to the max with the correct exercise, foods, presence and love, it works with a silky smoothness and vitality that is astonishing. Pumping iron to the beat is not the exercise of the future. A consistently steady and flowing walk, with no other aids than perhaps your pet dog has to be the most foundational and deeply supportive exercise we can ever give our selves and our bodies love it!
We are not taught to be present in our bodies so we have no real idea of what this means so it becomes easy to be distracted and allow our bodies to become just functioning tools. When we really stop and connect to the body it becomes almost impossible to push our bodies because we can feel the harm it is doing to us.
Someone I know introduced me to a women’s gym franchise. Each gym small, intimate, exercise machines configured in an inwardly facing circuit, women see each other as they work out. The feeling you have on entering is simplicity, care and stillness. There is no music playing, it is a quiet social space, attended mainly by older women. A gentle workout space, it offers an alternative. to mass produced, lange impersonal gyms. It shows it is possible to design workout spaces that consider the needs of the human beings who use them, are welcoming and support us to stay connected with our bodies.
What you write here, Matts, applies not just in the gym but in everything we do and wherever we are.
We need to exercise awareness of our body when we are exercising.
There is a gym at the end of my road which is a heavy duty muscle gym and it seems the music pumps as much as these guys pump the weights. It also seems that this is their social past time as well and it is what they do on a Friday night as well as every other night and the guys standing outside are huge. I’m not sure if you get to be that big without the use of steroids either, which by all accounts are rumoured to be freely available in these type of scenes. The way we relate to our bodies is truly a science and at this stage there seem to be many versions of that science but the one true one will come through in the end when our bodies just say no more to the rest.
It is a great question just why is there so many distractions at the gym. The fact is if anything feels really great through and through, the experience would be so amazing itself that no extra stimulation would be required.
I know this because when I used to do aerobics and other fast paced or strenuous exercises I could not imagine being able to do them without a specific pacey type of music. But interesting since I have become a lot more tender and attentive with taking care of my body, not only do I have no desire to push my body beyond what feels right in the moment, but if I do any exercise I do not want anything to distract me from the amazingness of how my body feels as I engage with the movements.
So when we seem to need music and distraction, what is that saying about how we are living?
Indeed we tend to toughen up our body and to push it to its limits as our normal way of being and to be honest we then need all those distractions to not feel what we actually are doing. Our bodies are immensely tender and actually do not need to be hard and toughened up as this is actually hurting and not supportive to te body but only satisfies the mind of achieving its goals.
It is easy to override the body when the mind is engaged elsewhere or running on the over stimulation of the nervous system… the body then has to play catch up. It feels so counter productive to run a marathon, which is considered a healthy activity and then be left exhausted afterward.
Love the analogy Matts between driving a car and how much we are and have to be present and aware to avoid any accident… and how it is interesting to note that so many of us are not with this same quality when we do a simple gym work out, and even with the gyms themselves creating spaces and places of distraction to sustain this quality. You can take it further and observe this with people and how many of us really don’t listen to the other person.. and of course to ourselves either because we don’t like ‘the sound of what’s playing’.. and invariably use another ‘sound’ as a muffle.
Great blog Matts, there are so many distractions in life that can easily take us away from feeling and connecting with our bodies and yet it is a wise teacher that deserves our full attention. I have also found,”the more aware I become of how much more present and in tune with my body I can actually be, like there’s no real end, just a continual deepening.”
Everything at my gym is there to help me have a super healthy body or at least that’s what the sales materials say. From sauna to stretching everything is in place that I could possibly need. But what I have noticed just like you Matts is the intensity of the way people move, the music that is played and the attitude that is displayed is all about bombarding and overloading the body. It feels like this is such a clear reflection of the approach we generally take to our being and life – like it’s an obstacle course to be smashed through. As you beautifully say, nothing could be further from the truth. Let’s honour our body as the magnificent guide and teacher it is and not treat it as a punching bag.
Great observation, Matts. Perhaps we need to qualify what ‘fitness’ means and what ‘healthy body’ looks and feels like. Pushing our body to extreme and beyond gives us an adrenaline rush and many refer to this experience as ‘feeling good’ but is it? Could it be possible many are exercising in order to distract themselves from the reality and disconnect and our gyms are just offering what we are asking for? Loud music and big TV screens – just perfect, right? If we are to choose to truly connect with our body and honour what it communicates, it would change the way we exercise and it would call for a different environment.
Without distraction we would not get away with what we are currently getting away with in how we are treating our bodies. In saying that, we never actually get away with anything as the body keeps very accurate and detailed records of our choices – every single choice is having an effect.
hear hear Rachael – well said!
True Rachael, we don’t get away with anything. I was listening to a group of athletes yesterday who encouraged each other to zone out and not feel their body when running, and if they could do that, they could go faster and longer without needing to stop… and that was the ultimate success. No judgement, it was an eye opener because I fully agreed with that way of thinking in the past too. I feel another reason we don’t want to feel our body is because there would be many activities we would then not choose to do, which potentially means loosing an identity, being part of the group, being criticized or loosing friends.
I agree Matts, gyms are full of distraction – and worse, images that do little to enhance our relationships with our bodies. From the branding and advertising on the walls, to the hideous music videos on an endless loop, we are subjected to countless ideals and beliefs designed to further separate us from ourselves.
Yes it sometimes feels like gym’s are nightclubs- you walk in and it is all about dim lighting and music. And it is like the whole place is about entertainment and distraction and not the movement of the body.
Part of the illusion we live within is that we have a habit of viewing life through a screen of images that prevent us from focussing on the task at hand – to be consciously present in what we do, both mind and body in synergy with each other. And you are spot on with what you present Matts – we do this to not connect too deeply to our physical form, for the moment we do we are suddenly aware of all that is being communicated through it to help us evolve back to Soul – the great love that we are but often ignore.
The intention we go with to the gym or to exercise, is then very obvious in how we go about exercising our body. Go to relieve ourselves from feeling stressed, to change ourselves because we believe how we look is not good enough or to check out from all our problems… the activity we choose will guarantee the end result.
Same hear Matts, all forms of sugars have gone out the car window and when my exercise is done with me being present my vitality is so much more.
I used to use exercise as numbing out my problems even more- a friend described my walks and runs as exercising my demons. I used to love being so exhausted that I could collapse and feel good about myself having earned that rest! but my body was racy and exhausted and I was definitely compulsive about exercise – when I didn’t get my fix I would get very irritated.
Now I’m tuning into my body, feeling my feet on the ground as I walk, really being with me, exercise is lovely. It’s gentle and honouring of me. There’s no craziness to it but a restoring of harmony.
When I am deeply connected to my body, all becomes silent and still inside. There is no music. TV show etc that can come anywhere near to what I feel. It is only when I leave my connection that the temptation of fillers occurs. I recall the first few times I went to my gym and was stunned by the sensory blast from every direction. I was also stunned to see people reading on bikes or texting etc. Although the physical body may be moving and being exercised, they are really missing out on how wonderful our bodies feel when we move with presence, respect and care for them.
This is brilliant – thank you Matts. Bringing awareness to what we are focusing on is what brings an understanding to as to the nature of the relationship we have with our bodies, how we are treating and moving our bodies, and as such the quality of connection and presence we live our lives with. All of which can be heightened through our choosing to connect to our bodies, and listening to the wisdom it constantly imparts.
“the more present and in tune with my body I get, the more aware I become of how much more present and in tune with my body I can actually be, like there’s no real end, just a continual deepening.” I can attest to this too Matts. It’s a beautiful relationship that just becomes richer every day.
Great point Matts, how can it be beneficial to workout to beat of another’s drum so to speak. And that is exactly what we are doing if we are not working out in rhythm with our own body and our breath; we are rejecting the relationship with our own body in favour of a distraction and moving in accordance to its rhythm. With distraction we do not have to feel or take any responsibility. I have so many people come into the health food shop I work in with injuries from working out at the gym. They act like it is just what happens. I think it is crazy that they would invest all that money and time into something that seriously damages their body all in the ideal of ‘getting fit’! They actually compare injuries with each other.
“I’m wondering why there are so many distractions at the gym? Is it deliberate, and if so, why?
I imagine that some would say that it helps them having something to focus on and that it makes the workout easier – that is, having music playing and a TV show to watch. But in what state does that leave our precious body? If the body would have a say, I reckon it would probably also be wanting to join the show. Not the show on the television in this case, but wanting to be present in and with the workout.” This has always baffled me also. It’s like we disregard our bodies so much that we do everything we can to over-ride and distract ourselves from listening to our bodies so we don’t have to observe the truth of what they are actually saying to us in the gym. If we treated it more like a friend that we have brought along to the gym to share some exercise time together it may become a vastly different experience. One of connection, confirmation and loving consideration and care.
What I have noticed when exercising to music is I go to the rhythm of the music and totally lose my own. I get fully distracted by the words and the tune so I don’t feel a thing and in that, I miss the magical moment of connecting to my body in movement and knowing what it needs on that day.
The purpose of exercise for many isn’t what you’ve expressed…to be healthy, alert and present in the body. It is more about achieving a certain look or ability in fitness which is gruelling for the body. There is a joy to be felt when moving our bodies in a way that nurtures and strengthens but where is the joy in pushing the body hard to do x repetitions when it is saying ‘enough’ or is moving in a harsh, jarring way.
Matts I also wanted to mention about the driving…I love how you used the analogy that if we don’t pay attention to the driving and don’t watch the road, then it is pretty obvious that we will have an accident, and similarly in the gym if we tune out of what the body is saying, then we can do great damage to ourselves, however subtle it may seem to begin with – I love the simplicity of this analogy. However, I do also find that even with driving I can ‘check out’ – I can go into ‘auto-pilot’ – I can still drive and pay attention to the road, but all this time my mind can be elsewhere, I can be thinking all kinds of thoughts or having conversations in my head all by myself, or be listening and singing along to music and yet arrive seemingly ‘safe’ at my destination. Here is the distinction – I arrive ‘seemingly safe’, in other words I appear to be physically unscathed and so it is easy to say ‘all is fine’, but having ‘checked out’ in my mind and not been fully present with myself whilst driving, in some way is no different to being in the gym with all the screen and music distractions and hence tuning out of the body. When I arrive at my destination, having driven in auto-pilot, it feels like I have left a part of me behind – I actually feel incomplete and I find it that much harder to focus on what needs to be done next and how I can go about it with a quality in my movements. So the analogy of the car and the gym works to a point, but in my case and example, I would put both activities in the same situation, in which case we can also learn deeply two fold from your blog about the importance of being present and connecting to the body no matter what we do and where we are… And Matts, I could not help but notice that you are a student of Behavioural Sciences – this is such a blessing for us all – for we need people like you to bring to our attention to those behaviours that we can do or indulge in, for there is much power in taking ownership of our body and claiming it back.
It is a great question you pose, Matts, as to why we do not want to listen and pay attention to our bodies. For me it has been too confronting to feel the choices I have made and the disregard with which I have pushed my body over the years. It has taken a health condition for me to stop and address the reasons why I have not treated myself with absolute loving care.
You’re absolutely right Matts – the pounding so many (and this was also me some time back) give their bodies at the gym is an assault. Hence the music and TV distraction – distraction it is, to keep driving, to keep going too hard in the quest for an insatiable goal, but deeper than that to reach a point of numbness that can be sustained for that bit longer.
In a world void of truth, as is our world today, we bastardise and twist the truth that is right there before us. Exercise ought to be and can be a precious blessing for the body; to move it in sync and in harmony with itself to allow the circulation to flow and the connective tissues to come alive. But society has made exercise into hard thrust and push, pumped in and up with intense music and entertainment, and stimulating drinks to boot.
And in this, the truth – the truth of who we are and what we hold within our bodies, is lost.
“It [the body] will perform if we give it the proper space to do so, but that might look a bit different from the image we currently hold of how the workout is to look like.” – love the simplicity that you present here in this blog Matts. And I agree, it is so much about letting go of all kinds of ideals and beliefs about how our body should perform, should look, how we should exercise etc etc. It is for each of us to tune into our body and build a relationship where we listen and heed the signals of the body. It begins with putting on a sweater if we feel a chill, drinking water if we are thirsty, moving and exercising in a way that is honouring of our tenderness within, our delicate nature, and yet strengthening just the right amount to keep ourselves steady and strong in our movements and caring for the physical body no differently to the foods we eat and the drinks we drink!
When you are in a momentum where going to the gym is a relief of tension from the day then you like all the distractions as it is in the same momentum so you don’t have to feel what is going on- I have done this where life wasn’t full so I’d go to the gym for relief from this tension and push my body so all the distractions around encouraged me to go harder with this.
There are also many people who do choose to use the gym as a support for the body not as relief of the tensions and they often don’t like the full on music or video clips. I go to a women’s gym and sometimes people come in and turn all of the tavs and music off. When this happens there is much more connections that happen between people in the gym too.
I have felt that being distracted while working out makes the body check out and the benefit of exercise in my experience has been much reduced in terms of the energy levels I have afterwards.
I know what you mean about being present reducing the craving for sweet things. I find that when I am more present with my body my presence is enough and provides me with the energy I need without needing to seek it from food. As soon as I am absent I start craving energy from elsewhere.
Brilliant blog Matts on the nature of true care and exercise that supports the body rather than desensitising it through exercising with many distractions that are available in many gyms. Being present with our body is the only way we do not cause it harm.
“it’s well worth looking after ourselves and our bodies and pushing ourselves, as we do right now, with a lot of help from the entertainment squad at the gym, is not helping our bodies to get truly healthy – quite the opposite. Hard facts but it needs to be said”.
First and foremost – what a brilliant and very illustrative analogy you have drawn. Spot on. And as a man who has had way too many speeding tickets and definitely doesn’t listen to his body enough, I can 100% attest to the pin-point accuracy of your comparison. Our bodies are amazing machines and tolerate huge abuse from the way we live, walk, eat, drink, sleep, express, exercise etc…but, as you so rightly say, at what cost. Three points on my license is a very visible and palpable warning – but what effect is similar disregard and distraction having on my body?
Great question Otto, what if we did give attention to the demerit points that add up in our bodies when we over ride and abuse them? I cant help but feel we would do everything in a very different quality, perhaps in much more present, care-filled and loving ways.
The distraction is about distracting ourselves from finishing when the body says to finish. If the distractions do their job then a person is going to be able to ‘push through the pain’ and get a step closer to the image that is held in a person’s head about how one should look. The harder a person pushes at the gym the further they separate from what they are truly seeking and that is connection to self.
I love the photo accompanying this blog and the lightness of touch that is being conveyed. Going to the gym and working out does not have to be hard and we don’t have to push ourselves, Too often we start something with tension in our bodies and then that tension is inherent in all our movements until we choose to change. If we start our workout in tension then that tension is magnified in our bodies as we go on.
To come to the gym in a relaxed and settled mode and/or to spend time before engaging with a machine bringing our awareness to our bodies and consciously letting go of tension is a great start. Any time we find ourselves gripping or going hard is a little nudge for us to get back on track and feel the difference that being kind to ourselves and our bodies and feeling from the inside out makes.
When I exercise in connection to my body it feels so yummy I wouldn’t want to waste a moment being distracted by loud music and flashing screens at the gym.
I have a feeling that many of us choose to exercise to further our disconnection – a difficult day at work, an argument with a loved one or money worries might all lead someone to choose to exercise in disregard to their body because they want to numb themselves from the emotional pain they feel and get relief by pushing themselves physically. I certainly did this in my old running days but it never worked long term. Sure I got short term relief and the endorphin release temporarily made me feel good, but exercising in this way never solved the issue. Choosing to exercise in connection to my body is so much more fun and I can appreciate my body and how it moves to support me. When I exercise in this way I never want to push hard, numb or distract myself.
I used to exercise at the gym and used music to get through the time faster. Since learning how disconnecting from the body isn’t what it wants at all, I now enjoy staying with me – with my body- as I walk and exercise. Listening to and honouring my body makes so much more sense. We have to live this life in the body we were born with; why spend so much time trying to escape from it?
Its official … autopilot serves no one! With what you shared here it made me wonder, it is too terrifying or is it that we don’t want to rock our comfort boat? .. ‘that if we were to get more connected with our bodies, we would feel a lot more of what is truly going on, both in our bodies, but also in our lives and that is often too terrifying’ It is true though being present with the body and what it is doing is very healing. The other day loads of sadness came up for me and a friend suggested I ‘walk it out’ I did and was present with my walk and not going into the sadness .. it worked the sadness shifted and I/my body felt a lot clearer ✨
The only way we can push the body to the extremes we do at the gym is by overriding the natural sensors that tell us what we can physically cope with.
You are a beautiful man Matts. I see gym “junkies” all the time when I go to the gym and wonder when I see them whether how they are going about their exercise would even be possible if they were truly with their bodies as it would seem the whole goal of most exercise is to push push push and push so more beyond the limits our body presents to us.
Many gyms have bee designed to push and promote a way of being. Every angle in the room promotes the selling of a product or slogan that encourages the ‘get fit’ better your life’ motto’s and always asks as to seek more then what is truly needed.
Very true Josh. I can see Matts as being a beautiful reflection for other men and women at the gym of how to be with respecting the body.
Yes you need to shut down pretty hard to be able to do many of the exercises we see at the gym and another point is the amount of weights we put on. I was at the gym the other day and I used a machine after a quite tiny woman and I had to decrease the amount of weights because it was too much for me. So women are also joining the bandwagon that men have been bumping around in for aeons.
That is a massive point Matts, and it poses challenges for both men and women, women seem to be trying to compete with men in strength and men who are willing to listen to their bodies have the challenge of the accepted version of masculinity, which is a strong pull to front up and not be seen to be weak, lifting big weights and overloading their bodies with strain. A situation requiring real strength by way of men willing to be tender and not compete in this way, a strength more courageous than any weight you can manage to physically lift.
Thank you Matts for being real, raw and honest about such clear signals we are getting when we simply open our eyes and observe what is happening around us, often that what is happening around us relates to us very much so.. Even though we have put our focus in outer significances we all can feel that we are constantly distracting ourselves. We seem to feel more comfortable away from feeling and into motions and actions the nicest possible than being with ourselves. This is a fact – everyone can see, when truly observing reality. Yet there is something now needed by us all to change – that is getting honest and truly healthy about life and getting under the skin of our woes and pains.
Thank you for pointing this out Matts and ‘sticking your neck out’ as it is a great point you make. If we need entertainment and distraction from feeling our body to be able to do the workout for our bodies and to keep it healthy and fit, what does that say about the way we are exercising? It is for our body so it makes sense to be with our body when we exercise, otherwise it could be we are working out towards a picture (or a couple of them) like looking strong, muscular, meeting our fitness goals, being seen as going to the gym, wanting to loose weight fast and so on.
Working out with the body is very beautiful to do and as you say it might not meet the pictures but it meets the true needs of our bodies.
When we actually stop, question and pull apart certain beliefs and ideals from the health consciousness – they absolutely do not make sense and contradict each other, as well as many offering little true support for the body.
Agree Lieke and what will happen in the future when we fuel our bodies with fuel that is not discerned enough? Me referring to the music and the distraction we keep fuelling the body with.
I will stick to being as present as I can with myself because I know it feels way better in my body and it also makes me not want to crave too many sweet things, because I get energised just by being present with the way that I move around in my body, which is actually a science in itself. Absolutely Matts, when we stay with our bodies, one, it feels amazing, and two, it’s the best way to know what is next and also empowers you to make true choices.
It is lovely to read and feel the opposite of pushing the limits of our body is to listen and deepen. This is the same for all our movements not just exercise, the more I am present with my movements the more I deepen in that connection with my essence.
I love and observe this too Jenny- “…the more I am present with my movements the more I deepen in that connection with my essence.” And how awesome does that feel when we are truly connected and consciously present in our day – such a different feeling in the body, and gorgeous when we can hold it for longer and longer periods.
With this lately I have also been experiencing a joy, an enjoyment of myself and my movements as I make them. Very lovely to feel and a big appreciation.
Absolutely. Every moment, every movement is an opportunity for deepening, surrendering and expansion.
It is becoming more and more common in our society to disconnect from our bodies by choosing distractions such as TV, music, internet, games etc. I have been discussing this phenomena with several people and most of them say that they get anxious if they find themselves in a situation of silence and that they need the noise to feel that they have ‘company’. How can we feel our own body and honour what is needed to maintain a healthy body, if we are constantly distracted from it?
Eva, I’ve experienced the same myself. One person in their eighties is clearly anxious without the noise of radio, TV or music. How have we come to this: where internal space and silence is seen as the enemy, not ally. At the same time if we look closer and within ourselves we often do the same: clutter our heads with distractions rather than allow space to be with us as we move.
Well said Kehinde – I am constantly amazed at how people can work or exercise in environments that are playing loud music and it is considered there is something ‘odd’ about people who find this invasive.
“How have we come to this: where internal space and silence is seen as the enemy, not ally”.
Eva, this is so true, and I am a bit annoyed with myself today, as I gave in to my feelings about music in a class and allowed some background noise to leave someone feeling more comfortable. Yet there is something magical in the silence of exercise and movement. It leaves you with a very intimate and supportive time getting to know how your body feels as it works out. It is undeniably good for us to have time with no distractions, and I can think of no better time to have this than during physical activity.
When you are at the gym it’s quite interesting to look at what is making bodies move. Is it us that is moving our bodies or is it the beat from the music making the body move? If it is then it better be VERY good quality music, otherwise it’s like pouring old worn out of no-use-anymore oil into the machinery.
Very true. Society is becoming more and more uncomfortable Ruth, just stopping with feeling their body and just allowing themselves to be.
I dont use public transport much but the other day when I got on a train in London and everyone was engrossed in their phone and had no idea of the people around them (or that is what it felt like). It wasn’t great to feel.
” It will perform if we give it the proper space to do so, but that might look a bit different from the image we currently hold of how the workout is to look like.”
This I now know to be an absolute truth, I recently had a couple of experiences where I had to use my body to lift and carry heavy awkward items, and when doing this present, steady and focused my body was very able to do what I was asking of it.
It has been a huge revelation to me to understand that i actually don’t have to punish my body to make it healthy. I did classical ballet for years and years and found I pushed my body super hard during this time, and hated it for its limitations and what i perceived as failings. I never even considered being gentle with myself.
I am so glad I have had a chance to unlearn so much of these previously unchallenged ways of treating my body, I am so glad i can now give myself tenderness and know that is actually more healthy than 60 sit ups or endless gruelling exercise routines.
Great point Felicity, in pushing hard it amplifies the feelings of failure, as we are constantly striving and measuring against others. When I used to compete I would have a very high level of fitness but think nothing of it as there was always anther level up. It is great to come to an understanding and appreciation the movement of the body is for health and wellbeing, and there is no-one to compete against, the only measure being a settled feeling in the body.
Wow you bring an amazing point here, the mentality that the body needs to be pushed to its limits and punished if they are not good enough, despite the fact that the body does so much so seamlessly all day, everyday without fail. Much like a plant lives and flourishes much better if you water it and give it love than it does if you water it and shout abuse, so too does the body give back so much more when your truly nurture it.
The more we feel, the more we feel – it just keeps on going if we are willing and it is the same with awareness, as you point out. Gyms and the ubiquitous ‘entertainment squad’ are a perfect example of how we avoid what we’ve come there to do, i.e. to look after and care for our body.
Some day, some day Gabriele will there be a true version of a gym. Do I have to be the one that brings it to Sweden perhaps?