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
548 Comments
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.
Great that you mention this. It is the first time that I read something about this topic. About being in the gym, what is the quality in which we do this activity? Matts describes so well and shows how far we drifted away from the relationship with our body. And how we fool ourselves to think we are doing healthy sport even we move in an ill quality which the movements are if we are not present with it. Then the body just needs to move as we commend without any love in the movement itself.
And that is what I became so aware of during the workshops with Serge Benhayon. There is always in every second this choice to move in love or not.
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.
It is almost like the distraction of the TV will dull the awareness of the person not liking the exercise he or she is doing, and the time flies by when we focus on something different. But the body gives us messages and when we are not listening, it is easy to over exercise when we are in disconnection, and then ache because we have pushed so hard. Like you Matts, my feeling is to move and exercise in connection with the body .
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 ✨
This blog links to the previous blog ‘The Name of the Game is Distraction’. As if we are not choosing to simply be focused on the activity we are engaged in – then we are multi tasking and we are distracted. I used to go to the gym decades ago and found it dull, boring, repetitive and hard work – so to push myself to do regular gym sessions I’d use loud music in my ears to excite me, to ra ra me up to a pace where I was excited, and not in touch with my body. I’d feel glad I achieved another gym session on the way home, but most often by the time I got up the next morning I’d feel tired, and my body would ache.
Nowadays I love simply walking or swimming and focusing on what I am doing rather than pushing or rara-ing myself to ‘perform’. That way if my body on one particular day feels to do less walking I can stop, complete the walk and return home without having pushed, and in that I don’t feel tired, or achy, I simply feel that the walking is complete. I’ve never felt bored, or that walking or swimming was hard work since I started to focus on what I was doing as I love being with my body, and I also love observing life around me e.g. as I am walking which I used to miss when I had my headphones in and I was listening to loud music.
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?