Moving Meditation : Sprinting into Stillness

The human brain is amazing. That gray blob of matter inside our skulls has the power to solve any problem, confront any misconception, and invent miraculous solutions. However, that same highly adaptive organ also has the power to create problems that do not exist, to cause suffering, worry, and skewed conceptions of reality. Inside each of us is the potential for both sides of this spectrum. In the same way that a basketball player learns correct form and then practices that technique over and over, cultivating lasting peace and happiness is simply a matter of understanding the techniques and diligently implementing them.

Our Thinking Problem

How many people do you know who need to be busy all the time? Who are constantly moving? Running from here to there, chasing this and that all day long?  The american public is suffering from a common disease: compulsive thinking. We have lost control of our minds, allowing them to wreck havoc on our physical and mental wellbeing. More importantly, we are unable to see the beauty and wonder that is all around us because we are trapped in thinking. However, most of us are unaware that we are even suffering from this condition. Doctors often fail to recognize the underlying cause of our unhappiness and instead mask and cover up our symptoms with drugs that do nothing more than alleviate the physical manifestations of a much deeper problem.

Our lack of internal confrontation has created a culture of highly stressed people who are addicted to thinking but are unaware that it is that addiction to thinking that is making them so unhappy.

Mainstream capitalist America has done its best to completely disregard the spiritual side of total health, portraying the idea that happiness as a nice house and six pack abs. That only once we get that new car or achieve that next level of success will we be happy. In short: we believe that happiness is beyond our control, that happiness is outside ourselves. In reality, this is a profit scheme engineered by people caught up in the same illusion, a way of fooling the public to buy more stuff. Deep down, all of us realize the incredulity and superficiality of this existence, but after seeing it in the media and our lives every day, we begin to believe it.

Breaking Free

In order to break free, we must first realize that our happiness is a direct reflection of our minds. That true happiness is internal. That true happiness does not fluctuate with the ups and downs of life but remains steady and centered in awareness.

How can I develop the kind of mental state that is not conditional to perfect life circumstances? Luckily, we have thousands of years of research and personal experimentation to guide us in the right direction. While faiths vary, as do their techniques, there is one common thread that is nearly universal when it comes to quieting and centering the mind: meditation.

Moving Meditation: Spirituality in Motion

I like to use the time I spend working out as an opportunity to deepen my awareness and quiet my mind. Whether I’m on a beautiful trail run, hiking, climbing trees, or even swimming... I practice a profound yet scarcely used form of meditation: moving meditation.

What is Moving Meditation?

First let me define what meditation is. Although definitions and perceptions of meditation vary, it is essentially this: The act of training, controlling, and quieting the mind through various techniques of diligent concentration and awareness. Of being aware of ones thoughts, but not getting caught up in the stories. Though there are hundreds of techniques varying from simply watching the breath to contemplating the meaning of a certain word or phrase, all of them come back to one very clear intention: freeing you from the shackles of the mind and cultivating increased presence.

Typically, when people think of meditation they think of a holy man sitting on a himalayan peak in a saffron robe levitating and shooting rays of light from his body(or is that just me). Anyways, meditation is typically linked to sitting still for long periods of time and certainly not sprinting through the woods, but a meditative state can be cultivated anywhere, at any moment, in any situation. Any activity can be used as an opportunity to cultivate lasting peace and happiness. Let me show you how...

How To Meditate Anywhere

Like all things truly powerful, the art of moving meditation is incredibly simple. Moving meditation in it’s purest is the act of directing your complete attention to whatever you are doing at the moment. It’s about showing up completely and being fully present to experience life as it evolves before your eyes.

This sounds very simple, but if your mind is untrained, developing this kind of presence will likely be very difficult in the beginning. We are compulsive thinkers, we associate our very being with the thoughts that spin erratically inside our heads. Our minds are accustomed to bounce from this to that all day long... Thinking, solving worrying.

Developing this kind of awareness will take time and patience, but it is possible. Here’s how to get started:

- Feel the Sensations

One of the most powerful portals into the present moment is directing your awareness to your physical body. As you move, become aware of your body and your surroundings as much as you can. Really feel your feet strike the ground and push off. Feel the air in your lungs and the sweat on your skin. Be aware of any scents, sights and sounds. Tune into your bodily sensations and become fully present in your body.

- Watch Your Breath

Another way of entering this state of awareness is through following the breath. If your mind starts to wander, simply direct it back to the breath.

In essence, moving meditation is simply the practice of cultivating presence in anything you are doing. Of being here to fully experience life in this moment.

I love Eckhart Tolle’s description of presence...

“Beyond the beauty of external forms, there is more here: something that cannot be named, something ineffable, some deep, inner, holy essence. Whenever and wherever there is beauty, this inner essence shines through somehow. It only reveals itself to you when you are present.” - Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now

The next time you are doing anything, even something as ordinary as walking down the street, make an effort to be completely present to experience it for what it is.

Life is incredibly beautiful. You’ll be surprised what you’ve missed.

Decide to better yourself, your relationships, and the planet by making a positive shift in your life today.

To your health and happiness,

Logan

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Killer 15 Minute Workouts

My breathing was labored as I sprinted across the rooftop. The hot Indian sun baked down, cooled only slightly by the breeze flowing off the water that rushed below me. I reached the end and dropped into a set of pushups, the red clay of the roof hot on my hands. Sweat soaked into my shirt, a monkey screeched in the street below. Popping up in inspiration, I took off crawling on all fours like a monkey, minus the screeching. Reaching the end, I took off running again, flying through the humid air.

My timer beeped, and I walked to the edge of the roof, my heart racing. As I looked down at the hundreds of people milling about below me, the cows plodding slowly along the rutted street, and the Ganges river rushing past, I laughed. Partly from the ridiculousness of my situation, partly from the sheer joy of it.

While living in an ashram in India, that was my daily workout routine. Without a lot of time between yoga and meditation sessions, and without space to move, I had to improvise. In my search, I stumbled across the rooftop of our building and although it was only maybe 40 meters long, I had to make it work. Through this experience I learned two very important things: How to exercise anywhere, and how to get in a killer workout when you only have 15 or 20 minutes.

Killer Fifteen Minute Workouts

Do you feel like you should be working out but just don’t have the time?

The truth is: You can still get a workout in, even if you only have fifteen minutes.

When I go to the gym (which is almost never) I’m surprised by the lack of intensity that people bring to their workouts. They’ll stand around, walk over to a machine, do a few reps, get a drink, stand around some more… And before you know it , they’ve wasted away an entire hour without really achieving anything.

The Power of Intensity

The key to a killer workout when you’re short on time is intensity. Often times, fifteen minutes of focused , high intensity cardio or weight training is more effective than an hour of dilly dallying. When’s the last time you’ve exercised hard? How long has it been since you went all out?

Now I know that probably sounds like hell to a lot of people, but its incredibly powerful. If you feel stuck in your workout routine, if you feel like you have reached a fitness plateau and aren’t make any progress, or if you just have ten or fifteen minutes to workout…you need to up the intensity.

Upping the Intensity

There are two key ways to increase the intensity of your workouts:

1. Increase effort. Go hard, Sprint instead of jog, push yourself.

2. Decrease the time between exercises.

By decreasing your recovery time, by working your muscles while they are tired, you increase the effectiveness of your workout all while decreasing the time you need to spend working out.

Sample Workouts

In typical Wild Movement fashion, all these workouts are completely body weight and require nothing more than your body and the desire to get fit.

Note: Both of these workouts are based on time. Warm up- then set a timer for 20, 15 or even 10 minutes and go hard until it sounds.

Remember: The key is high intensity. Both these workouts are simply intended to give you some ideas on places to start. If the intensity is high and you perform the exercises with good form… You can’t go wrong.

Workout #1: The Pyramids of Fitness

This workout is designed to be performed indoors, without a lot of space to move.

How to Perform This Workout

This epic test of manliness( or womanliness) consists of three “pyramids.” Pyramids are sets where you start at one rep, increase by ones to ten reps, and than decrease by ones back to one rep.

The three exercises are:

- Pushups

- Pull-ups

- Dips.

Start by doing one pull-up, then do one push-up, and then one dip. Next move to two pull-ups, two push-ups and so on. Continue this process until you reach ten reps of each exercise, and then make your way incrementally back to one or until your timer sounds.

If this is too difficult for you, feel free to scale it to meet your current fitness level. Also, any of the above three exercises can be replaced with crunches, burpees etc.

Workout #2: The Rooftop Routine

This workout is designed to be performed outside, or in a large indoor space.

Again, try and perform this workout continuously with little or no rest. Set a timer and keep moving till it beeps.

How to Perform this Workout

1. Sprint 50 meters

2. Do 5-10 pushups

3. Bear-crawl for 20 meters

4. Repeat!

Don’t Let a busy schedule stand in the way of your health. You can get fit, even if you only have fifteen minutes a day to spare– it’s all just a matter of making those minutes count.

My Question For You

Sweating my tail off on a rooftop next to the Ganges was definitely one of the craziest workouts I have ever done, maybe except for playing tag with a spider monkey, but I’ll tell you about that later.

Now tell me… what is the craziest workout you have ever done???

Be strong. Be well.

To your health and happiness,

Logan

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You're Stronger Than you Think

Check out this excerpt from my latest post on Wild Movement...

You're Stronger Than You Think

Last winter I spent a month living at an animal sanctuary in Costa Rica. This sanctuary is nestled in the heart of a true jungle, along a untamed and wild coast that is home to some of the most diverse creatures on the planet. It is also home to five full grown spider monkeys who eat, climb and live on the sanctuary–and the people who live there.

Spider monkeys are incredible creatures: they are deceivingly smart, incredibly coordinated and surprisingly playful. However, the thing that amazed me the most about these creatures was their strength. Earl, the owner of the sanctuary, told me that a male spider monkey once hung from its tail, ripped his toilet off it’s bolts and threw it out the door of his bedroom. Bad monkey!

This got me thinking. Even though I am five times the size and ten times the weight of these little creatures, there is now way in HELL that I could rip a toilet off it’s bolts. Why am I so weak? Why are we as a species such a bunch of scrawny weaklings? Why is it that monkeys have super human strength while we are left with the strength of a newborn squirrel?  Monkeys have fifteen times more muscle mass than humans relative to their body weight. We are clearly the pansies of the animal kingdom.

When you think about it, the answer is really very obvious. The strength of an animal is determined by their lifestyle. In short: If you spend your days swinging through the trees, and need this strength to survive, over the years you will develop monkey strength. Conversely, If you spend your days eating potato chips and solely exercising your thumbs, you’ll be mad-wimpy. But it’s not quite that simple..

To read more visit: http://www.wildmovement.com/general/youre-stronger-than-you-think/

Uncontacted Tribes in the Amazon

Check out this amazing footage by the BBC and Survival international of some of the last remaining uncontacted tribes in the world. Simply amazing!

http://www.uncontactedtribes.org/brazilfootage

Please help protect them by signing the petition!

A lot can be learned from these primitive tribespeople. For information on primal living in todays world as well as fitness, diet and all around health visit: http://www.wildmovement.com/

Human Chameleonism: How to Stay Fit on Vacation

Check out my latest article at WildMovement! Learn how to stay fit, continue to eat right, and not lose all your hard work on vacation!

http://www.wildmovement.com/general/human-chameleonism-how-to-stay-fit-on-vacation/

Make Fire With Rocks!

Wild Movement is all about regaining the ability to move naturally and efficiently in our surroundings as well as developing and a connection with the natural world. It’s about regaining fundamental skills that were common knowledge to our ancestors but are virtually unknown today.

Check out this video on how to make fire with rocks! Pretty cool.

To your health and happiness,

Logan

The Art of Unplugging

Are you suffering from Radio Wave Brain Mush Syndrome?

Stop and look at yourself right now. How many electronic devices do you have on or around you? If you are like most Americans you have a technology addiction. Computers, Ipods, cell phones...  We have invented so many different ways to distract ourselves from what is actually happening in our lives. We are never actually here to experience the moment for what it is. We are always somewhere else.. Hanging out in Twitterland or Facebookville while our lives pass us by. As handy as these devices can be, they complicate our lives, bombard our minds with unnecessary and unreal stress, and are one of the biggest causes of our cultural unhappiness. Imagine if you didn’t use any electronic devices. Imagine if you didn’t feel the need to check your e-mail ten times a day or text and call relentlessly. Life would be so simple. All you would have to do is address situations as the presented themselves. You would be able to live your life fully and uninterrupted. This simplicity can be achieved, even today. By reducing your time spent plugged in, you can create more energy, ease and happiness in your life.....Its time to check yourself into radio wave rehab.

The American society has created the stereotype of the busy american mom, the overworked dad-- and because of this we feel we have to fill these roles. How much of what you do do you do because you feel you should be busy? This condition of constant external stimuli leads to what I call “media overwhelm” which is a feeling that there is too much to watch hear or know and too little time. It’s a self demeaning feeling that I should be keeping up with everything but I just cant. When you think about it, this feeling is completely self created but many people are not aware that they are even suffering from it. This constant distraction has created a society of worry ridden, stressed out people who have lost control of their minds and are suffering because of it.

A busy and complicated life inevitably creates a busy and complicated mind. Just as your life is a reflection of your mental state, your mental state is a reflection of your life and as you probably know, your mental state is the biggest determining factor of your overall happiness. A busy, untamed mind creates unrest, stress and suffering while a clear, calm, and focused mind cultivates peace, ease and happiness. What would happen if you simply didn’t check your email or answer that phone call? If you experiment with unplugging you will learn that nothing will happen. The world will not end, people wont think less of you and you will feel happier and more energized because of it.

How To Unplug

Here are a few tips to reduce destructive stimuli and boost overall happiness.

1. Don't Text. Texting is incredibly time consuming and stress creating. Call or not at all.

2. Check your e-mail no more than three times a day. 

Any more than that is unproductive and unnecessary. 

3. Limit unproductive web surfing. 

Take the time yo would normally spend catching up on your favorite TV shows or celebrity gossip and spend it doing something meaningful.

4. Don’t Watch the News

I know I know.. How can I be a respectful well informed citizen? Truth is, if something happens you’ll hear about it and by refraining from this kind of media you can free up so much time.

5. Ask yourself.. “Am I being busy for the sake of being busy?”

You’ll be surprised how much you do for the lack of something to do.

6. Practice Wild Movement

Exercise and time spent in nature naturally reduces stress, boosts energy and creates the simplicity and mental focus which we know leads to happiness. 

Too much stimuli is destructive and overwhelming, but some is necessary to function in todays world. I know total regression into the simplistic life of a paleolithic human is not possible nor completely desirable but there are lessons to be learned from this kind of life that may just make your fast paced life a bit more peaceful. Begin today by resolving to cut out unnecessary stimuli and busyness and fully experience the one life you have :)

Move. Explore. Discover

Wild Movement