Meditation for ultrarunners: A beginner's guide
““If you don’t have time to meditate for an hour everyday, you should meditate for two hours.””
We live in a world with so much input from outside and things going on in our lives that it can often be extremely hard to stay in the present moment. We’re either thinking about something that has happened in the past, or worrying about the future. For the sake of our physical and mental wellbeing, we need to take a deep breath and slow down more than ever before — yet most people seem to fill their already never-ending to-do lists with even more things.
Learning how to meditate is not only something that can help us become happier and healthier as human beings — it can also help us become better ultramarathon runners.
We get it, a majority of us are not realistically able to meditate for hours every day like the old zen masters. But what then happens instead, is that we end up not taking the time to slow down and reflect on our lives at all. It’s either one extreme or the other, and the phrase “I don’t have the time” is a common excuse not to meditate. But what if it doesn’t have to take a long time or be very complicated? What if we lowered our expectations and set up a meditation practice for ourselves that actually does work, despite everything else going on in our lives?
Nature is a good place to start when you want to connect with your inner self.
Why meditate?
Humans have meditated for thousands of years. In India, some of the oldest written records date back to 1500 BCE, many of which come from early Hindu traditions. In China, early forms of meditation emerged already in the 6th century BC. Although the exact date and place where meditation originated is still being debated, it’s safe to say that it has been around for a long, long time.
According to Yoga International, the purpose of meditation is to rest the mind and attain a state of consciousness that is totally different from the normal waking state. It is “the means for fathoming all the levels of ourselves and finally experiencing the center of consciousness within.”
The mental and physical benefits of meditation are countless. It reduces stress, anxiety, decreases blood pressure and helps fight insomnia. It improves immune function, more efficient oxygen use by the body, enhances concentration and your ability to learn and it also improves your creativity and problem-solving skills, and helps you create more harmonious, loving relationships. The list goes on and on.
But contrary to what many people might think, meditation doesn’t have to be all that complicated or too spiritually “out there” to understand. Meditation can benefit anyone — if you just know how to approach it.
Meditation for ultrarunners
As an ultrarunner, incorporating meditation as a regular part of your training schedule will not only give you the common benefits of reduced stress and anxiety levels, lowered blood pressure, and so on. There is scientific evidence showing that if you are an athlete, meditation can also help you enhance your performance levels. And it makes total sense: at the starting line of your dream ultra race, a calm and grounded mind will help you stay positive and energized. And once the suffering hits you (because it will!), you will be more willing to accept the current state and stay with the pain.* Knowing that you’re in control of your mind, and not the other way around, will certainly give you a boost of self-confidence as an ultrarunner.
We like to think of ultrarunning as a mindset. It is more than just the physical act of running — if you incorporate the mental aspects into your training, you will be able to see some incredible benefits that just running in itself will never give you.
*It is, however, important to distinguish between acute pain (as a result of injury) and the pain that comes from fatigue and prolonged effort. If your pain is acute, stop running immediately!
But if meditation is so good for us, why do we often claim that “it’s not my thing” or “I don’t have the time”? Well, if we were to summarize the answer to this question in one sentence, it would probably look something like this: In order to make your practice sustainable, it’s all about lowering your expectations and making it a little easier for yourself. We are firm in our belief that meditation is for everyone — not just for the select few. Below, we have collected some of our best advice on how to get started with meditation as a beginner.
The short version: A beginner’s guide to meditation – 7 tips
Lower your expectations
Create a habit
Set a timer
Find a comfortable position
Try meditation on the go
Use digital tools and guided meditations
Allow yourself to be vulnerable
Lower your expectations — the practice in itself is the goal
Understand the true goal of your practice
A very important aspect that is closely tied to expectations, is that it’s easy to fall into thought patterns where you expect a certain result from your meditation, especially in the beginning of your practice. If you don’t succeed in reaching that blissful state of “relaxed focus” (that you somehow expect is the goal of meditation), it’s very common to start to judge yourself and perhaps you even feel that the exercise was in vain.
But try to understand this: the practics in itself is the goal! The whole idea of meditation is to practice, over and over again, and to time and time again get distracted by thoughts or emotions, and to then return to the breath or to your mantra (if you choose to practice mantra meditation). For many, the goal of meditation is to become aware of your thought patterns, and to learn how to let them exist without having full control over your life. To reach a state where you’re sort of effortlessly having control over your thoughts (and emotions), is something you can use in ultrarunning. During a long ultra race there will be many situations where you’ll benefit greatly from being able to master your mind. But remember, it won’t happen at once and as long as you keep practicing, you will improve.
So try not to judge yourself if you during your meditation constantly find yourself distracted by different thoughts or emotions. There is no such thing as an unsuccessful meditation. Even if you find it extremely difficult to relax, focus, breathe and just be present during your meditation — just sitting in silence with your eyes closed for a few minutes means you succeeded! Everything that happens during that time is part of the practice, and is just as it should be.
How long is long enough?
We can’t say this enough: Don’t be so hard on yourself! You don’t have to meditate for hours every day for it to have an effect on your overall wellbeing. Something is always better than nothing, and just five minutes of breathing and centering can have a huge impact on your mood. Try five minutes in the morning to set an intention for your day — how would you like to feel today? Or sit down for a couple of minutes in the evening — is there something that has happened today that you are grateful for? After a while of getting this five-minute routine in, you can slowly start building up to longer meditations.
If the 5 minute-rule doesn’t help you either, however, try this experiment tomorrow when you wake up: tell yourself that you are going to sit down and meditate for one minute only. We all have one minute, don’t we? Once you’ve sat down you have already taken the first step. And then sitting for a mere 60 seconds will feel more doable. And most of the time, those seconds end up being more than just 60.
Create a habit
Many times, it can be easier to do something if you create a habit out of it. Make a deal with yourself that you are going to take ten deep and conscious breaths every morning when you wake up, still lying in bed, or that you are going to use five minutes of your lunch break to forget the worries of your day and come back to the present moment. Or maybe sitting down for a while right before bed is a better option for you? Whichever the case, create a habit that works for you, your circumstances and your life.
One important thing to note here is that in order to “automate” an action, i.e. getting the habit in, you might need to put in a little more work and effort in the beginning. After a few days, your brain will likely try and tell you that you’ve got more important stuff to do — but stick with the routine and trust the process. And as long as you lower your expectations as we mentioned above, there is no such thing as “I don’t have time to meditate” or “I can’t focus, so meditation is not for me”.
And remember: sometimes less is more! If you meditate every day this week for just five minutes at a time, that will be 35 minutes in total by the end of the week. Routine is the key to success.
Set a timer
Make sure you don’t have to think about meditating until it’s actually time. After you’ve decided which time of day works best for you to meditate, set a timer to remind yourself. Make sure that the timer goes off with regular intervals (not just once), such as every morning at 9.00 am or every Wednesday at 8.00 pm. And whatever you’re doing in that moment — drop the task at hand for a few minutes, or practice meditation while you are doing the task. For instance: If you are cooking dinner, you can use your meditation time to try and stay present and focus solely on the act of cooking, trying not to let your mind wander off to other places. Use all your senses — notice the wonderful smell of the food and how the vegetables move around in the pot as you’re stirring with a spoon. It might sound cheesy – but staying present with what you are doing right now, rather than thinking about the rest of your never ending to-do list, can be incredibly difficult! For this reason, this type of presence meditation can be extremely effective.
Another way to use the method of a timer is to set it for the time you are going to meditate. For instance, as you prepare to sit down on your chair for your meditation practice, set a timer (e.g. on your phone) for five minutes. For the next five minutes, you don’t have to think about when the time is up because the timer will let you know. You can focus solely on the now.
Find a comfortable position
Most of us are not used to sitting with a straight posture, maybe cross-legged, in a meditation pose on the floor for longer periods of time. If this is something you are uncomfortable with, try using a pillow or a blanket to lift yourself off the ground a few inches. This will make sitting down a little easier and will relieve pressure on the spine.
If you’d like, you can also get a meditation cushion to sit on. These are incredibly comfortable and can help make your practice a lot easier and more enjoyable. Follow this link for various options on Amazon.
If sitting down on the floor doesn’t work despite using a cushion, you can sit on a chair — but try to not lean too much backwards. Practice sitting upright with the support of your own spine rather than the chair. You can also lie down to meditate, but the risk here is that you might fall asleep because you’re feeling so relaxed. Laying down to meditate thus requires a bit of practice, and you need to make sure that you are not already tired if you are going to do this. Meditation should be relaxing, but still conscious, whereas sleeping is (mostly) an unconscious act.
Try meditation on the go
Moving meditation can be another great of “easing yourself” into being someone who meditates - because it doesn’t require sitting still in one place. You can do it while you’re moving your body. Whereas in sitting meditation, where your attention might be on your breath, in moving meditation you place your attention on the movement itself. If you are running in the forest, feel what it’s like as your foot touches the ground with each step. How does your foot feel in your shoe and on the ground? What does it feel like when your heel, and then your toes, lift off the ground? What sounds can you hear around you – the rustling of leaves, the chirping of birds? What does the air smell like?
You can try moving meditation when you are walking or running. Set a goal for yourself, maybe to practice moving meditation for one section of your home trails where you usually run. And: leave your phone at home or in your backpack to make sure you don’t have any distractions.
Meditation on the go, or moving meditation, can be extremely efficient – especially if you practice it in a natural environment.
Use digital tools and guided meditations
Sometimes it helps to use some sort of guidance, even if you are not able to attend a physical class. Nowadays, there are several great digital tools and guided meditations online that you can use. I recommend scanning YouTube for a channel or meditation video that speaks to you. Our favorites are Yoga with Adriene, Ekhart Yoga (they offer tons of 5 min meditations!) as well as DoYogaWithMe (David Prosychyn).
Headspace is another great tool (available both as a website and on your smartphone), which has a very down-to-earth view of meditation and mindfulness. Headspace offers lots of meditations classes specifically for athletes, with themes like motivation and competition.
Here’s a great, simple and fast meditation that we suggest you try out! Five minutes of mindful breathing:
Allow yourself to be vulnerable
Last but not least, if there’s one thing we want you to take with you from reading this article it’s this: allow yourself to be vulnerable.
The truth is that many of us don’t dare to give meditation an honest try because we are scared of what we might find out about ourselves if we do. We are terrified of the buried emotions that will reach the surface once we start feeling into ourselves, and when we allow our hearts to guide us rather than the rational mind. Meditation makes us vulnerable, and many of us think of vulnerability as weakness.
But in allowing yourself to be vulnerable, you will more clearly be able to see yourself and the world around you. Accepting your own vulnerability as an inevitable part of you will give you the opportunity to grow, heal old wounds and become at peace with your life and its circumstances. By slowing down in meditation, and taking a moment to reflect, you might initially find that your fears and negative emotions reach the surface. And that can be scary — but there is no need to be frightened. if you stay long enough with the practice, create a sustainable habit out of it, and remain kind to yourself — you will begin to notice the benefits. At the end of the day, meditation will make you not only a stronger runner — but a stronger person in all areas of life.
Have you tried meditation before? Or maybe you’ve already established a regular practice and have some tips to share with us? Let us know in the comment section below!
Happy running,
Written by Jënni Jalonen, Ultrarunning Academy