Climber's Workout 5/19/09 Black Butte~ Think about nothing.

As a Fitness Trainer and Adventure seeker I am constantly finding new ways to challenge my mind body and spirit. I have scaled walls, climbed over snow boulders, traversed up the banks of raging rivers and have Mountain Biked serious gnarly single track. I push my body hard, constantly testing my physical limits. The funny thing is I find this to be the easy part of living fit. The hard part is focus. This may sound counter intuitive at first. But, I ask you this question. Can you think about nothing? Seems easy right, give it a try. Close your eyes and try to think about absolutely nothing...

Impossible right? Well, not really just challenging. Not from a physical sense like climbing a mountain but more like sitting tied to a chair in a white room. For most people it would drive them insane. Suddenly we realize how much our brains are constantly in use and keep us preoccupied with random thoughts through out our day. So even though me may never be able to think about absolutely nothing slowing down our thought process will have a huge benefit as we continue to learn how to manage stress. Remember the brain and body are connected if one feel stress so will the other. "Look at the Big Brain on Brad" So the brain is nothing more than a muscle. Sure it's a lot more complex than say your Bicep (the muscle that sits on the front of your upper arm) but, it's still a muscle. And like your Bicep if you keep working it and working it eventually it will tire and fatigue. Same way with our brain! It's great to challenge it but, keep in mind are you allowing to rest and recover? Look around you see the constant stimuli? Life is very busy with work,family,friends,face book,television the list goes on and on. So where is the break from it all? Taking a few moments everyday to think about nothing... Ok I will admit starting this process is the hardest so here are a few suggestions to get you going. First, make sure you have a few minutes all to yourself. Also I have found keeping your body busy acts as a nice distraction. 1) Count slow deep breaths to 10 while walking to and from the car before and after work. My first year of meditation I could only make it to 6 before an random thought would enter my head and distract me. Then I would start over 3 or 4 times before I knew it I was meditating for 7 minutes. That is a long time for beginners 2) Count your steps when walking or running 3)Looking for something sitting stare at a candle and allow your thoughts to flow randomly see where they go. 4)My favorite and what I did this past weekend was sit by a favorite landmark and focus on counting breaths very slowly and deeply. There are literally millions of ways to try and think about nothing. Finding what works best for you will make a world of difference. Keep in mind your brain is a muscle and if you are overstimulating it fatigue is inevitable. Once fatigue becomes a factor injury and disease is more likely. That's why things never seem to go our way when we are tired and stressed. So even though me may never be able to think about absolutely nothing slowing down our thought process will have a huge benefit as we continue to learn how to manage stress. Remember the brain and body are connected if one feel stress so will the other. I hope you find this workout very beneficial. It is one of the many ways I have found to maintain peak performance as we continue along our adventurous paths towards greatness. Be Amazing!