Mediation on the Go

Going back to the multi-tasking storyline, I forgot to mention another exercising snafu.

Due to an excessive amount of stress in my life, I decided that I needed to do some meditation. You know, clear my mind and release all of the built up tension. So I found a decent meditation album on itunes, and added it to my ipod. The only problem now was finding the time to actually do the meditation.

After an extremely brief contemplation, I decided that my mind is basically unoccupied while I'm on the treadmill, so I'd figured that would be a good time to mediate.

Imagine the following (my thoughts are in blue, mediation instructions are in red):

I stepped up on the treadmill, adjusted the speed and incline. Put on the headphone and began the mediation.

First find a comfortable place to sit or recline.
Uh-oh.
Now close your eyes.
I better hold on to the handles (remembering the last exercise snafu).
Tense your feet, and release. Let all of the stress flow out of your body.
I'll just pretend I did that.

The tensing and releasing continued for the entire body. It became a little easier once we got to the upper extremities. Then we move onto breathing.

Breath in deeply. Feel the air sink deep into your lungs. Hold the breathe....
I'm going to die.
Then breath out slowly.
Air, I need air.
Now breath in again, allowing the air to fill your body with energy.
Wonderful beautiful oxygen! Oh how I've missed you.
Hold the breath again....
This was a really dumb idea.

Oddly enough I did finally figure out a way to control my breathing while walking briskly on the treadmill.

Then I got curious about my heart rate. I looked at the heart monitor on the treadmill. My heart rate was about 15 bpm slower than normal. At first I was impressed that I could slow my heart rate while exercising, then it hit me. Why is heavens name would I want to slow down my heart rate! I'm exercising to get my heartbeat up!

And that was the end of my attempt at mediation on the go.