Self-Care: Mindful Running Essay Example

The activity that I undertook was mindful running. The action of mindful running activity involves the practice of fully immersing oneself in the current moment during the running exercise, its present effects on the mind and body, free from judgments, self-doubt or self-consciousness. I choose to undertake the activity of mindful running because it lets one experience all full richness of running and be able to notice how it contributes to elevating one's mood, how it helps in refreshing of mind, as well as invigorating one's body. One of the specific issues that the activity was meant to address was finding a better way of handling life stress. Running is an activity that may help a person to boost their confidence strengthening of the body as well as making someone happier. It is through all these activities that an individual can handle various life crisis in a better way (Pineau, 2014). Therefore, the ultimate goal of the mindful running activity was not to provide a means of avoiding stress but instead a way of making it work for me.

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Mindful running is crucial as it makes a person to become more fit as well as being more resilient to stress instead of becoming more exhausted. The activity of mindful running provided an opportunity that allows one to focus on the present moment as well as the relaxation of the movement meditation which brought about the feelings of peace, gratitude as well as contentment which may make significant contribution towards elevating of self-confidence (De Petrillo, Kaufman, Glass, & Arnkoff, 2009). The other specific issue that the activity of mindful running that was aimed to address was the building of a body that was resistant to injury. The action of mindful running started with power posture that assisted me in minimizing of the impacts with appropriate joint alignment as well as an active gait. Throughout the running activity, I could check in with how my body was feeling. The signals of the operation of mindful moving signals that indicated the body being resistant to injury comprised of biofeedback that could let me know whenever I am running with good form. One challenge that I encountered during the mindful running activity was having negative thoughts creeping in while I was undertaking the activity. This made the action of mindful running becoming tougher since it was impossible for me to close my eyes at the same time I was running so that I could focus hence clearing of the negative thoughts was a difficult task when I was in the mid-run. What I did to help the situation was redirecting my attention to my body which helped me to stay focused on the activity.

The mindful running exercise was helpful in many ways. First, the activity helped me to notice some negative thoughts and being able to replace them with positive thoughts. In this way, I was able to experience relaxation response that helped in eliminating of any negative thoughts. The other positive contribution of the mindful running that I encountered was increasing self-confidence. The exercise increased my confidence as it raised optimism and I enjoyed the running activity through embracing the panorama of the entire running experience by having an acceptance mind. The activity of mindful running helped me to build a body that is resistant to injury by being able to reduce the effects of joint alignment and having an efficient gait of the body.

References

De Petrillo, L. A., Kaufman, K. A., Glass, C. R., & Arnkoff, D. B. (2009). Mindfulness for long-distance runners: An open trial using Mindful Sports Performance Enhancement (MSPE). Journal of Clinical Sports Psychology, 3(4), 357-376.

Pineau, T. R. (2014). Effects of Mindful Sports Performance Enhancement (MSPE) on Running Performance and Body Image: Does Self-compassion Make a Difference? (Doctoral dissertation, Catholic University of America).