Why You Might Want To Try a Pre-Running Meditation

Running and meditation have quite a bit in common. Breath is a central a part of each activities, as is being present in your body and noticing thoughts and sensations as they arrive and go. So when you’ll want to get in the precise headspace before you hit the pavement, trail, or track, a pre-running meditation may be just what you wish.

“Preparing yourself for a run—or any form of fitness—could be very much ensuring you are in the precise mindset,” says Lauren Zucker, the co-founder and CEO of meditation, breathwork, and wellness studio Sage + Sound, and this week’s guest on The Well+Good Podcast. “Creating an intention and taking slow breaths to calm your nervous system and get yourself prepped is a giant piece.”

Along with focusing your mind and calming your nervous system, doing a pre-run meditation can even aid you profit from your runs on the extent of brain chemistry, in response to running instructor Ryan McCann, the founding father of Cool Fit Club, who leads meditations before group runs and swims.

“Whenever you meditate, you light up the neurogenesis within the prefrontal cortex, which is critical for concentration,” McCann previously told Well+God about the right way to run without music. “And after we do aerobic exercise, we generate neurons within the hippocampus, which is critical for memory. So whenever you meditate before figuring out, you actually tap into the main target zone and increase that level of concentration before you go on the market and test your legs and lungs. Then muscle memory sets in the subsequent time you do it, making every thing more comfortable and more enjoyable.”

As a former music industry executive, Zucker has a special reference to sound meditation specifically. Sound healing is a practice through which meditators take heed to different sounds meant to calm their minds. It’s an amazing option for meditators who want less instruction than a guided meditation, but more stimulation than silence. It’s also Zucker’s pre-running meditation of selection because it helps her hone in on what she desires to get out of the run.

“I take heed to a sound meditation before to get me grounded and set,” Zucker says. She uses “that hour of meditation as a option to set an intention and prepare for a run.” Then, she focuses on putting the intentions and give attention to mindfulness and the breath into practice during her run.

Need to try a pre-run meditation? The second half of this week’s episode of The Well+Good Podcast features a 10-minute mindfulness meditation for mental strength and focus from Sage + Sound’s Dara Hart to get you began. You may also follow these meditation suggestions for beginners or consider subscribing to a meditation app that can have a fuller library and more tools.

Take heed to more wellness suggestions from Zucker related to connecting mindfulness and movement on this week’s episode of The Well+Good Podcast. And nonetheless you select to get moving, remember to breathe.