During my holiday break, I took up hot yoga. I've done yoga before and missed it, and the heat adds an extra bit of challenge I love. What I'd forgotten and let slip in my life is the reminder in yoga practice that it is important to maintain focus, be present and concentrate on the moment at hand. Like most of us, I'm a crazy multitasker. Adam often picks on me that he should toss my phone across the room sometimes so I quit trying to do three things at once (this while he watches TV and has a laptop in his lap...but I digress).
So over the break, I began to try and just focus on one activity or task at a time, and fully take in the moments. I avoided wearing a watch as I ran errands. I loved the sense of calm that more fully engaging myself brought. I worked hard to let thoughts that crept in pass like clouds in the sky (as one of our yogis encouraged), acknowledging them but not being distracted.
During and since that time, I began applying this to other workouts besides yoga. I started noticing how my abs work while on the elliptical. I noticed how if I swing my arms just so while I run, my leg strides are easier to maintain. Sure, I still exercise with my headphones on, but I started paying more attention to how my muscles were moving and it was cool (guess I won't entirely become a uni-tasker!) So I decided to apply this concept too towards planning my eating and exercise.
For eating, I do the best I can for that meal or snack. A great example was a work dinner out tonight. It was a meeting I'd been to before, so I knew the buffet would be steak, mashed potatoes, some vegetable, and salad. I decided I'd probably not finish my steak as they are usually so big (estimate 8 oz., that's a lot for little me!), have a tiny taste of potatoes, and concentrate on getting a lot of greens in. What worked out better was I was at the end of the line, so had to start eating while they got more steak, and filled up on vegetables and salad enough that I ate about 5 of 8 oz. of steak and was full. Success!
For exercise, I have a general overview of what I want to accomplish for my 300 minutes a week: at least one run, one day of yoga and one or two days of elliptical with weight lifting after. The rest, I look at my schedule, and try to fill with classes if possible to break up boredom. My fall backs (great on a day like today when the meeting went long) are block walks, the recumbent bike, or the Wii Fit. I wanted to bike tonight, but getting home later meant I stairstepped like crazy on the Wii. I was still puffing so I know it was worth it.
What I think is leading to some success at this point for me is visualizing my day and week (hey if it works for athletes, I'll take it!), determining a framework, but also having a Plan B in mind in case of emergency. I'm also taking it a moment at a time.
After all, if we aren't living in the moment, won't it just pass us by and we'll wonder where it went?
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