But that’s not all!
Benefits of Movement Meditation
What additional benefits come from combining meditation with movement?
• Some people find movement easier than sitting
• Movement adds interest to meditation
• Movement introduces more things on which to focus during meditation (and vice versa)
• Movement is more concrete and aids with focus
• Movement is novice-friendly
• You don’t have to set aside a special time; you’re already exercising
• You can do movement meditation anywhere
• Movement meditation may enhance performance
When we meditate while moving, we take meditation on the road. It joins the mental world with the physical world, creating a unifying experience that can transfer to every moment and every part of life. This transferable skill set helps you be present all day long. Once you learn to be mindfully awake during exercise, you will learn to do it when you get a cup of coffee, talk to your boss, watch a movie, and have dinner with your loved ones.
Mindfulness on foot creates a powerful tool in your life skills toolset. You’ll train yourself to be mindful throughout your day.
Neuroplasticity
Scientists originally thought the brain was unchangeable once we reached adulthood. The consensus was that, at some point, growth stopped, and the brain remained static until old age, when brain function regressed. Recent studies show the brain is much more malleable and therefore trainable than previously thought.
Meditators have known this for centuries. But it didn’t have a name. The word for this is “neuroplasticity.” We can literally rebuild our brains, rewire them, and create new pathways and new habits as a result of this activity. But we can’t do it merely by thinking about it. We do it by action. One of these actions is meditation.
What is neuroplasticity?
It is “the brain’s ability to modify, change, and adapt both structure and function throughout life and in response to experience.”8
In short, it’s the ability of your brain to change. It can change in response to damage—rebuilding pathways to compensate for areas lost to injury or illness. And it can change in response to learning.
Meditation and movement train the brain. Meditation, the original brain training, is a method of rewiring circuitry based on thousands of years of practice. Recent research shows that movement aids that process.
“Far from being hardwired, as scientists once envisioned it, the brain is constantly being rewired. I’m here to teach you how to be your own electrician.”—John J. Ratey, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain9
Sadly, your brain will also adopt your negative patterns. High amounts of screen time and the instant gratification of social media trains our brains
toward inattention. We combat this with activities that train attention in positive ways.
Finally, despite the wonders of neuroplasticity, don’t believe the hype. You can’t be whoever you want simply by believing hard enough or thinking your way into (or out of) things.
Still, we do what we can, including movement meditation.
8 Patrice Voss, Maryse E. Thomas, J. Miguel Cisneros-Franco, and Étienne de Villers-Sidani, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada Front. Psychol., October 4, 2017. | doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01657.
9 John J. Ratey, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/john-j-ratey-md/spark/9781549108297.
This excerpt is from Make Every Move a Meditation by Nita Sweeney which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.
