Why meditation isn’t quite like being “in the zone” while working out

Many people who I talk with about meditation say that their practice is running, lifting weights, playing sports, or some other physical exercise. Understandably, they hear my pitch about meditation’s benefits — that it calms my mind and makes me more present throughout the day— and they think of how they get “in the zone.”

Yes, physical exercise can be meditative — but it is fundamentally different than meditation.

The difference is, basic Buddhist meditation, the kind most practitioners practice, trains the mind and the mind only. It strips away all technique except sitting in a relaxed but alert posture and breathing normally. It removes all distractions, leaving us with nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to be, no goal to accomplish.

This creates the conditions in which noticing your mind’s tendency to wander becomes inevitable. Against the plain background of breathing, bodily feelings, and sound, your thoughts stand out like words written in black ink on a clean sheet of paper. You can’t help but focus on the words. But within minutes, you realize that the writing is too hard to follow, that the book is being written by a toddler or someone experiencing schizophrenia — that your mind has a mind of its own. Thoughts fold into other thoughts; stories trail off into digressions that never get back to the plot.

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Then you notice that these thoughts — which are no more real than a movie — change how your body feels. Replaying what your girlfriend said about the dirty dishes makes your shoulders tense up. Thinking about going in to work in a hour shortens your breath and tightens your stomach.

The practice is to notice that you’re thinking and bring your attention back to your breath, body, and sound — back to right here, right now. After 10, 15, 20 minutes of this — however long it takes — thinking doesn’t feel so magnetic. You’re able to stay present for a little longer before you get sucked down another digression of thoughts. You’re able to notice more quickly that you’re watching a movie rather than engaging with the world around you.

Sure, throwing up some weights can train your mind to overcome pain and fatigue, to hit a particular goal no matter what. But it doesn’t give you the blank space to keep coming back to the present moment. And when the shit hits the fan — when your boss is firing you or your father is on his death bed — there won’t be any weights. What do you always have no matter what? Your breath, body, and the sounds around you.

Ready to get serious about meditation?

I wrote a guide to starting a daily meditation practice — get it here for free.

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