I just returned from competing in my 12^th national championships for USA jump rope.  I have spent many hours in the gym focused towards this specific competition, but now coming home I wanted to start a blog series on mindfulness based exercise.  The majority of people aren’t training for a specific competitive event and I wanted to share some of my experiences when I am in an off season.  Even if you are a competitive athlete in the midst of training, I hope that you find this mini-series helpful to get grounded in your mind and body.  A lot of the times those who are obsessed with exercise, as well as serious competitive athletes, get lost in the motion of training and repetition.  The joy is often lost and people can have resentment towards their sport or desired exercise platform.  I didn’t truly recover from the eating disorder until I addressed my exercise dependence and reconnected my mind and body.  I hope I can at least get you thinking about your relationship with exercise and share with you some thoughts and tools that have helped me recover and continue to help me in everyday life.  Be on the lookout for a new post each week on the following topics:

~Being mindful of numbers and even learning to let go of them completely.  This applies to miles, minutes, weights, calories burned, etc

~Checking in with what your body is REALLY feeling before, during, and after exercise

~ Mobility, flexibility, and breathing

~Group or Team sports and exercise

~Exploring new exercise opportunities without judgement

~REST

~Goal setting

~Mindfulness around physical transformation

~I will also spend a post talking specifically to those training for an event or competition and how they can apply mindfulness tools even during a time when repetition and many hours of training are required for a successful performance

I hope you will join me over the next few weeks and are able to put what you read into practice.  My hope is that you will connect to exercise in a different way than you have before.  It will be good for me to reconnect after a competition and continue to have a healthy relationship with exercise.