Within the last year, we’ve had two fitness challenges. Everyone was tasked with one challenge: complete 20 classes in 30 days. We thought that sounded like a lot, but guess what happened?
You all crushed it easy-as-pie. Many of you accomplished anywhere from 30-40 classes during the challenge month! Honestly it was and still is impressive. So when it came to planning this year’s Fall Into Fitness Challenge, we had to make things a bit harder on you… because hey, we’re here to help you grow. You’ll thank us later 😉
You proved that you know how to get in-studio, burn it up, sweat it out, and check the box on the challenge poster. This challenge we’re still awarding the person with Most Classes Taken. But we’re also awarding something new. Something a little different: Most Mindful.
The theme for this Fall Into Fitness Challenge is “Mindfulness on the Mat.” We hear this word a lot, mindfulness. But what does it mean? How are we supposed to win such an undefined title?
We define mindfulness as, paying attention with intention. When we hear the word “mindfulness,” we often think of walking around like some New Age Buddha – never stressed, never bummed out. But that’s really not accurate nor realistic.
Being mindful is an approach to life, not a denial of life. Things come up. Life gets genuinely challenging and then emotions like anger or sadness or grief well up. We would never expect you to deny these experiences.
In fact, being mindful actually encourages your emotions to rise to the surface and express themselves. Again, returning to the definition of “mindful” — the real challenge becomes giving your emotions the attention they deserve after years of neglecting them in one way or another.
So, how does paying attention with intention actually work?
On any given day, our attention bounces around from thing to thing: the kids, the radio, the honking horns, the person on the other end of the phone, our body, someone else’s body, our friend…
We never get the chance to slow down enough and actually choose the destination of our attention! And that is what mindfulness is. Slowing down to actually see what’s right in front of you.
Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose, instead of letting your attention be scatter-brained. Energy flows where attention goes. What we spend our energy on, GROWS. So ultimately it’s quite important that we choose to be mindful. And that is what this challenge is all about.
It’s one thing to understand mindfulness conceptually. It’s one thing to wear it on a cute tank top with some yoga pants. It’s another thing entirely to put it into practice.
You might be asking yourself why we need to establish a mindfulness practice anyhow. “I feel pretty good about life in general,” you might be thinking. “Everything’s fine as it is,” you say.
That might very well be the case, but we can promise you one thing: mindfulness and meaning go hand in hand. The more mindfulness you cultivate, the more meaning and depth you experience in your life. The littlest things in life become the biggest. Colors become more vibrant. Love grows even richer.
This, we promise you. So we’ll embark on this journey toward meaning together, with Mindfulness on the Mat. And in the meantime, you’ll be rocking out 20+ classes in 30 days. Body, mind, and soul, are about to get REAL HAPPY.
Each week, we’ll be posting a new blog about mindfulness tips and practices to support your journey, and perhaps inspire some expansion. We look forward to witnessing your practice unfold. As always, let us know how we can support you.
If you haven’t signed up for the challenge yet, now’s the time! Give us a call or sign up in-studio.