WHAT’S YOUR EXCUSE?

I wasn't in the mood to do a run before lacing up my kicks yesterday morning. My low back was aching. I didn't have a sound sleep. I looked at my training schedule and thought of multiple reasons "why" it wasn't an optimal time to run. As if running in the northeast cold isn't a significant deterrent for those of us who prefer being geckos soaking up the sun on a warm rock. (Cold: Yet another distraction for my brain to bully my body into believing its lies.)

CHANGE YOUR THOUGHT, CHANGE YOUR PATH

I opened my front door, took a deep breath in, and let the cold air hit my lungs. One step, two steps, and away I went. I decided to take myself to the old rail trail and get off the concrete road. This decision was twofold: 1. My lower extremities needed a break from the hard pounding, and 2. The scenery of the majestic Hudson River along a tree-lined path was more gentle on my already protesting nervous system.

I decided to tune in to one of my go-to podcasts (Stop Chasing Pain, Perry Nickelston) and listen to an interview of my favorite brain-based movement specialists (Dr. Eric Cobb, founder of Z-Health). I studied Dr. Cobb's work on how vision, auditory, and neuromuscular systems can profoundly impact injury recovery and prevention. I use his philosophies of treatments with my patients. And, personally, as an athlete, I am constantly searching for ways to improve my athletic performance.

Dr. Cobb used a word that he repeated and spelled out. It was a word that he used concerning compensatory body movements.

E-QUI-FINALITY.

Finality = Goal

Equi = Same

Common goals or outcomes can be reached in many different ways. For example, the way I move my body, choose my thoughts, and learn how to compensate for limitations is different from yours, but we can both come to the same ending or achieve the same goal and, yes, even cross the same finish line.

FORTNIGHT, BRAIN EDITION

Our brain is on a constant quest for evading danger. Its primary duty is to keep you safe, and in many instances, it doesn't care about how much suffering you go through to stay alive. Athletes call it the "pain cave." Meditators call it the "monkey mind." Psychologists have even begun using a phrase called "the amygdala hijack" when the amygdala (the area responsible for responding to fear) trips up and sets into motion an emotional response way out of context to the original threat. You know that moment when you can't turn off the crazy in your head, and your heart can't stop racing, and your palms are sweating, and nothing happened except maybe you just read a text message the wrong way?

So what does all of this have to do with my run yesterday? The loop. The protest before the movement. The mindset to override the negative self-talk. The realization that there are many ways to get to the goal. In this case, I could have chosen to inject some walking when my mind chatter was trying to convince my legs that they were tired even though they weren't. (Yet another strategy for my temper tantruming ego to get its way.) The letting go of self-judgment and label things as good or bad (walking doesn't mean bad, running doesn't always mean good ).

MAKING CHANGES, CHANGES THE LANDSCAPE

Ultimately, I learned how to use a physical moment to disconnect from the mind-derived fear to make room for the intention: achieving the goal. With some bonuses:

A new neural pathway of positive change.
A faster pace than anticipated.
A steady heart rate indicating that being calm within the chaos of a swirling mind is somehow possible it just takes a little effort.