Training today was a kettlebell session designed to complement my current running training.
The session focussed on high work capacity sets, core and upper body strength along with a metabolic conditioning set to finish.
Heres how it went:--
Kettlebell Clean / Kettlebell Snatch Super Set - 20kg Bell
Perform 10 reps of cleans then snatches with right hand, repeat for left.
Perform 9 reps as above without rest, then 8, 7, 6 etc until 1 of each is done.
Total work time - 12 minutes
Kettlebell Bent Press
12kg * 5/5
16kg * 5/5
20kg * 5/5
20kg * 5/5
Goblet Squat / Windmill Super Set
24kg Bell 15 squats / 6 windmills each arm
Repeat for 4 sets
Bulgarian Bag Spin / 24" Box Jump
17kg Bag - 10 spins each way / 10 box jumps - repeat for 5 sets without rest.
Great session today, very enjoyable and took just under the hour.
Monday 28 November 2011
Friday 11 November 2011
Example Meditation to Develop Visualisation Skills and Relaxation
Further to my previous blog post about the Power of Meditation I wanted to provide an example of a meditation that I have used extensively when I was learning how to master this hugely powerful skill.
The purpose of the meditation outlined below is to practice and develop ones ability to use visualisation while at the same time promoting deep relaxation.
When first learning to meditate it is important to use visualisation within your meditation as this serves to provide a point of focus for the mind outside of the daily fluff that we have to deal with. In addition, as the process of visualisation develops and comes easier to us, it paves the way for the ultimate goal of meditation, to reach a state of no thought.
During the meditation accept that your mind WILL wander. It may happen frequently at first. Try not to become frustrated at this, simply become aware of it and then turn your mind back to the point at which the visualisation was interrupted. Be patient and stay relaxed.
Prior to starting sit in a quiet room without disturbance, turn off phones etc, draw the curtains if you have them or turn off the lights. Sit in a high backed chair, feet on the ground, uncrossed and with hands resting gently in your lap.
Close your eyes and become aware of your breathing. Breathe slowly and deeply in through the nose, out through the mouth. As you inhale become aware of the tension in your chest as it rises and falls. Be aware of the warmth of the breath as it leaves your body and note the feeling of relaxation through the chest cavity as your lungs empty. Focus purely on the detail of breathing until you become to feel more relaxed.
Once you feel relaxed and with eyes closed imagine standing up out of your chair and taking the journey to your front door. Visualise every step and detail that you can remember, all the while breathing gently and freely.
On reaching the front door take a deeper breath, exhale and open the door. As you do so notice your feet are on a forest floor. Visualise here as much detail as possible, twigs under foot, the colour of the earth, is it wet or dry etc. As you look around in your minds eye visualise a beautiful and peaceful forest. The more detail you visualise the better. What can you see, what can you hear, what can you smell? Continue to walk marvelling at the tranquillity, you create this experience, just keep walking.
After a short while imagine arriving at a gate. You may decide to visualise a gatekeeper as present. This could be anyone you wish, fictitious or real. For example, a guard, monk, best friend, relative, ancestor, warrior etc. The purpose of the gate is to signify a gateway to increased feelings of relaxation and the subconscious. If you decide to have an imaginary conversation with the gatekeeper, so be it, just flow with whatever springs to mind.
Once through the gate imagine the colours, sounds and smells intensifying around you. Continue to walk but imagine the pathway creeping upwards and upwards. As you get higher imagine feeling lighter, the higher you walk the lighter you feel.
Continue visualising your journey until you get to the top. Once at the top you may decide to sit there and take in the surroundings. Alternatively may decide (as I often did) to soar into the sky as a bird of prey, feeling light and free, able to go wherever my heart desired.
Spend sometime here. Try not to analyse what may come to you, just acknowledge and let go. If your mind wanders off the visualisation gently go back to it again.
Once you feel like sufficient time has been spent at the top of the mountain path begin your descent. Continue to visualise as much detail as possible and take your time. Pass through the gate, thank the gate keeper (your subconscious) and slowly come back to your house, through the front door and back into your seat.
Take a few moments to slowly move your extremities, become more aware of your physical body and when you are ready, open your eyes and take some water.
You may be surprised at how much time has passed. You should feel more relaxed and with an air of tranquillity within your consciousness.
Remember; accept that your mind will wander. With time and practice your mind will wander less and less and you will find it increasingly easier to visualise with greater detail.
Each time you meditate visualise a different location and path or return to the same one. Other ideas include a beach, mountains, hills, cliffs etc. Above all, enjoy. Be well.
The purpose of the meditation outlined below is to practice and develop ones ability to use visualisation while at the same time promoting deep relaxation.
When first learning to meditate it is important to use visualisation within your meditation as this serves to provide a point of focus for the mind outside of the daily fluff that we have to deal with. In addition, as the process of visualisation develops and comes easier to us, it paves the way for the ultimate goal of meditation, to reach a state of no thought.
During the meditation accept that your mind WILL wander. It may happen frequently at first. Try not to become frustrated at this, simply become aware of it and then turn your mind back to the point at which the visualisation was interrupted. Be patient and stay relaxed.
Prior to starting sit in a quiet room without disturbance, turn off phones etc, draw the curtains if you have them or turn off the lights. Sit in a high backed chair, feet on the ground, uncrossed and with hands resting gently in your lap.
Close your eyes and become aware of your breathing. Breathe slowly and deeply in through the nose, out through the mouth. As you inhale become aware of the tension in your chest as it rises and falls. Be aware of the warmth of the breath as it leaves your body and note the feeling of relaxation through the chest cavity as your lungs empty. Focus purely on the detail of breathing until you become to feel more relaxed.
Once you feel relaxed and with eyes closed imagine standing up out of your chair and taking the journey to your front door. Visualise every step and detail that you can remember, all the while breathing gently and freely.
On reaching the front door take a deeper breath, exhale and open the door. As you do so notice your feet are on a forest floor. Visualise here as much detail as possible, twigs under foot, the colour of the earth, is it wet or dry etc. As you look around in your minds eye visualise a beautiful and peaceful forest. The more detail you visualise the better. What can you see, what can you hear, what can you smell? Continue to walk marvelling at the tranquillity, you create this experience, just keep walking.
After a short while imagine arriving at a gate. You may decide to visualise a gatekeeper as present. This could be anyone you wish, fictitious or real. For example, a guard, monk, best friend, relative, ancestor, warrior etc. The purpose of the gate is to signify a gateway to increased feelings of relaxation and the subconscious. If you decide to have an imaginary conversation with the gatekeeper, so be it, just flow with whatever springs to mind.
Once through the gate imagine the colours, sounds and smells intensifying around you. Continue to walk but imagine the pathway creeping upwards and upwards. As you get higher imagine feeling lighter, the higher you walk the lighter you feel.
Continue visualising your journey until you get to the top. Once at the top you may decide to sit there and take in the surroundings. Alternatively may decide (as I often did) to soar into the sky as a bird of prey, feeling light and free, able to go wherever my heart desired.
Spend sometime here. Try not to analyse what may come to you, just acknowledge and let go. If your mind wanders off the visualisation gently go back to it again.
Once you feel like sufficient time has been spent at the top of the mountain path begin your descent. Continue to visualise as much detail as possible and take your time. Pass through the gate, thank the gate keeper (your subconscious) and slowly come back to your house, through the front door and back into your seat.
Take a few moments to slowly move your extremities, become more aware of your physical body and when you are ready, open your eyes and take some water.
You may be surprised at how much time has passed. You should feel more relaxed and with an air of tranquillity within your consciousness.
Remember; accept that your mind will wander. With time and practice your mind will wander less and less and you will find it increasingly easier to visualise with greater detail.
Each time you meditate visualise a different location and path or return to the same one. Other ideas include a beach, mountains, hills, cliffs etc. Above all, enjoy. Be well.
Wednesday 9 November 2011
The Power of Meditation
Meditation is a skill that carries a huge amount of benefits including reduced anxiety and stress, decreased blood pressure, increased sense of well being, clarity of thought, development of intuition, visualisation, increased creativity and a more positive outlook towards life.
The ultimate goal of meditation is to be able to enter a state where by the sitter is no longer aware of conscious thought. I refer to it as the “space between thoughts” and when encountered, it is a place of indescribable beauty, tranquillity and bliss.
For many, the word meditation conjures up images of monks, sitting cross legged and Omming, Ahhhing and Chanting.
In my experience, meditation is a far cry from these stereotypical images and once mastered can lead to a tremendous sense of well being, fulfilment, contentment and inner peace.
I have engaged in meditation for over 5 years and began sitting regularly with the goal of experiencing greater inner peace while also developing my intuition to assist my work as a Reiki Practitioner and Personal Trainer.
Learning to meditate isn’t easy but patience, commitment and dedication has paid off and I now feel more connected to my surroundings, more in control of my destiny and ultimately happier and mentally stronger than I have ever been before. I have complete faith when I have a gut feeling and have acted upon these “feelings” which has in no uncertain terms assisted me greatly with the development of my personal training business.
When sitting for meditation it is essential that a room or space is chosen that is quiet and during a time when disturbance is unlikely. All phones and alarms should be turned off and any lighting should be dimmed.
It is important to sit in a comfortable position but not too comfortable. My own preference is to sit on a dining room chair with a high back. Eyes should be closed and feet should touch the floor and back should be supported. I suggest avoiding lying down as the chances of falling asleep are high and sleep is not meditation!
One of the biggest hurdles faced by those starting out in meditation is overcoming the “Monkey Mind”. Our mind is like a conveyer belt of thoughts. It is only when sitting quietly trying not to think about anything that it becomes apparent just how noisy the mind can be. This is also the exact reason why an over active mind can result in stress and anxiety. Like the body, the mind needs a rest too from time to time!
In order to limit the dancing of the monkey mind a good practice is to begin by using a simple visualisation. This can be anything from visualising the breath travelling slowly and evenly in and out of the body, visualising a single object such as a flower, repeating a mantra in your head or taking an imaginary journey.
The purpose of the visualisation is to feed the monkey mind and give it something to do. By focussing on your visualisation completely and wholly the chances of experiencing destructive mind noise are reduced. Becoming a master of visualisation paves the way for the more difficult task of completely letting go……but that’s for another blog post.
Going back to visualisation and using the example of breathing, imagine and picture the air travelling in through the nose, down through the body and lungs, passing gently into the blood and around the muscles, organs and tissues. Notice how it feels, how it smells, tastes and so forth. The more detail that is visualised the less likely the mind is to wander onto chores, people and work!
Should the mind be caught wandering (and it will, a lot) don’t stress, simply return to the visualisation where you left off and continue……….above all, be patient, stay relaxed and engage in the moment.
My next blog post will supply an example of a very effective meditation that I used when I first started developing. Thanks for reading.
The ultimate goal of meditation is to be able to enter a state where by the sitter is no longer aware of conscious thought. I refer to it as the “space between thoughts” and when encountered, it is a place of indescribable beauty, tranquillity and bliss.
For many, the word meditation conjures up images of monks, sitting cross legged and Omming, Ahhhing and Chanting.
In my experience, meditation is a far cry from these stereotypical images and once mastered can lead to a tremendous sense of well being, fulfilment, contentment and inner peace.
I have engaged in meditation for over 5 years and began sitting regularly with the goal of experiencing greater inner peace while also developing my intuition to assist my work as a Reiki Practitioner and Personal Trainer.
Learning to meditate isn’t easy but patience, commitment and dedication has paid off and I now feel more connected to my surroundings, more in control of my destiny and ultimately happier and mentally stronger than I have ever been before. I have complete faith when I have a gut feeling and have acted upon these “feelings” which has in no uncertain terms assisted me greatly with the development of my personal training business.
When sitting for meditation it is essential that a room or space is chosen that is quiet and during a time when disturbance is unlikely. All phones and alarms should be turned off and any lighting should be dimmed.
It is important to sit in a comfortable position but not too comfortable. My own preference is to sit on a dining room chair with a high back. Eyes should be closed and feet should touch the floor and back should be supported. I suggest avoiding lying down as the chances of falling asleep are high and sleep is not meditation!
One of the biggest hurdles faced by those starting out in meditation is overcoming the “Monkey Mind”. Our mind is like a conveyer belt of thoughts. It is only when sitting quietly trying not to think about anything that it becomes apparent just how noisy the mind can be. This is also the exact reason why an over active mind can result in stress and anxiety. Like the body, the mind needs a rest too from time to time!
In order to limit the dancing of the monkey mind a good practice is to begin by using a simple visualisation. This can be anything from visualising the breath travelling slowly and evenly in and out of the body, visualising a single object such as a flower, repeating a mantra in your head or taking an imaginary journey.
The purpose of the visualisation is to feed the monkey mind and give it something to do. By focussing on your visualisation completely and wholly the chances of experiencing destructive mind noise are reduced. Becoming a master of visualisation paves the way for the more difficult task of completely letting go……but that’s for another blog post.
Going back to visualisation and using the example of breathing, imagine and picture the air travelling in through the nose, down through the body and lungs, passing gently into the blood and around the muscles, organs and tissues. Notice how it feels, how it smells, tastes and so forth. The more detail that is visualised the less likely the mind is to wander onto chores, people and work!
Should the mind be caught wandering (and it will, a lot) don’t stress, simply return to the visualisation where you left off and continue……….above all, be patient, stay relaxed and engage in the moment.
My next blog post will supply an example of a very effective meditation that I used when I first started developing. Thanks for reading.
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