Extreme sports are a special kind of love and not everyone is cut out for it, which is probably part of the attraction for people like us. With extreme workouts and sports, there is an intensity level that other sports and exercises can’t bring to the table, which is why they are dubbed extreme. When you push your body it needs an opportunity to recover.

In this piece, we are going to discuss meditation,  how to do it and the ways it can enhance your post-workout. 

What Is Meditation?

When we think of meditation things like breathing and counting might pop into your head. While breathing and the timely control of that breath is important, there are other aspects to meditation that are just as essential 

Meditation is the practice of calming your mind and body with regulated breath that helps clear your brain from anxious thoughts. As more and more research is conducted it turns out this simple yet challenging practice has a plethora of other health benefits, which we will get to later. 

How To Meditate

There are many forms of meditation, from a new practitioner who sits on the floor in their living room to monks who spend hours meditating. As it turns out, the benefit of regular meditation has been studied on monks and they found the more you meditate, the sharper your attention skills will be. 

Conduct some research and you’ll find all kinds of advice but if you want to get started now all you need is a quiet comfortable spot and you are ready to go. Of course, you can enhance your experience with some rhythmic music or different scents like the ones here.

All you need to do is close your eyes, breath in deeply and count to eight or ten, whatever is the most comfortable for you. When you take in a breath and count in imagine the breath moving through your brain and moving all the out of your mind. 

Hold that breath in for a moment and then exhale through your mouth while you imagine all those thoughts leaving your body in a cloud of black smoke. You can tailor this practice to fit your comfort levels. 

Benefits Post Extreme Workout

Eases Pain

No matter if you focus on one of the hundreds of extreme sports available today or you like to dabble in a few when your workout is complete our muscles start to ache. It may not come on right away but after a while, your body will let you know exactly how it feels about your extreme workout. 

Meditating after your workout is a great way to combat the pain, whether you feel it right away or not. Take a few moments to sit and reflect while breathing fresh air into your body. Focus on all of your muscles while you move the breath through your body. If you are in an outdoor setting that’s even better, make sure to bring a mat or something soft to sit on. 

Research has shown that regular meditation can reduce your chronic pain by ninety-percent. Workout pain is chronic if you are an extreme sports enthusiast. 

Muscle Recovery

You experience pain after an extreme workout because you are taking your muscles as far as they can go. Even though pushing the limits is a blast, you have to give your tissues the best opportunity to recover from that extreme workout. 

Not only does it help your mind relax, which is one of the most important muscles in the body, but meditation will also boost your recovery time.

Fewer Meds

Many people reach for the bottle of ibuprofen or some over the counter pill when they feel aches and pains coming on. While these meds will lessen your pain and reduce inflammation, practicing meditation will lessen your dependence on these drugs because it will reduce your pain naturally. 

Besides, medications like ibuprofen can have serious effects on your body after long term use, including kidney and liver damage, bleeding in the stomach and bowels, and you can increase your risk of a heart attack. You are already putting a ton of pressure on your body with an extreme workout, why risk your internal organs? 

Strengthens The Immunity

The outdoors is often the setting for an extreme sport so keeping your immunity at it’s finest is important otherwise you might catch your death of cold after skiing off that Idaho summit. Since we brave the elements on our adventures, your immune system must be top-notch. 

Meditation has been the subject of immunity-related studies and it turns out that the effect this practice has on how the immune system functions are amazing.  

Conclusion

We love working out to the extreme because when we push ourselves to the limit the adrenaline rush is amazing and we truly feel alive. The issue is when you practice anything in an extreme way you risk damaging your body. So implementing other activities like mindfulness and meditation allows us to continue our extreme lifestyles for years and years.