You’ve come to the end of your Spartan Race Beast training, Spartan. Regardless of if you ran a Spartan Race yesterday, if you’re preparing for your race day today, or if you are preparing your body for your next week of workouts, you will benefit from today’s rest.

For today, we are focusing on meditation. Meditation is a recovery strategy to help train your mind. As Spartans, we can use meditation to enhance our muscle recovery, to improve our breathing habits, and to visualize our racing strategies. Any obstacles that you have trouble overcoming or any exercises which you have struggled to master can be worked out through simple meditation.

The Practice

• To begin, find a quiet location where you can sit or lay in stillness.
• Close your eyes.
• Just breathe. You do not need to control your breathing. Allow your body to fall into each breath naturally.
• Stay mindful to how your body is moving with each breath. As you inhale, what is happening through your chest? Your shoulders? Your belly? What about with your exhale? Keep your mind on your breath for a minute or two.
• Now that you’ve observed your breathing, scan from head to toe and notice any areas which may be experiencing any unusual sensations. Starting at your head, moving down the body, do you have a discomfort?
• Stop at each area experiencing abnormal feeling. Spend a minute and focus your breathing deep into that region. Take multiple deep breaths, filling the entire space with your breath, before moving on to the next area.
• Finish off your practice today with a few more rounds of mindful breathing. Has your body movement or your breath changed from the beginning? Notice the relaxed state of your body. Is there any particular area that is feeling more at ease or more comfortable now at rest?

If you are new to meditation, you only need to spend between 3-5 minutes in stillness today to see the benefits. Finish out your day and take note of your body’s awareness. Continuing the practice of meditation will help to relieve stress and to improve your body’s overall performance. Start with practicing one time a week. As you become more comfortable at ease, you may find yourself wanting to meditate multiple times a week, for longer sessions.