Mindfulness is an art and a skill. Something that takes practice and time to develop. To me it’s being fully present in the moment and aware of what you are doing. Embracing each moment at a “present” and therefore nothing else being worthy of distraction. Similar to meditation, I find it’s easy to become distracted by your thoughts and lose connection with the present moment.

I like practicing mindfulness and meditation through many different methods. The wim hof method of breathing, cold showers, ice baths, stretching, sitting, jiujitsu, eating, and simply breathing and living. Every little bit of your life has the potential to be a practice into mindfulness.

One of the reasons I enjoy jiujitsu so much is that it’s an act or practice of mindfulness. It has meditative qualities that helps me connect with myself. At times I find myself thinking about other things… The business, family time, taxes (that one was heavy a few weeks ago), the next competition, or a comment someone made to me in passing. It’s not always a blissful time of deep focus and healing on the mat. In fact, drilling seems to be the time when I am better able to connect with my inner thoughts and tune myself to a more focused self. I am more conscious of what I am thinking when I am drilling. I get bored, distracted, go into variations, or change your movements. Drilling is a constant practice that you need to do not only with yourself but with another person. Timing, transitions, reactions, can take you out of the moment, but they can also bring you back to the here and now.

Rolling can be a way for me to avoid my problems and “just go.” However, drilling seems to be more conscious minded. A mindful act. Although I think that rolling and drilling should both work towards the same effect, drilling seems to be much more of a challenge when my mind is cluttered.

“The mind is like muddy water. When it’s shaken up you can’t see through it.You have to let it sit still so the sediment settles in the bottom until the water becomes clear.”

I love that Reed said this at our Wim Hof Workshop. Clarity of the mind is another way to describe what mindfulness is working towards. This clarity is something I hope to share more with my students in our group lesson and personal training sessions as we drill, roll, train, and challenge ourself on and off the mat!