April 23, 2020
Combining Meditation and Exercise in Your Practice 
by Ilana Milstein, personal trainer & Pilates instructor
We have so much on our minds. We are stressed, scared and feeling cooped up. The experts are saying make a schedule, exercise, reach out to friends, meditate. As New Yorkers, we are used to multi tasking, rushing, keeping busy. We are not good at being idle. Our days used to consist og running on autopilot through our routines, including our workouts. Now is the time to slow down.
Moving our bodies is not just good for our physical well being but for our mental well being as well.
How do we do this?
We need to slow down our exercise routines as well. For those of you who love a
HIIT workout, a good run in the park, a spin class, try yoga, try pilates, try slowing down a strength training workout.
Pay attention to your muscles and what they are doing. Pay attention to your breath. Breathe out on your exertion and in on your relaxation repeatedly. Breathe through the challenge and burn in your exercises. Push all other anxieties out of your mind and hone in on what your body is doing. That in itself is a form of meditation.
Here are a few cues to pull your mind into you body as you move through your workouts:
-Focus on your core during every exercise: Bring your belly towards your back
-Close your rib cage: Knit the ribs together
-Stabilization: While moving through your exercises think about stabilizing the rest of your body.
-Breathe
