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Mindfulness can help to improve athletic performance and overall physical and mental health and well-being. Not woolly, but practical and evidence- based.
In this article:
- What is mindfulness and what is it not?
- What can mindfulness add to CrossFit?
- How can you apply mindfulness today?
What is mindfulness and what is it not?
Spirituality, singing bowls, yoga, incense, woolly socks, nettle tea, being able to completely let go of difficult issues and striving for ultimate inner peace.
That is not what mindfulness is.
Mindfulness is a practical evidence based way of focused attention, in the here and now, without judgment.[1]
Some examples of what mindfulness can be in daily life:
- Taking ten minutes to do a puzzle with your child, totally emerging in the moment and forgetting about all those emails you have to handle, and without judging whether your child or yourself are doing it right or wrong.
- Giving your full attention to your deadlift technique during a workout, without being distracted by things happening around you, without judgmental thoughts about how good orbad your deadlift is.
- Making a conscious decision to take a break from the hustle and bustle at work to go for a short walk to recharge and feel better.
Focused attention, in the here and now, without judgment
All day long we are distracted by all kinds of stimuli and our attention is all over the place. While as a result nothing really gets our full attention it deserves.
We are constantly preoccupied with what has happened or what we have done, or with what is yet to come or what we still have to do. While we cannot change the past or predict the future, and being preoccupied with the future brings potential problems and worries into the present resulting in more stress.
Everyone has an opinion about everything and everything should always be better, stronger, more beautiful and faster. While no one really seems to feel better by all those judgments and high demands.
Attention all over the place, constant pressure, and high demands
Meanwhile, over 25% of Dutch adults report experiencing high levels of stress frequently. Some 40% of Dutch adults experience anxiety and depressive feelings. Stress-related symptoms are one of the main reasons for (long-term) work-related absenteeism. Nearly 20% of Dutch employees experience burnout symptoms and feel chronically tired and emotionally drained. And almost 60% of Dutch adults suffer from one or more chronic diseases.[2]
Something goes wrong…
It seems we have lost touch with our bodies and are guided mostly by the responsibilities and obligations we experience in daily life. By what we think we should do, should be able to do, or should want to do. External stimuli and external factors determine the choices we make in life and determine how we interact with our bodies and minds. A deadline at work comes at the expense of a good night's sleep, time to exercise regularly or time to eat lunch without distractions. While the body may have long indicated that it needs rest, regularity and cleanliness.
Many people have become masters in ignoring signals of their body and mind. They no longer notice signals, or don't recognize signals. Many people use and need apps to tell them if they had enough hours of sleep, if they recovered, if they have eaten enough and if they exercised enough.
Ignoring signals can sustain for a very long time. Until the body protests. Until the body screams that enough is enough, and we topple over with a burnout. We didn't listen when the body was whispering. Now we are forced to listen, now that the body is screaming at us.
Many people have lost touch with their body and mind, making them physically and mentally sick
Check for yourself: How do you feel today? How do you really feel today? What feelings are you having right now, and where do you feel those feelings in your body? In your belly maybe? Or in your shoulders or your throat? Maybe you are not aware of your feelings and of how your body is doing. Maybe you do not feel anything, or you do not have the words to describe how you are feeling.
The body and mind are very well capable of indication how you are doing and what you need. Emotions and feelings express themselves physically. Just think of a knot in your stomach or a lump in your throat.
Ignoring signals of the body and mind can lead to physical and mental health impairments.[3]. Repressed emotions can cause injuries and chronic pain.
Mindfulness is…
Mindfulness is a practical evidence-based method that can help to become more aware of the body and mind, to be able to make conscious choices in life that allow us to take care of ourselves, to experience less stress; to become more resilient to potential stressors, and to experience more joy and peace in life. With proven physical and mental health benefits.[4]
What can mindfulness add to CrossFit?
Much scientific research is being done on the effects of mindfulness based interventions. Although much is still unknown, for one because the field of mindfulness is continuously developing, it seems that mindfulness based interventions for anxiety and depression outperform non-evidence-based treatments and active control conditions, such as health education, relaxation training, and supportive psychotherapy.[5]
Specifically Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, a systematic method for mindfulness, has been scientifically shown to have positive effects on physical and mental health. A key part of this method is mindfulness meditation, in which the practitioner consistently practices strengthening the so-called attention muscle. For example by taking 5 minutes per day to practice solely focusing on breathing.[6]
The health benefits of mindfulness
Consistently practicing mindfulness meditation, and thereby training the ‘attention muscle’, helps to develop the ability to stay grounded in the present and not get overwhelmed by worrying thoughts and feelings, which helps to deal with symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Consistently practicing mindfulness meditation leads to long-term changes in several parts of the brain that improve attention control, emotion regulation, stress reduction and self- awareness and that have the potential for the treatment of clinical disorders.
Consistently practicing mindfulness meditation can improve brain function and structure with a wide range of positive physical and mental health effects:[7]
- Improvement of the body’s immune system function, and its healing capacity against diseases and skin conditions
- Improvement of inflammation in the body
- Protection against age- related brain decline and cognitive decline
- Slowdown of cellular aging/ biological aging caused by stress and disease
- Improvement cardiovascular capacity and heart health among which lower resting heart rate, lower blood pressure, and better heart rate variability
- Improvement of breathing patterns
- Improvement of sleep quality
- Reduction of chronic pain and pain sensitivity, and improvement of mood disturbances and negative body image related to chronic pain.
- Reduction of psychological stress, depression and anxiety, comparable to the effect of anti- depressants
- Improvement of mental resilience and mental toughness
- Improvement of mental focus, creativity and clarity which enhances learning new skills and developing behavioral changes, memory improvement
- Improvement of the capacity of shifting out of negative thoughts and performing tasks with less distraction
- Enhancement of psychological treatment strategies for obsessive compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder and drug addiction
- Reduction of cravings and substance mis-use
How can you apply mindfulness today?
Do you have 3 minutes a day? Then you can already experience the benefits of mindfulness!
Step 1: Block 3 minutes per day for 60 days
Block 3 minutes in your calendar, preferably every morning and at least on your training days, for a period of 60 days. Set an alarm clock as a reminder.
Step 2: Practice
Find a place where you will not be disturbed for 3 minutes. Set a clock to 3x 1 minute with a sound after each minute. Close your eyes to start.
- Minute 1: The check-in
Ask yourself: How am I feeling right now and where do I feel that in my body?
Maybe you feel tense and you can feel that in your jaws. Maybe you feel happy and relieved and you can feel that in your chest. Maybe you feel tired and you can feel that in your legs. Maybe you feel anxious and you feel that in your belly. And maybe you have no idea and think this is nonsense. Sometimes your head gives a different answer than your body. Maybe your head says you’re doing fine, but your body tells you something else. Try to listen carefully to your body.
- Minute 2: The breathing
Bring your full attention to your breathing and follow it from your nose, through your throat, to your chest and abdomen, and then back again. When you are distracted, notice it (no judgment, just neutral noticing), and bring your attention back to your breathing.
- Minute 3: The need
Ask yourself: What do I need right now and what can I do right now to take the best care of myself and of my body?
Maybe you don't have an answer to it, maybe you feel very restless or frustrated because your attention has wandered. Maybe your answer is to go to the gym, or to do a recovery workout or plan a rest day, or avoid exercises that put extra strain on your back, or stop drinking alcohol, or eat a healthy meal, of spend time with your family.
After 3 minutes, this practice is done.
Try this practice every day for 60 days.
Delay your judgement until after these 60 days. Because mindfulness takes time. Training your ‘attention muscle’ that helps to stay focused and present in the now and that helps to listen to your body and mind, takes time. Your ‘attention muscle’ gets stronger if you train it regularly. Just like any other muscle! As we say in CrossFit, consistency is key. Every training sessions adds to its strength even if you think the 3 minute practice does not work because you are constantly wandering off and do not really enjoy the exercise. You also probably do not like to squat every week.
There is a great chance that after some time you will get better at connecting with your body, listening to what it needs and acting on it. This is one of the ways mindfulness can help you become a better athlete physically and mentally, with better performance, less stress and more sports fun! Not woolly, but practical and evidence-based.
Concluding
Mindfulness has numerous physical and mental health benefits, not just relevant for athletes. Mindfulness helps put the body and mind in an optimal starting position, to do the things you want to do.
Improved training efficiency
Mindfulness can help to become more aware of your body and mind, your most important tools, and to use your body in a smarter and more efficient way. Being able to listen to your body helps to train more effectively. The balance between load capacity, what your body and mind can handle, and load, CrossFit, is essential to make progress. Your body will not get stronger but weaker if you always load it very heavily or overload it constantly with new skills (the brain controls the body!), and don't listen to it properly. When your body and mind are tired due to poor sleep, a lot of physical strain or mental stress, exercise is good but maybe that day at a lower intensity and less complex. When the body feels well rested, strong and energetic, it can be loaded more heavily or be exposed to new skills.
Honest motivator
Mindfulness can help to distinguish between “I feel tired because I don't really feel like exercising at all” versus “I feel tired because my body is tired and needs rest.” Mindfulness helps to become more honest to yourself. This allows you to make a conscious choice of either kicking yourself in the butt and go to the gym because you know it is good for you and you will feel great after, or taking a rest day and recover so you can perform at your best next time and will make more training progress than if you continue training when your body is actually already in the red. Mindfulness can be your motivator.
In that same context, mindfulness can also help to strengthen your attention muscle before and during a workout without being distracted by worrying thoughts or doubts, that can potentially hold you back from doing what you aspire to do. (The fear of failing in CrossFit)
Create your own health©
The slogan of CrossFit Eudokia! Mindfulness creates the opportunity to become more aware of what is already within you and to make a conscious choice on what you would like to do. Because you already have the strength, the power, the will, the beauty and everything else within you! For some reason it can be a little bit hidden and out of sight. With mindfulness you can create your own health!
References
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[2] Arbonet.(18 december 2024). Griepachtige klachten en stress boosdoeners vanziekteverzuim in 2024. Retrieved from: https://www.arboned.nl/nieuws/griepachtige-klachten-en-stress-boosdoeners-van-verzuim-in-2024.;CBS. (10 september 2024). 4 op de tien Nederlanders hebben angst- of depressiegevoelens.Retrieved from: https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/nieuws/2024/37/4-op-de-10-nederlanders-hebben-angst-of-depressiegevoelens.RIVM. Burnoutklachten. Retrieved on January 18th 2025 from: https://www.rivm.nl/mentale-gezondheid/monitor/werkenden/burn-out-klachten.;RIVM. (02 oktober 2024). Mentale Gezondheid. Retrieved from: https://www.rivm.nl/gezondheidsonderzoek-covid-19/kwartaalonderzoek-volwassenen/mentale-gezondheid;VZinfo. (18 juni 2024). Chronische aandoeningen en multimorbiditeit. Leeftijden geslacht. Retrieved from: https://www.vzinfo.nl/chronische-aandoeningen-en-multimorbiditeit/leeftijd-en-geslacht
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[4] Kabat- Zinn,Jon. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are.
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