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    Mindful cycling – Practicing meditation through cycling

    One of the most common misinterpretations of meditation is the idea that this form somehow requires a sedentary form. In fact, this belief is so widespread that a lot of people come to recognize meditation by the quarter lotus, half lotus or even full lotus seat rather than anything else. What’s so ironic about this is the fact that people completely negate the main aspect of meditation – its spiritual and relaxing side and focus on something external and borderline irrelevant. When it comes to the true meditation, the mindset you assume is all that matters, which is why meditation can be practiced even while cycling. Here are a few things you may need to know about this.

    The first step: relaxation

    While some people use cycling as a form of exercise or a mean of urban commute, in order to truly get in touch with your inner self and start practicing true meditation through cycling you need to start by emptying your mind. In an exercise, you may have a designated time or a distance you want to spend cycling, while with a commute you have a target destination in mind. For meditation to work, however, you must empty your mind and focus only on the sensation that the cycling itself brings. Nonetheless, you need to make sure there is nothing in the physical world to hold you down. This means stretching and dressing appropriately, in order not to allow an itch, tight clothes or back pain to distract you.

    Choosing the right route

    Another thing you should remember is that the choice of the route may play a crucial part in the overall success of your intentions. You see, when using your bike as a mean of transportation, you are usually inclined to pick the shortest route to your target destination. On the other hand, here, you are supposed to focus more on the path than where it will eventually take you.

    First of all, you should look for a route with as little interruptions as possible. You want your cycling session to run as smoothly as possible and you won’t be able to do that by bumping into the road work in progress and having to take an unexpected detour. Furthermore, the quality of the road matters as well, seeing how bumps, dents and the overall low quality of the road ahead may diminish your experience by quite a bit.

    Getting the right bike

    The next thing you need to keep in mind is the fact that the choice of the road bike you choose may also have a huge impact on the way in which your meditation process flows. You see, there are more than a few types of road bikes and each one of them has their own characteristics, traits and road preferences.

    For instance, racing bikes are designed to be fast and efficient and are, for this very reason, extremely popular amongst urban commuters. On the opposite side, you have the so-called endurance bikes, which are made for a more comfortable upright riding. As you can see, the choice of the bike alone can influence the way in which you experience your rides. This being said, you can browse for bicycles online  and see the variety of road bikes offered.

    Repetitiveness is on your side

    Another thing you need to keep in mind is that one of the key methods of relaxing lies in the idea of performing calming repetitive actions over and over again. Sounds familiar? Well, if you get the right bike, choose an adequate route and perform your preparation stage right, this is exactly what you’ll get from your cycling session. Word of caution, even though you are expected to fall into a sort of a meditative trance, remember that you are still an active member of the traffic and as such, can’t allow yourself to get too distracted. Safety always comes first.

    A tech-free ride

    Finally, a 2017 car or a motorbike has a tendency of resembling a sci-fi ride more closely than its 20th-century counterpart. This is why cycling also gives you a chance to escape this high-tech world at least for an hour and try to reconnect with some remaining elements of the pre-hyper-connectivity era in your city. One more thing you should look out for here are the so-called electric bikes, which represent, more or less, a gray area of this topic.

    In conclusion

    As you can see, practicing meditation through cycling is not only possible but also extremely beginner friendly. This being said, you aren’t required to be experienced in either cycling or meditation in order to start reaping the benefits of their symbiosis. On top of it all, cycling is also great for your health, your budget and the planet. Needless to say, each of these notions alone would be more than enough to encourage you to start cycling this very day.

    Chloe Smith
    Chloe Smith
    Chloe Smith is a cycling enthusiast, business consultant and a part-time writer always willing to share tidbits of advice. She believes that passion, courage and, above all, knowledge breed success.

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