Joel Perez Coaching

The reason for this post is there has been a rise in the use of quantified self gadgets. They allow you to track your fitness or health on a continuous basis. The benefits of the gadgets as far as I can see is that its an easy way to see progress as you are trying to reach a goal. So as you see the positive numbers and you as you begin the physical manifestation of your hard work in your body this will encourage you to keep the change in lifestyle forever. This is great and I really like this. But to be honest I rather not spend the money personally. Instead I like to these 2 things.

1. Mind-body check ins when your by yourself

Of course no one like to admit that they spend a lot of time alone. The reality is that in our society we spend a lot of time alone. We are alone because your doing something private. We are alone because we need to drive to work. Sometimes we do our job in groups and sometimes our job requires us to work in quiet. The point is that when you are alone this can provide you a little time to to do a mind-body check in.

Mind body check-ins are things you to do that provide you information about how your mind and body are working. Here are 3 examples of ways you can do a mind-body check in.

3 examples of Mind Body Check-ins to do by yourself.

1. Work out: This one probably seems pretty straight forward. But I want to stress that you need to make sure you pay attention to the information that your body is telling you. This something you should be able to do no matter what type of exercise. However if you feel that your particular exercise is too intense, especially if your used to working out in groups then you should take a look at my next suggestion. 
2. Movement snack: this is similar to a work out but its just a smaller but equally nutritious  portion of a workout. One way to do this is to practice your golf swing. As you practice instead of thinking about the trajectory of an imaginary ball. Think about whether your body is responding to the stimulus. Do you notice any weakness? Do your muscles feel fatigued? How does this make you feel? What can you do next? 
3. Meditation: meditation is more of a mental check in. As an aside meditation work better after a body check in so you can combine it with any of my other suggestions. Meditations can be done in any increment, from 2 minutes, 20 minutes and even to hours. However I would like to stress that meditation can appear in many forms. Here are 3 forms of meditation that you may not have heard of. 
   1. Body Scan meditation: This can be done when you notice that your mind is racing. I do this what I cant sleep. It calms the mind and if you find that you need to do this often that it may be a sign that your life is pretty full, so much that its affecting your sleep.
   2. Breathing exercises: This can be done while driving or doing any other activity where you would be concerned that your mind and body were fully checked in for safety.

2. Mind-body check ins when your with other people.

Mind-body check-ins with other people are more simple than the above. This might sound really intimate and it can be but t doesn’t really have to be. And your mind went there then I obviously don’t need to go over the intimate version of this. So for the purpose of this article I will discuss a type of check that you can do while you interact with anybody.

1. Listening Fully
2. Expressing yourself Fully.

Not only do you receive information about yourself from the other person as you interact with them but you should also should be connecting with yourself throughout the interaction. Although I can expand on this much further I think it would be great to hear what you have to say.