One of the biggest pieces of news this month is the announcement that Nike has teamed up with meditation-app giant Headspace and their plans to come together to provide a new kind of running-meditation experience.
What’s more, all your content can be accessed from within the Nike Run Club app, making the transition seamless.
The project launched on the 1st March 2018 and is now available to all members of the Nike app. If you’re not already a member of Headspace, you can trial the service by accessing three free audio-guided running sessions. The aim is to give runners the chance to become mindful while exercising as you would anyway.
Looking into the program, the guides come with both instructions and advice from running instructors and meditation coaches. These audio files will teach you how to improve your running, but this is a first when it comes to workouts being actively combined with mindfulness.
It’s safe to say that Headspace is, by far, one of the most popular meditation apps, so it will be interesting to see where this goes.
One of the most common problems that people face when it comes to meditation is trying to find the time, so being able to combine it with the activity of running, something people already do throughout their days or in the gym, makes sure that there are no excuses.
However, the primary aim that the companies have with this combination is to help you focus better on your workouts. This will help you to get more from your exercises and therefore better results from your workouts.
Andy Puddicombe, the co-founder of Headspace, states;
“Mindfulness is the ultimate tool for any athlete at any level.”
He goes on to say;
“Easy to learn and simple to apply, it can help strengthen motivation, increase focus, improve resilience, enhance form, optimize recovery and, perhaps most important of all, get us out of our head and into the body for an enjoyable and fulfilling training session.”
However, if you’re not a user of the Nike Run Club app, all is not lost. Headspace is also in the process of updating their app to include tips from Nike. These include pieces of advice from the Nike Training Club, helping you to stay mindful and maximise your efforts while in the gym.
Currently, there are no more programs available than the first three sessions, but more are planned to be released in the future.
So, what do you think? Do you think combining meditation and exercise such as this is beneficial? While I believe that any form of meditation is good, especially if it helps people who don’t already meditate to give it a try to see what they think, focus is divided.
I believe that when you’re running, you should be mindful of what you’re doing but the same can be said for meditation. Being able to sit still and mindfully is very difficult to do on its own, let alone while you’re trying to run safely.
As before, this is a relatively new venture, so we’ll have to see how the this plays up in the future.
Watch this space.
