Meditation Biking OR 4 Steps to a More Relaxed Ride

I rode my bike down to the lake today. The trip is a decent ride about 9 miles each way. My bike doesn't have gears. Its a 60's Schwinn Cruiser with coaster brakes. I don't listen to music when I ride and without gears my mind starts to drift to the subtleties of biking. I start to think about all the different sensations that are happening in my body. I start trying to dissect the automatic and investigate things a bit more, in hopes of making the ride more enjoyable. Here's a few things I noticed today :)

 

1. RELAX
Since I'm on a cruiser, I'm sitting nearly straight up. When my posture is right I can release nearly all the tension in my back and just stay suspended in the seat, pretty much by the curvature of my spine. This makes for more effortless riding. If I end up more hunched over, I lean into the handle bars, the more I lean into the handle bars, the more my forearms, shoulders, and back muscles engage creating tension. The same thing happens with gripping the handlebars. I'm always trying to use the lightest, most relaxed grip on the handlebars as possible. To me, gripping the bars tighter doesn't create more control, it just creates tension. I let the bars stay loose in my grip and if I go over a rough patch of road, only then do I engage a firmer grip.

2. BREATH
When riding I try and keep my breaths as even as possible. Chest breathing promotes tension and anxiety - two things I never want while I'm riding my bike, especially through traffic. I'm always trying to use stomach/abdomen breathing as it promotes deeper breaths. Not only are the deeper breaths especially helpful going up hills but deeper breathing is also more relaxing, making for a more enjoyable ride.

3. PEDALING IN 4 PARTS
I notice that, of course, there's the down motion in pedaling and up motion in pedaling, but there's also the 2 ends nobody thinks about as much: the transition of the down into the up and the transition of the up into the down. Today riding along the lake paths, I tried to be mindful of keeping these transitions as smooth as possible - trying to avoid any 'stops' or 'jerkiness' between the down and up motions.

4. PEDALING AND (NOT)PEDALING
I push down on the pedals and the bike goes, sure, every one knows that :) but paying attention to my legs as the pedal goes up seems just as important as the force used to press down. As I'm nearing the end of the down motion, I try to make sure I guide my leg through the transition described above and then I try and release as much muscle tension in my leg as possible - simply letting the pedal guide my foot back to the top. By keeping my legs alternating this 'empty' state, I seem to have more stamina and push especially on hills.

Paying close attention to the subtle interaction between my bike and I as well as the inner workings of my body during a ride helps create a more meditative experience. My mind can then unwind at the same time I'm exercising my body. I usually arrive at my destination feeling more relaxed than if my mind is simply focused on the route or my time.

It'd be cool to hear what inner workings you pay attention to on your rides or what you think about the above 4 ruminations. Leave a comment on the blog or hit up my Facebook page :)


-Shane Olivo
The New Loud

5 Ways Tai Chi Has Made My Life (and Jiu Jitsu) Better

I've been practicing Tai Chi about 4 years now. I love it. It has become one of my passions. Last year I also started training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Neutral Ground in Milwaukee.  About 6-7 months ago Jon Friedland, the owner of Neutral Ground, gave me the opportunity to teach a Sunday night Tai Chi class there.

One day I saw one of my fellow Jiu Jitsu brothers at a concert and I was telling him about my Tai Chi class . He asked me how I got into Tai Chi and what I felt the benefits were. In the concert atmosphere it was hard to put together any concrete thoughts so I answered with a very generic "Uh… I don't know. I like it." - Hahahahaha


I feel like these are 2 really good questions though, so I thought I'd take the time to answer them here. Each question is pretty important, so I've decided to separate them into 2 different blogs :) This is part 2 of 2 and focuses on 5 things Tai Chi has done for me in life (and in Jiu Jitsu :) ).

1. Tai Chi makes my body feel electric and alive.
After doing my Tai Chi form my body feels as if I have heightened sensitivity from the inside out. I'm sure some would describe this as 'chi', but I'm more western and the concept of 'chi' just doesn't quite resonate with me as much as some people. Maybe my blood is flowing more or more freely into areas normally constricted by everyday postures such as desk sitting or couch lounging. Maybe its the deep breathing that oxygenates my blood more or maybe its the much needed relaxation my muscles need. I'm sure its a combination of all of those and probably 1000 other things that create that tingle-ey, vibrant feeling that happens through my whole body while doing Tai Chi.

2. Tai Chi calms me down.
Since I started doing Tai Chi, I am able to better control my emotions. This isn't to say I don't get into arguments with people or get upset ever. But when arguments pop up now, I feel more 'in control' of myself and my ego than before I started Tai Chi. Also any post conflict stress seems to melt away almost immediately. Leaving me with a clear mind to examine the situation and hopefully gain perspective from it.

3. Tai Chi trains my body to be more relaxed and flexible.
At Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class people are always remarking about how flexible I am. I don't really practice a whole lot of stretching. Mostly my body is flexible from keeping the muscles relaxed. When my muscles are relaxed there is way more flexibility than a stressed or tensed muscle. In life, this 'muscle state awareness' helps you breakdown and dissect which muscles you actually NEED for any given task. Even in things like driving or cooking there are unnecessarily tensed muscle groups which lead to body stress. In BJJ terms, this extra flexibility might give you an extra few seconds to think of an escape or way out of a bad position before tapping. Or maybe someone doesn't have a submission on properly, relaxation gives you the extra flexibility that you need to not tap on something that isn't done correctly.

4. Tai Chi makes me more aware of my own body
The Tai Chi I do focuses on one 'basic' 37 posture form. The form is refined first from the external/physical aspects - body alignment and positioning. Because the process is an endless refinement of one set of movements, there is a meditative quality that comes into play as you begin to work on the internal aspects of the form such as breathing or muscle states or being aware of your 'center' and balance. This all adds to a heightened body awareness not only when doing the form, but in all aspects of life - walking, driving, rolling at Jiu Jitsu.

5. Tai Chi gives me a fresh perspectives on life
Tai Chi was originally developed from Daoist philosophies. If I find I'm having trouble with something and need new perspective I tend to examine it through a Tai Chi 'lens' where I can put to work the principles of staying relaxed, not trying to meet force with force, and keeping with the 'flow' in all aspects of my life from work to relationships to Jiu Jitsu.

Even after 4+ years, I feel my Tai Chi is just developing. Yet even so,  the benefits above (in addition to countless others) have already enriched my life so much that I will always be on my Tai Chi journey :)

-Shane Olivo
The New Loud

Why (How) Did I Start Doing Tai Chi?

I've been practicing Tai Chi about 4 years now. I love it. It has become one of my passions. Last year I also started training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at Neutral Ground in Milwaukee.  About 6-7 months ago Jon Friedland, the owner of Neutral Ground, gave me the opportunity to teach a Sunday night Tai Chi class there.

One day I saw one of my fellow Jiu Jitsu brothers at a concert and I was telling him about my Tai Chi class . He asked me how I got into Tai Chi and what I felt the benefits were. In the concert atmosphere it was hard to put together any concrete thoughts so I answered with a very generic "Uh… I don't know. I like it." - Hahahahaha

I feel like these are 2 really good questions though, so I thought I'd take the time to answer them here. Each question is pretty important, so I've decided to separate them into 2 different blogs :)

1. Why (How) Did I Start Doing Tai Chi?
I've always been interested in martial arts since I was a kid. I mean what kid doesn't like ninjas? When I was younger and all through high school I had terrible allergies to the outside as well as having asthma which totally dissuaded me from any physical activities or sports. By the time I was in my early 30's, I felt a real itch to start something martial arts-wise but didn't really know where to begin. At this point one of my best friends had been working on Southern Style Kung Fu and then Bagua for about 10 years. I talked to him about starting a martial art - I wanted him to teach me, but at this point in his life he didn't really have time.

The advice he did give was this: "Since you'll be just starting martial arts now, being a little older, you might want to look into some of the internal/softer styles of martial arts like Tai Chi or Bagua." Softer/internal styles of martial arts focus more on what's happening within your body and tend to be more meditative. Tai Chi specifically trains relaxation, sensitivity, center and balance. They focus on a 'soft' power which is, in theory, supposed to be able to overcome harder strength based attacks - though there are very Tai Chi 'masters' skilled enough to demonstrate this adage. Tai Chi is also a form of Qi Gong which has many health benefits from increased bone density to lowering blood pressure.

The Bagua teacher he learned from was very skilled, but only taught the public on Saturdays in Madison which didn't work very well with my work schedule at the studio. So I asked my friend if he knew any Tai Chi places and he said "I know this guy that's really good. He makes these crazy YouTube videos. You should check him out."



That's my Tai Chi teacher Casey in the video. Casey's been working on Tai Chi for about 13+ years. In the winter of 2009, Casey was teaching out of the Neutral Ground space (where I teach now). He had a Sunday morning class that I started going to. 2 years later, in January 2011, I went down to San Diego and competed in my first martial arts tournament, taking home 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal in Fixed Step, Restricted Step and Moving Step Push Hands (Tai Chi Sparring).

I love Tai Chi. It has benefitted my life in countless ways since I started. I'll focus on a few of the most important ones in the second half of this post: What Does Tai Chi Do For Me?

-Shane
The Newloud