Maybe the words exercise and meditation are contradictory to each other. Exercise is something aerobic, which involves a lot of energy and will help us activate our body, while meditation is quite the opposite, it is something much softer and more relaxing with which we deactivate ourselves. However, exercise and meditation are two totally complementary things, and a good way to end our training is to meditate after exercise, which has countless benefits.

He thinks that a healthy mind should develop in a healthy body and vice versa, and even if it is not usual we should combine exercise and meditation. However, the fact that they are complementary does not mean that one can replace the other, although it is also true that we can do both at the same time. Has it ever happened to you that while you were running or swimming, you've put your mind into a blank, and you've just focused on completing the exercise? In any case, meditation is best after exercise.

What are the benefits of meditation after training?

The first reason athletes should meditate after exercise is to deactivate the body. During our training we will have activated the body, we use a great deal of energy and it costs the body a lot to return to the initial state. The effects of this activation are evident especially when we exercise at the last minute of the day: then it is difficult for us to rest because the body is active, and we are unable to relax. However, meditation solves this problem.

Those relaxing properties are what help us sleep better after training. By meditating you strengthen your peace of mind and spirit, sleeping better and increasing your performance the next day. And not only that, simply meditating after training is one of the best ways to reduce stress. Both the hectic day-to-day frenzy and the pursuit of goals through exercise make us live stressed, but by relaxing our mind through meditation stress decreases what undoubtedly improves our quality of life.

You can also learn to breathe better through meditation, which involves greater oxygenation. In fact, breathing is one of the keys to meditation; all exercises have some breathing and exhalation times that we must respect in order for meditation to take effect. These exercises will help us learn to control breathing, something that we should apply beyond meditation sessions, for example to training. We often look at issues such as career technique, ignoring others such as relaxation and breathing, key factors in improving our performance.

Meditate before or after training?

We cannot finish without mentioning the increase in concentration and the strengthening of muscular elasticity implied by meditation, which opens the debate on whether it is better to meditate before or after exercise. When meditating it is easier to concentrate on a certain aspect, something basic when it comes to doing sport, avoiding that we distract ourselves with other thoughts and reducing mental fatigue. As for muscular elasticity, it is good to prevent injuries, aches and pains, etc., and helps to increase performance.

It is precisely because of these two qualities that there are those who prefer to meditate before training. Pre- and post-training meditation are also perfectly compatible. For example, you can combine meditation with your warm-up stretches, and then include these exercises in your warm-up routine. In any case, if you want to deactivate your body and rest better after training, there is nothing like dedicating the last 5 or 10 minutes of training to meditation.