Top Ten Zen #2: Body Follows Mind

Hey blog,

Ready for the second installment of Top Ten Zen?

Top Ten Zen

Andrew and Nick have compiled a list of Zen-like philosophies comprised firstly of a quote, an interpretation of said quote, and finally a story to drive their point home. This list can aid you in doing anything from completing a 100-mile race to surviving cancer, or obtaining any goal you set your mind to. 

I think I can I think I can...

"Body follows mind."

The Survivor’s Take: Life is mental (I did a post about this subject a couple months back. You can read it here: Life is Mental). Your body’s true limits are set by the brain. By manipulating your thoughts, you can achieve much more than you ever thought possible.

The Runner’s Take: Lore of Running by Tim Noakes and Matt Fitzgerald’s book Brain Training both speak to the concept of mind over matter. This belief states that your brain acts as the ‘central governor’ of your entire body and in endurance events ultimately controls how fast you can go and how much you can endure.

Survivor’s Tales: When I was dying in the hospital in May of 2008, my body shutting down and rapidly deteriorating, the doctors gave me a couple weeks to live, and everyone knew it. The only person totally oblivious to the dire news was…me. I had no idea how bad I was, so I thought: “You know, this sucks, but I’m going to get out of this and then we’ll be done with all this silliness.” (Much stronger language was likely used.) Because I didn’t know how bad I was doing, I believed I would survive, and guess what? I did! Despite a less than 10% chance of survival I didn’t give in and I didn’t give up. I inadvertently lied to myself that things would be okay and my brain shrugged its metaphorical shoulders and agreed with me, dragging my reluctant body along with it. Whether you lie to yourself or you actually believe you can achieve more than you or anyone else thinks, your brain has an astounding capacity to overachieve and push beyond the limits of what is deemed possible.

Mountain Tales: During my most recent 100-miler (Ronda del Cims) I experienced first-hand what many runners call “smelling the barn.” It’s that strange phenomena that occurs when we ultrarunners approximate the finish line of a race and feel a sudden ‘boost’ in our speed and endurance in spite of fatigue. In my case, I was about 10 kilometers off from the finish line and running neck and neck with my friend and contender for 3rd place. We’d heard 2nd place was only about ten minutes ahead of us and with 10 kilometers to go, he was within what my brain decided was striking distance. Despite the 40,000+ feet of climbing, 100 miles and 30+ hours on my legs, I sped up and sped up fast. Within 5 kilometers I had 2nd place in my line of sight and steadied myself, preparing for a swift and merciless strike. I proved that my mind’s drive to compete was capable of overriding my body’s immense fatigue.

Yikes. I think I can I think I can...

Just to add an extra "oomph" to our point, I recently read this article after hearing about it in a book. It emphasizes and proves the very point the two of us made in the above stories, and proves just how astounding both the human body and mind can be:

A Little Deception Helps Push Athletes to the Limit

Of course, just because we are sharing our own extreme examples does not mean that these philosophies are all strictly for extreme situations. We share these because they can be used by anyone in the proper situations and we invite you, dear reader, to take these helpful tips into the world to use as you see fit. It is both of our hope that these do some good somewhere, and so we wish you luck in your journey of a thousand Zen-filled steps.

Nick Hollon

Andrew Bundy