The other month at our season’s first swim meet I was talking to one of our team members post-race, one of favorite part of swim meets, and we covered what he thought he did well and what he could improve on at practice. The interesting part was when I asked him how he would go about improving and he stated, “get better endurance.” To that I asked
What is endurance?
He then stated, “well, better stamina” then I asked, “what is stamina?” and the cycle started over again with him stating “better endurance.”
The power of asking questions like this allow me to delve deeper and uncover what they are truly thinking and how I could best serve them.
He could have stated anyone of the other words that are a synonym for endurance such as: persistence, stick-to-itiveness, grit, spunk, guts, backbone, courage, longevity, durability, diligence, tenacity, tolerance, patience, fortitude, etc…Now, you’re probably wondering what endurance means (even if you think you know what it means here is my perspective). Endurance is basically the ability to be uncomfortable for an extended period or as I like to say, “be comfortably, uncomfortable.”
By a show of hands how many of you like to be uncomfortable?
You have basically two choices; use will power and fight your way through uncomfortable feelings, or you can learn to work with your body and make them become comfortable. The nervous system creates the discomfort and pain. When we feel pain, our body is telling us that something might be wrong and needs our attention. We can teach our bodies that what we are experiencing does not need our attention and that it is alright. Or if you decide to go with the other choice and fight your way it is kind of like having a knife pressed against you skin and then trying to distract yourself from it only that it keeps pressing harder and harder into your skin. I would rather figure out what the reason the knife is there in the first place and take care of that.
First step to this is delving into what is uncomfortable and opening your awareness around it. Most tend to move away from discomfort by distracting themselves in ways that do not serve them, it only provides a temporary reprieve. A simple question to ask is “what’s causing this discomfort?” and see what comes up. Now that you know what is causing the discomfort you can work with it. One way we work with it is through breathwork and breathing. One technique that we teach is a box breath. Here is a simple explanation.
- Close your eyes. Breathe in through your nose while counting to four slowly. Feel the air enter your lungs.
- Pause your breath inside while counting slowly to four. Try not to clamp your mouth or nose shut. Simply avoid inhaling or exhaling for 4 seconds.
- Begin to slowly exhale for 4 seconds.
- Pause your exhale while counting slowly to four.
- Repeat steps 1 to 4 at least three times. Ideally, repeat the four steps for 4 minutes, or until calm returns.
Next time you find yourself experiencing discomfort give this a go and see what happens. Finding what we are looking for is typically on the other side of discomfort.
When you become “comfortably, uncomfortable” and work with and not fight your discomfort you will develop more endurance. Discomfort is what happens when we are on the edge of change and tends be the currency of your dreams.
What can you become “comfortably, uncomfortable” with today?
