When I think of meditation, I picture an image of serenity a wide-open room, a person sitting cross-legged on a mat, eyes closed and mind relaxed. Meditation, to me, conjures up peacefulness, calmness, quietness and stillness.

Which is why the sight of bulging biceps, dripping sweat and a barbell slamming to the floor doesnt exactly fit with that picture. But looking a little closer, the practice of weightlifting actually has a lot more in common with the art of meditation than first meets the eye.

To meditate is to spend time in quiet thought, as the dictionary puts it, and while the purpose of meditation is to still the mind, that doesnt necessarily mean stilling the body. Meditation, many people mistakenly believe, can be performed only through sitting quietly and clearing the mind of intrusive thoughts. In actuality, meditation can be as simple as focusing your mind on a single point of reference, even when intrusive thoughts insist on cropping up.

Meditation can be achieved in the middle of Times Square, said Cali Estes, a psychologist, personal trainer and chief executive of the Miami-based Addictions Coach, which offers help to celebrities and corporate leaders trying to overcome drug, alcohol and other problems.

Meditation is simply the decompression of thoughts and clearing of the mind from any unwanted, negative threats or harmful ideals that can sabotage your success, [and] using exercise as a means to release stress and clear the mind is an excellent tool in both personal and professional life, said Estes, who uses a variety of methods in her work, including exercise and meditation.

And in a world that increasingly has people chained to desks and screens and spreadsheets and Snapchats, it may be more important than ever to free the mind by first freeing the body through exercise.

When I am lifting and seriously lifting theres nothing else besides me, the iron and the goals I place around it, said Janelle Tank, 23, a personal trainer and fitness entrepreneur from Michigan who began weightlifting three years ago to protect against what she calls self-hate and substance abuse. My life up to that point was ... well, I shouldnt be here today.

After experiencing a miscarriage that left me feeling unmoored, weak in more ways than just physically, I also turned to weightlifting, and I soon realized the benefits that could be unlocked through grunting, repping and sweating more than I thought a 5-foot-4, 150-pound woman of 30 should ever sweat. There is such blissful release in the hour I spend at the gym, where I can think of nothing but the next repetition, pushing through the burn, completely focused on one task, instead of the hundreds of to-dos normally flitting through my mind like a relentless Rolodex.

Weightlifting, I have come to find, is my meditation. Breathe in, breathe out, lift, hold and repeat.

Consciously focusing the attention of the mind is the backbone of meditation, notes Larissa Hall Carlson, 41, a yoga, mindfulness and ayurveda expert at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Any activity can be done mindfully, [but] what turns an ordinary exercise into a potent and benefit-rich form of meditation is ones awareness and intention.

Carlson says by focusing all of ones attention on the lifting of weights, indulging in the sensation of muscles contracting and releasing, feeling the roughness of your skin against the weight in your hands, noticing the sweat trickling down your back, and by connecting breath with movement, it is possible to transform a workout into what she dubs meditation in motion.

And its that meditation in motion that fitness experts, such as celebrity trainer Kira Stokes, say can affect the rest of life. Stokes, who is based in New York, trains her clients to focus on every muscle contraction through her Stoked method, a mindfulness practice she encourages them to use throughout the day. Her clients learn to pay attention to their breath, when to inhale and exhale with stress, and to recognize how it feels when their muscles are clenched in tension.

You become more aware on an average day of how youre feeling: Do I need to sit down? Do I need some fresh air? Do I need to take a nap? she said.

I guard my meditation-in-motion time fiercely. That hour is more than just me time; it is also a time that allows my mind to empty enough to tackle the rest of my life.

I started lifting weights because I wanted to feel stronger at a time in my life when I felt the weakest. And it is through weightlifting that I have found my strength in one of the most unlikely of places my own mind.

Read more:

Pumping iron able to provide a type of meditation in motion - Northwest Herald