To derive the absolute most benefit from your training (or any situation/action), you must watch yourself performing said action. In the Training article, I spoke about watching your body work, and working out based on the current needs of your body, rather than following a pre-constructed schedule. This article goes into more depth on the observer and flow. 

There exists a consciousness “behind” the mind and the body (I say behind because it feels like it is deeper entrenched within my body). From this consciousness  you can simply observe your thoughts, and observe your body. Being able to do so gives one tremendous power over their physical life, as well as the ability to transcend it. You are able to watch the body perform on autopilot, using all the knowledge the body has acquired wether you are conscious of this knowledge or or not. From this standpoint, you merely have to watch you body perform whatever tasks it needs to perform to achieve the goals you have set for it. You body knows what it needs much better than any logical deduction your mind could ever come up with.

“I never made a single one of my discoveries through rational thinking” – Albert Einstein

“As you plant, so you reap” – Lao Tzu

Observing as the observer also allows you to watch thoughts flow through your mind, without being attached to them. This is probably the most incredible power we possess and use to control our physical reality. When you become aware of the thoughts going through your mind, and realize that you are in no way forced to be attached to them, you gain complete control over the state of your physical existence. From this standpoint, you can see the thoughts go by, and choose which ones to act upon. You can choose which thoughts you want to embody, which ones dictate how your reality presents itself. As you become aware of a thought flowing through your mind, you can CHOOSE to associate yourself to it. This causes you to embody a physical and emotional state, and immediately your physical reality will reflect this. If you choose a positive thought, you will see your reality bringing you more positivity and of what you asked for. You see your world through a positive lens. You will receive whatever you put out. People who are in negative states (upset, frustrated, sad, depressed etc) have simply experienced a negative thought that passed through their mind and associated themselves with it. They chose to create a negative reality for themselves at that moment. The catch is that the more of a certain kind of thought you associate yourself with, the more you will have those thoughts. Consistently acting upon thoughts of the well being of yourself/others, or thoughts of non-attachment or love, for example, will bring about more thoughts of that nature. In turn, you have a larger selection of positive thoughts to choose from, and therefore less negative ones.

If you have ever been depressed, or in a lasting state of sadness, you will notice that the only way out is thinking and embodying positive thoughts. Instead of thoughts like “I want,” or “I need to do this less” you may think “I have” or “I choose to do this more.” The simple act of changing the thoughts you have and acting upon them is what creates your physical states. In this case, we go from a state of wanting (which warrants not having, and thus powerlessness) to a state of abundance, having, and therefore power over. We go from “doing things less,” which is a negative thought, to choosing (control) to do something more (which is positive). Thus as the depressed person begins to realize what they HAVE, rather than what they WANT or DON’T HAVE, they go from a state of lacking to a state of power and abundance!

In bodybuilding, we can use our thoughts in many ways. Instead of thinking “I want to look like this” we can think “I choose to do this.” This takes us from a state where we have little control over the situation, to a state where we are in full control of exactly what we need to do to yield results. While squatting, we can observe our thoughts as things get difficult. As your mind takes cues from your Central Nervous System, it instructs your mind (not in words) to put the weight down because the hamstrings are straining hard and are approaching their limits, or maybe the joints in the knees are experiencing an aching sensation. You might be thinking “rack the bar” or “put the weight down, no more!”(maybe at that 8th or 9th rep). If you are aware of these thoughts (which are the reason you put the weight down in the first place), you can choose to not listen to them. You can ignore them and keep going (until you get to that 15th or even 20th rep!). It is in these instances that the body grows and strengthens, as you are surpassing the plateaus you created earlier. You can tell yourself “I choose to do ten more,” or “this is lightweight!” The point being that you don’t have to stop when your mind tells you to stop. It’s not your mind that’s doing the work, it’s your body! Stop when it stops.

Taken outside the gym and into a nutrition aspect, it is also your thoughts that dictate what, when and how you eat. Become aware of your thoughts, and you can watch any craving or desire for a food your body doesn’t really want go away! It is the thought saying “this is so good” or “pie is my favorite” that engages your body in taking action so that the said food ends up in your mouth. Noticing the thought “I am hungry” or “let’s go get fast food” allows you to detach from it, and choose wether or not you act on it. You can then change it to “I noticed my body appreciates live foods, so I’ll eat those blackberries,” or just change the thoughts into something completely new, such as “let’s go to a club!” and go to a club. These are just examples, what I am saying is that by observing your thoughts, you have the choice of acting upon them or not, and therefore altering your reality and what you physically do and feel. Step back into the observer behind the thoughts, and watch how your thoughts become your world.