A large theme in Buddhism is cultivating a one pointed mind. In bodybuilding, a one pointed mind is the key to allowing the body rather, than the mind, to take charge of when it needs to quit. I think of having a one pointed mind as being entirely encompassed in your present experience. You are in the Here and Now, you feel the moment, not one thought is taking away your attention from the current experience. Some call this a “flow state,” and when I enter this state in the gym, I begin to allocate my entire consciousness on what my body is feeling in each continuous moment. Although I physically see, hear and smell my surroundings, I am not consciously aware of the information being processed by those senses. I am strictly experiencing how my muscles are responding to the stimulus I present them with. This allows me to ignore any potential mental barriers, which lead to lower plateaus. Only by having this one-pointedness can I be sure that I am pushing my body beyond its current limitations.

I have noticed that the overwhelming majority of the plateaus I have experienced in bodybuilding are a result of a thought that I chose to embody. This thought would usually say something like “I can’t do another one” or “my forearms can not bear any more weight” or thinking about anything besides what I am experiencing in the current moment. After eliminating those thoughts, the only thing that is capable of getting me to put the weight down is the physical failure of the muscle I am training. That is my goal, that is the instance I feel like I’ve accomplished something great. This point is the point that makes every ounce of effort you have put into this movement worth it. After I succeed at attaining my physical limit, I become a more powerful, understanding and confident being. There is no feeling more blissful than giving something absolutely everything you can give it. That is true success.

Cultivating this one-pointedness is the key to embracing every instance in your life. The longer you can remain in this flow state, the more you realize that heaven is a state of being, that limitations begin in your mind, and that everyone is naturally in control of their own perspective. This flow state is a result of bringing the entirety of your awareness to the present moment. It is your natural, baseline state. All you need to do to experience it is remove anything that takes you out of the current moment.

“It’s not about the daily increase, but the daily decrease. Hack away at the unessentials.” – Bruce Lee

Anything going through your mind that you are aware of is distracting you from the present moment. This is not to say that ignoring your thoughts will put you in a flow state. It’s rather being aware of your thoughts, and consciously being able to empty them from your mind. You must accept them first, only then can your thoughts disappear for good. If there is nothing in the mind, it is then not limited in its ability to function in the moment. It is no longer assigning meaning to what is inherently empty. You cannot focus on the present when your attention is captured by the happenings in your mind. Become empty, become mindless. Only then can you use your mind to it’s fullest.

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.