10 minutes, eyes completely shut. 20 jumping jacks. 20 squats. 20 push ups. 20 sit-ups. Repeat 4 times. All without opening your eyes.

why would I do this? I have been struggling and doing my best with meditation, trying to active mindfulness and presence.

I figured if closing the eyes can help during meditation why not during workout.

this was certainly presence “causing”. I can’t remember focusing this intently on each movement and action.

So, this got me thinking as to why. Its well known our brains are built to work, pattern recognition, images triggering thoughts and stories in our heads leading us to day dream, or be lost in thought.

By turning off one  of the senses I am reducing the input to my brain in the hope that I can slow it down just a tad bit to find some calm.

Closing my eyes for that 10 minutes of exercise was as close an experience to being fully present for 10 minutes of meditation. I definitely plan to continue this experiment of closing off one of my senses and hope I can apply it to other aspects of my daily life.