Wise Effort and Mindful Movement
In today’s episode of the podcast, we’ll be exploring Wise Effort. Practicing Wise Effort means being mindful of how you’re using your energies and your attention – and whether that is moving you towards fulfilling your intentions.
This is something we can look at in meditation practice, or in movement practice…and hopefully apply in the rest of our life’s activities.
Episode Details:
You’ll hear about Wise Effort (or Right Effort) in the context of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path, and why it’s important to pay attention to not only what we do, but how we do it. When we put energy into a task or towards a goal, is there a tone of steadiness and clarity, or grasping and striving? Are we working too hard and getting exhausted, or not doing enough to build any momentum?
Wise Effort can include:
- generating the effort to start your practice and keep practicing
- refining the kind of effort you’re using in your practice (or any activity)
- the effort to bring your attention back to the present moment
- the inner work of making ethical choices, or avoiding harmful, reactive actions
- the resolve it takes to be present with mental and emotional states
I’ll also underline the role Wise Effort plays in Mindfulness practice, beyond just “being with what is.” Sometimes Wise Effort supports us to sit with something that’s challenging, other times we engage Wise Effort to redirect the mind because we’re overwhelmed or moving into a habit track that we don’t want to reinforce.
And, of course, you’ll hear how a mindful movement class can be an incredible laboratory for observing your relationship to effort!
Since I’ve recently been teaching a class series that combines resistance bands with mindful movement, this topic has been very much on my mind. I’ll talk about how this added element of strength has inspired some interesting ways to investigate Wise Effort in a class that’s normally gentler and quieter.
As we get to know the actual sensations of physical effort, we can get better at taking our cues from the body, rather than falling into deeply conditioned habits around effort.
Historically speaking, I tend to be a bit of an over-doer, so I share some personal examples of how I try to apply what I’ve learned “on the mat” about Wise Effort, so it can have a greater balancing influence on how I live and work. I hope this episode will also inspire you to reflect on your relationship with effort, and how you can engage with it in a curious, playful, non-judgmental way.
Resources & Links from this episode:
- The Four Right Exertions, from Samyutta Nikaya 49.1 – a Buddhist teaching mentioned in this episode.
- This is a short video with Buddhist monk Ajahn Amaro, explaining the Eightfold Path – which Wise Effort is a part of. (It also includes an interesting tidbit about the possible connection between the Buddha’s teaching and Ayurveda.)
- For a related read (from a more yoga-oriented perspective), check out this 1980 Yoga Journal article by Joel Kramer, “Yoga as Self-Transformation”. You’ll find some similar themes related to effort and embodied movement practice. (And yes, Yoga Journal has changed a lot since 1980…)
And, if you enjoyed this topic, you might also like Episode 46 “Do You Crave Intensity in Your Mindful Movement Practice?”
P.S. Did you know there is a Free Membership Tier of the Moved To Meditate Class Library? Learn more about the Class Library and sign up for your Free Library Card to access the five featured classes from the catalog each month.