This will very likely not be my only post about music, one of the most powerful and healthy tools we have to frame our world in a more positive light!
Running and listening to music are two separate activities that we are all familiar with as tools in our emotional wellness toolbox, so naturally, the combination becomes a wonderfully effective power tool for those days when we need a little extra boost or a cathartic release. While there are many benefits to enjoying a quiet run with the mental space to introspect and take in your surroundings, listening to music while running is a distinctly different experience from listening to music while at rest. Getting in the zone during a good run with music can be even more restful and reinvigorating for my mind than a good night’s sleep, and I am beyond thankful for the days when this magical combo has allowed me to find calm in the midst of the occasionally overwhelming stress of life.
There are many parallels between the way in which dancing adds a physical and spatial component to music, allowing your body to give shape to sound, and adding a physical dimension to a sonic experience. When you are running, you get the additional mental freedom of not worrying that you should be doing something else (as is sometimes the case when you listen to music while performing tasks around the house, for example), and you have the ability to focus on the progression of sounds you are hearing and the spatial feelings you are having. Your body is moving towards a fixed end goal (the end of your run) while each song also gives your mind the ability to partition your run into parts, which is always a helpful tactic when trying to reach a goal that can seem daunting or overwhelming. This mental space of focusing only on one physical task – continuing to run – is simple enough that the thinking needed to perform the motion itself demands little mental energy, while the physical effect of running provides an increase in metabolism and energy that your brain can put to productive use by naturally increasing your focus. Music can be a welcome target for our attention instead of having to think about all of our naturally-occurring thoughts, which can sometimes be negative or overwhelming. The increase in figurative mental space combined with the augmented abilities and energy of your central nervous system while running provide a profoundly meditative opportunity for focusing on distinct elements of the musical running experience.
The increased ability to understand the spatiality of music while physically moving your body at the same time is an incredible phenomenon. When I run to music that is richly built with distinct sounds, these sounds take on more shape than they would if I was at rest. It seems as though my surrounding physical environment becomes imbued with musical significance, and that the space I am moving through begins to mirror the density and intensity of sound waves that are making their way from my headphones, through my eardrums, and eventually manifesting as electrical impulses in my brain. The slight rolling hills of the concrete path seem to correlate surprisingly well to certain patterns of sounds that I am recognizing in the music. The changing intensity of the wind on my skin and the motion of the trees and plants swaying their leaves work in tandem with the changing energy of the songs I am listening to as they progress from verse to bridge to the climactic chorus. There is a very particular awareness of intermingling patterns and the wholeness and harmony of not only the music itself, but of your particular place on this particular running route, in this particular universe. The human mind loves trying to make sense of patterns, connecting them all together and imbuing a larger sense of meaning into your individual experience, especially while your brain is being flushed with oxygenated blood on a good run.
Part of the beauty of music is that everyone resonates with different combinations of sounds and messages, based on their minds, life experiences, present context, and mood. I, for example, love to listen to Taylor Swift, and I don’t have to have an articulable reason for liking the combination of her voice and music styles. It puts me in a positive mood and continuously stimulates my mind, so it works well for me. Music is powerful because it can help incite certain moods. One mood that runners may like to feel is ‘pumped up’, which could include the complex layering of sounds, highly resonating and contrasting melodies, and stark beat associated with pop music. Others may derive this mood from the more intense, sharp, less-contrasted and more continuously energized chaos of certain varieties of screamo, for example. Part of what determines taste for music is the abilities of the listener to focus on particular salient aspects of a song. I don’t listen to this type of music because I have a difficult time directing my thoughts in a particular direction when I am overwhelmed by sounds that I associate with negative stress, but others may find that they are motivated or even pacified by the cathartic sound of this type of music. I have begun listening to music with funk/house vibes on long runs (shoutout to my DJ friend Trish for introducing me to so much amazing new house music!) because they have a great beat which helps me to maintain my flow of high energy, and they have many subtle changes which keep the music progressing at a rate that doesn’t overwhelm me or throw off my mental flow.
While running can enhance one’s ability to experience, appreciate, and analyze music, music can also just help to decrease feelings of exhaustion and boredom associated with running. In my experience, listening to music when I am relegated to a treadmill during the winter months is a necessity because it offers a focus for my attention even when my environment fails to be dynamic and refreshing like it is when I am outdoors. Some of the best tempo runs I’ve ever done were on the treadmill while listening to music because the pace can be extra-controlled, and I don’t have to worry about anything except physically staying on the treadmill at tempo pace while I focus on my latest and greatest playlist, and the positive emotions I get from having my head filled with positive thoughts, an energizing beat, and the knowledge that I’m doing a good thing for myself by completing a hard workout.
Although the combination of music and physical activity often can’t be beat, I don’t want to overshadow the meditative value of running without music. Sometimes there is nothing more healing than focusing on your own thoughts and environment while on a run, without added distractions. I typically choose to listen to music on days when I need a boost in energy or when I am not thinking enough positive thoughts, and I try to run without music on beautiful days when I am calm and it might benefit me to have the freedom to either focus on the beauty of my surroundings or to be alone with my thoughts in order to come to a personal breakthrough.
I’ve put together a somewhat eclectic but fire playlist of some of my favorite feel-good running music, so have a listen on your next run and just focus on feeling good and letting go!
- Send me the names and artists of a few of your favorite running songs that make you feel nothing but good things, write a blurb about why they’re your favorite (if you so choose), and submit them in the Contact Us section for your music selections to be featured in future posts! Thank you for sharing your positivity with the world.
Run forth with a focused mind and a heart full of love!
Josh Janusiak