Practice mindful walking in your local park or forest. Photo by Biel Morro on Unsplash Mindful walking is a way of learning to enjoy the simplicity of the present moment. It’s not a weird, uptight way of walking. It’s all about being natural and relaxed, but paying attention in a particular way. Berlin based dynamic movement and mindfulness teacher Tatjana Mesar often includes mindful walking exercises in her yoga classes and teacher training courses. She says it teaches people to maintain a broader awareness of what’s happening in the moment, rather than being distracted by one thing or another. “Walking mindfully is an opportunity to make life fresh everyday,” Tatjana says. “Even though we walk the same route, with a mindful mindset it will be fresh each time.” Let’s be honest, it’s easy to get distracted while taking a stroll, especially in the city. Attention grabbing advertising, attractive people who catch the eye, and loud noises – they bombard our senses, tugginh them in different directions. “We do live in an attention economy so there are a lot of things designed to rob our attention,” Tatjana says. “Mindfulness helps us remain aware of the whole picture rather than being pulled into those things.” All this sensory stimuli can be pleasant or unpleasant, Tatjana expains, causing us to either be attracted or repelled. Police sirens might cause us to tense up, and feel the urge to move away. Colourful lights, on the other hand, catch our eyes and draw us towards them. This constant pushing and pulling is tiring. We can also get lost in our own thoughts, becoming oblivious to the world around us. Here are Tatjana’s five steps to learn how to walk mindfully. Mindful walking helps us to feel and notice more as we walk. Photo by Jon Flobrant on Unsplash Take mindful nature walks It might be a lot easier for you to learn to walk mindfully in a nice park or forest than in a busy city. There are far fewer distractions and it’s easier to relax, which is the heart and soul of walking with presence. “When we remove ourselves from the city and go into nature, our senses become more open and curious and we immerse ourselves in the landscape,” Tatjana says. “Now the trick is to apply what we learn to the city.” Open your awareness Whether you’re practicing mindful walking in nature or the city, the next step is to learn to maintain a wide field of awareness rather than being pulled into details. There are two aspects to this: Sight: “Allow everything to enter your visual field without picking and choosing one object,” Tatjana says. “When you notice you are caught in a detail, simply widen your perspective again. It's like a camera; we can choose wide or narrow lens. We want to maintain a wide angle perspective.” Sound: This is the same as above, but applied to what we hear. Rather than zooming in on one sound, try to maintain a broader awareness of all the sounds around you. This takes time and practice to learn. “Try to keep the attention present on everything you are hearing,” Tatjana says. One footstep at a time The next step is to learn to anchor your attention on the process of walking itself. The main anchor point is the feeling of the feet on the ground. There are two stages to this: Each step: To begin with, just focus on the feeling of your feet on the ground; the weight shifting from one foot to the other. “ If your mind is very busy, you can stay with this the whole time,” Tatjana says. “Just know when your feet are touching the ground and the movement of the body. Don’t interpret it in any way, just stay with direct recognition.” Whole body: The second stage is to broaden your awareness to include feeling the whole body, as well as your feet. Notice the legs and arms swinging, and the subtle rotation in the spine. “Be aware of movement unfolding in the body as you walk,” Tatjana says. “As the body moves the mind rests in that movement rather than running away with thoughts. I compare it to lying in a hammock; the hammock is moving, but you are relaxed.” Keep it fresh Humans are creatures of habit. We like to have a comfortable routine to stick to. But this can cause us to operate on automatic pilot, so we don’t really tune into what’s happening. “If we make our walking a routine, doing the same thing everyday, then we end up on autopilot, limiting life to mindless repetition,” Tatjana says. “It’s important to realise that we have other options. So don’t always walk in the same streets. Find a way to change the route.” Practice at home Mindfulness is all about interrupting our routines so we wake up to the freshness of life. Home is usually a place we are the most routinised. “It’s nice to slow down at home and be aware of your feet on the ground as you walk around,” Tatjana says. “Learning to slow down is the key.” Lead images: Photo by aliunix on Unsplash Photo by Jon Flobrant on Unsplash Read more articles How to walk your way to good health How to improve your walking technique 7 tips to plan a route in the mountains

As a salute to all the frontline community heroes who have kept services running throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Adidas Running has launched a donation relay to support relief efforts. From May 29 - June 7, for every hour you exercise, regardless of sport, Adidas Running is giving $1USD to the WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Response fund. The goal of the #HomeTeamHero challenge is to inspire one million workout hours, raising one million US dollars! All you need to do is connect your Suunto app and Adidas Running accounts, join the challenge, record your next workout with your Suunto watch and, boom, your activity is automatically synced with your Adidas Running account and your time and sweat will support the WHO’s COVID-19 relief efforts. Who needs more motivation than that?   Join the #HomeTeamHero donation relay!     All the latest Suunto watches – the 3, 5, 7 and 9 – are now compatible with the Adidas Running app (formerly called Runtastic). Adidas Running is a passionate community, and offers regular challenges, tips on how to train and tools to follow your training and progress. There is both a free version of the app, and a premium membership with extra benefits. To sync with Adidas Running, go to your Profile in Suunto App and select Connect to other services. Select Adidas Running and connect your account. All your new workouts will then automatically flow to Adidas Running. To show the endurance power of Suunto users and to represent, you can also join the Suunto group in the Adidas Running app. Let’s show them how we do it!   All images: © Thomas Marzusch, Kreativ-Instinkt   Read more articles Blaze fresh routes with Suunto Heatmaps  The benefits of training to music and making your best playlist How to adapt your training when the unexpected strikes How to improve your walking technique

Rather than follow the herd, with Suunto Heatmaps you can find places where the crowd doesn't train. Then paint the town red and yellow with your own training glow. Whether you're looking for running, cycling, swimming or hiking routes, Heatmaps shows where the hotspots are, and where there's space for you to stay safe and keep your distance. View Heatmaps on Suunto app and offline with Suunto 7 Based on millions of workouts, Heatmaps show where the Suunto community loves to train across the planet. Discover new training routes in your own neighborhood, find the popular local spots when you are somewhere new or – to stay safe and keep your distance – avoid the much-travelled trails. To view activity specific Heatmaps and to plan routes go to the map view of your Suunto app and select the desired Heatmap layer. If you don’t have Suunto app yet, get it from the App Store or Google Play and start exploring. On a Suunto 7 you have easy, offline access to both Heatmaps and detailed terrain maps when you're exercising outdoors. You can see your track on the map, use Heatmaps to explore new routes, or follow your track back to where you started from.

Photo by Matic Kozinc on Unsplash Walking feels like the most natural thing in the world. It’s just one foot in front of another, right? Well yes, but not quite. In this second article in our series on walking your way to good health (first article here), dynamic movement and mindfulness teacher Tatjana Mesar explains how there is more to walking well than you might guess. She runs Zen Yoga by Dynamic Mindfulness, a studio and school in Berlin, and trains yoga teachers. Tatjana is passionate about helping people find more freedom and spontaneity in their movement, and breaking out of conditioned and limiting movement patterns. When she isn’t teaching, Tatjana studies the science of movement, and implements what’s relevant into her training. Recently, she has been studying Axis Syllabus, a biomechanical user manual and movement system. How we walk, our gait, is a central part of that training. Socially ingrained gait patterns What research shows is that how we walk, our gait mechanics, isn’t as “natural” as we might believe. We learn to walk by observing our parents and the world around us. As we grow up, we embody the patterns we see. These can limit the full potential of our gait. Some of us unconsciouly prevent the pelvis and arms from swinging because of cultural taboos that frown upon having a gait as being, for example, too free. “One of the main elements regarding our gait is the counter lateral movement pattern (swinging the opposite arm and leg forward as we walk), which is an engineering marvel of human movement,” Tatjana says. “However, we don't really use it to its full potential due to the fact that walking is mostly cultural.” “Changing the gait pattern is a process,” Tatjana continues. “It’s worth the effort because there’s usually a huge leak of energy when our gait is unbalanced or restricted.” Here are three tips to improve your technique. Explore your cross lateral pattern You can do this exercise at home before you even step out the door. Its purpose is to learn to walk more freely. To begin with, stand in one spot, and practice swinging your arms forward and back, allowing the pelvis to rotate side to side. As you do this bounce a little in your knees. Once you have a feeling for this, begin taking steps forward, swinging the opposite arm and leg forward as you do so. Really allow your arms to swing. Try to relax as you do this, and don’t worry if it feels weird. Unlearning old and learning new movement patterns always feels awkward at the beginning. Practice this, off and on, when you are out walking, and over time it will become more natural. Click play to watch Tatjana demonstrating a natural, free gait. Check your head position Another common issue with how we walk is our head position. It’s common for people to look down, tilting their head forward. “Especially because so often now we are walking and looking down at our smartphones,” Tatjana says. “The head adds six to eight kilograms of weight, but by tilting the head forward it increases to something like twenty kilograms. If the head is positioned directly above the shoulders, with the chin parallel to the ground, then that weight is transferred down into the feet and ground.” When you’re walking, Tatjana advises to keep your head upright, with your eyes looking ahead, not on the ground below. “Also, relax your lower jaw, even slightly open the mouth to facilitate this, and relax the root of the tongue,” she says. In this clip, Tatjana demonstrates a fun exercise to help free the pelvis. Roll the feet How you place your feet as you walk is also important. The correct technique, Tatjana says, is to roll the feet down as you step through. First place the centre of the heel, then roll the outside edge of the foot down before placing the outer toes, and rolling down the inner toes. This is also something to take your time with exploring. Don’t force yourself to do it all the time. It’s good to spend some time noticing how you are already placing the feet. “Imagine when you are walking you are kissing the earth with your feet,” Tatjana says. “This will help your footsteps to become more sensitive and mindful.” Lead image: Photo by Noah Phung on Unsplash Read more articles How to walk your way to good health The benefits of training to music and making your best playlist 7 recovery tips for immune fitness

DJs have an uncanny ability to sense the mood on the dancefloor and the perfect gem to drop to bring the crowd up or down. You can learn to do the same with your own workouts! We recently spoke to DJ act the Mambo Brothers about workout music and how to put together a playlist that makes you want to move – see below! The Mambo Brothers, Christian and Alan Anadon, have been living and breathing electronic music since they were kids. Their parents were founders of the legendary Cafe Mambo Ibiza where some of the world’s biggest name DJs have come to play. Now full time DJs themselves, they try to exercise everyday to stay in balance. In a new partnership with Suunto, the Mambo Brothers put together three playlists for Suunto users to enjoy on their next workout. The first playlist is ideal for recovery and chilling. The second playlist is more upbeat. And the third playlist is suited to an intense workout.   © Kevin Scott Batchelor Play your own favorite tunes from your wrist With the Suunto 7 smartwatch you can connect your headphones to your phone and control music and other audio – adjust volume, pause and skip tracks – straight from your wrist without taking your phone out of your pocket. You can also listen to music without your phone: Spotify has just released an update to their Wear OS app that enables offline use. Simply connect your bluetooth headphones with your watch and download the tracks that you want to take with you! With this new feature, Spotify Premium users will be able to download their favorite albums, playlists, and podcasts to listen offline. Free users will be able to stream their tunes in Shuffle Mode using a WiFi or cellular connection, as well as download any of their favorite podcasts directly to the watch. LEARN HOW TO USE SPOTIFY WITH YOUR SUUNTO 7   The right music can boost performance There are numerous studies that have shown the performance boosting potential of music. As always with scientific research, the findings are complex and contingent. To simplify things, the National Center for Health Research breaks down the benefits of listening to music while working out into two main categories: physical and psychological benefits. Boosting physical performance For you pop, rock and electronic music lovers, there’s good news; studies show that listening to music with between 120 and 140 beats per minute (BPM) can improve athletic performance. It can improve your pace, effort, overall distance or number of reps. Studies have shown cyclists can push harder when listening to faster tempo music. Another study discovered that our inbuilt rhythm response – the tendency to synchronise movement with music – helps runners to keep pace. Slower music, between 85 and 115 BPM, can also help to reduce your heart rate, suggesting it might be good to listen to during your warm down or recovery. Psychological benefits Listening to music has a massive impact on our perception and mood. One study found that listening to music you enjoy can elevate your mood and improve self awareness. It also distracts you from the sometimes unpleasant sensations of your workout, such as a thumping heart or tired and shaky muscles. And these two seem commonsense: music can kick you in the butt and get you out the door for a run, according to this study, while this study suggests it makes workouts more fun (we knew that!) Lastly, it also reduces your perceived level of exertion and can delay on the onset of fatigue! 5 tips to create an awesome workout playlist Get the mood right “Make it happy and uplifting so you can feel the good vibes and positive energy,” The Mambo Brothers advise. “It’s amazing what music can make us feel!” Try creating different playlists from different moods. For example, you might want a different playlist for a morning run compared to a run after work. One playlist might fit better for when you have tons of energy and another for when you’re feeling worn out. Pick the right BPM This handy tool tells you any song’s BPM. The recommended BPM for low to moderate workouts is between 120 and 140 BPM. For activities like yoga, pilates or mobility exercises, choose songs between 60 to 90 BPM. For slightly more intense exercise, the BPM can be around 150. For full on exercise, like cross fit or indoor cycling, the BPM can be up to 180. Consider creating different playlists for different activity intensities. Find the right rhythm Remember the “rhythm response” we mentioned above? To benefit from this natural tendency, try to find music with a BPM that matches your desired pace. For runners, match your stride rate to BPM, and cyclists match the number of RPM to BPM. If you’re doing lifting weights, be careful not to go with music with crazy fast BPM – or you might hurt yourself! Create a journey Every successful DJ knows how to take the crowd on a journey. If they only play one style, or one intensity, people get bored. Try to select music for your playlists that give a sense of a beginning, a middle and an end. You want to experience some big highs and some mellow moments during your workout. Perhaps you know you tend to struggle at around the three quarter mark of your long run, for example, so build in some bigger sound, faster tempo tunes for then in your playlist. Test it out No playlist is ever really finished. Feel free to make changes as you go so you get it just right. “Make a draft playlist, try it out while training, and if one tune doesn’t work delete it from the list,” the Mambo Brothers advise. “After three or four workouts, you should have a playlist that can really motivate you!”   Lead image: © Philipp Reiter   Read more articles Meet the Mambo Brothers, two health conscious DJs living the nightlife Ultra champ Courtney Dauwalter's 6 tips for mental strength How to adapt your training when the unexpected strikes Finding the right coach and Suunto compatible training service for you  

  They travel the world playing at festivals and parties that go until the sun rises. They return home to Ibiza and party some more at their own venues, including the famous Café Mambo Ibiza. But don’t be fooled, Mambo Brothers Christian and Alan Anadon prize health and fitness as much as an epic night out partying. They have been living and breathing electronic music since they were kids. EDM aristocrats, their parents were founders of the legendary Café Mambo Ibiza where some of the world’s biggest name DJs have come to play. Only boys, they watched and learned, fell in love with music and the ability of DJs to send a crowd wild. Now they run the cafe, play at events across the globe, and produce their own music. In a new partnership with Suunto, the Mambo Brothers put together three playlists for Suunto users to enjoy on their next workout. The first playlist is ideal for recovery and chilling. The second playlist offers more get up and go. And the third playlist consists of tracks suited to an intense workout. We caught up with two brothers and asked them about sports, fitness and the DJ lifestyle – read on below.         With a view like that we can see why Christian likes to work out at home. © Mambo Brothers Play your own favorite tunes from your wrist With the Suunto 7 smartwatch you can connect your headphones to your phone and control music and other audio – adjust volume, pause and skip tracks – straight from your wrist without taking your phone out of your pocket. You can also listen to music without your phone: Spotify has just released an update to their Wear OS app that enables offline use. Simply connect your bluetooth headphones with your watch and download the tracks that you want to take with you! With this new feature, Spotify Premium users will be able to download their favorite albums, playlists, and podcasts to listen offline. Free users will be able to stream their tunes in Shuffle Mode using a WiFi or cellular connection, as well as download any of their favorite podcasts directly to the watch.   LEARN HOW TO USE SPOTIFY WITH YOUR SUUNTO 7   Running, the gym, hiking, dancing all night – what’s your sport? As kids, we really enjoyed playing basketball on the weekends, but all that kind of thing got lost when we discovered the world’s best night clubs on Ibiza! Nowadays, we mostly go to the gym and work out there. We do 30 to 45 min runs on the treadmill and keep our heart rate over 140 to burn all that excess good life we have! Then we do compound exercises like deadlifts, squats with dumbbells, lumberjacks etc. Doing this helps us burn fat much faster. Any outdoor adventure sports? Sometimes we enjoy a good hike somewhere on the island, or while we are on tour we find a good track to walk. We also do a lot of deep sea diving. We love diving as it’s a gentle sport, and you have to be concentrated on your breathing and what you see in the water so it’s a very relaxing and a kind of therapy for us. It helps us to chill out. Being a DJ is a nocturnal life right? How do you stay balanced and in shape? For us it’s really difficult to find a routine because it’s so easily broken with all the travelling, playing at festivals, nightclubs, working at our venues in Ibiza. We have tried working with a personal trainer, which works very well during winter months, but when the night clubs in Ibiza open, and the summer tours start again, it’s a drastic change for us. We difficult to keep appointments because we never know what time we are going to call it a night. So this makes maintaining a routine difficult. It’s important for us to do some form of sport every day to get the positive vibes that exercise brings!   Alan overlooks Ibiza, an island famous for its electronic music. © Mambo Brothers Has the DJ scene got healthier these days or is it still pretty wild? It has got healthier for sure, and DJs are more conscious about wellbeing and feeling good in general. We are all very happy about that, but we are still playing with fire every night and try not to cross the line and break routines and good habits. For us, it’s very important to maintain good habits like training most days, plus sometimes adding a hike, a swim in the ocean, and eating healthy food! Keeping a balance and feeling fit is essential to handle our busy schedule. What do you love about producing music and DJing at dance parties? We love being DJs because it’s very social and we love making friends around the world that eventually visit us at Cafe Mambo during the summer. It makes us very happy being able to return their hospitality and have a few shots of good tequila with them! We have an amazing job; you get to travel, meet people, eat at great restaurants and of course dance! Producing our music is great – we get a buzz when a studio session goes well and we get a good track that you can play at a gig and see the crowd’s reaction. You can see how the track works and whether we are getting it right or if it needs some changes next time we’re in the studio! We feel blessed to be able to travel the world doing what we love most! Tell me about your playlists and why you chose these tracks? All the music has been tested on the treadmill and it works! We have never ran so much and enjoyed it so much! We have made a selection of classics, music that we love, and records that really motivate us! We hope you like it and enjoy as much as we do!   Lead image: Photo by Sebastian Coman Travel on Unsplash   Read more articles The benefits of training to music and making your best playlist 4 indoor training tips for endurance athletes How to adapt your training when the unexpected strikes 7 indoor training exercises to stay in shape