Mindfulness on the Tube: How to benefit from a London commute
HL: Posture, poetry and mindfulness: How to keep healthy on the commute
Standfirst: Travelling to and from work doesn’t have to be a waste of time, says Harriet Marsden
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Rush hour. Stress, overcrowding, discomfort, cancelled trains and mutual apathy - travelling to and from work is seen as a double-daily torture shared by millions. And the English love nothing more than to complain about their commute.
But what if we looked at journey as potential time for improvement? It must be possible to benefit in some way from this (average) two hours a day trapped in a tuna can.
In 2012, Andy Leeks declared on Facebook that sleeping on the trains was a complete waste of time. When his friends disagreed, he set out to prove them wrong - by promising to write a whole book during his commute. As They Slept - a Year in the Life of a Commuter was the result: an Amazon best-seller. “When I used that time to write, I really found that I had a creative spark, and enjoyed it,” Andy recalls.
And although Andy now only commutes once a week, he still uses that time to pursue his writing. “I find I’m more creative in the morning, so I get everything out on the page, and then give myself the eight or nine-hour window at work, and look back on it later. It rids your brain of all the nonsense.”
Brita Forsstrom, an Alexander technique specialist and spokesperson for STAT (Society for Teachers of Alexander Technique), says: “It's easy to think of the commute as a waste of time. But waste of time is a self-made construct. Use it as 'me time' - a time to reflect, calm down, find inner quiet, plan your time and look forward to something good.”
Forsstrom adds that, “If you learn ‘embodied mindfulness’, the commute is a perfect time to practice.”
Mindfulness, the 21st-century health buzzword. The commute is one of the only times we can switch off from the world - plug ourselves into music, enjoy the lack of phone signal, and engage in reflection. There’s a meditative quality to repeating the same journey: knowing your exact route, standing at the same spot on the same platform… And it’s this element of enforced, isolated routine that makes the commute a good time to focus on mental wellbeing.
Adam Barrett, a psychotherapist and mindfulness specialist at the Nightingale clinic (London’s leading private mental health provider), agrees that the commute would be an excellent time to practise mindfulness. “I don’t know if it will make the commute a positive part of one’s life, but it could certainly make it a less negative part.”
He suggests keeping the commute quieter, e.g. with noise cancelling headphones, and using something like an app or audio guide on mindfulness to help you focus – like HeadSpace. Stay in the moment, he suggests: focus on your senses, your breathing, your hearing, and feel your bodily sensations like the ground under your feet. When thoughts pass through your mind, observe them, notice them as mental events, but then direct your attention back to your body.
Antonella Cavallone, NHS consultant for postural education and Alexander technique instructor, points out that “We can’t have a relaxed easy mind in a tense body: there’s a physical unity.” And there’s no doubt about it – physically, commuting standing up can be demanding.
“When we are in such a crowded situation, people brace themselves against the movement. This pushes the pelvis forward, so the entire spine gets out of alignment,” Cavallone explains.
Doing this everyday compounds the tension and can contribute to stress. Callone stresses that it’s important to focus on stance and posture, to minimise the strain. Keep moving as much as possible, she says: up and down the platform, or the carriage, or when changing lines. This is especially good for people with office jobs who spend the majority of their working day sitting down.
BOX: Advice based on the two posture specialists
· Don’t brace yourself against movement. Allow yourself to move with the train / bus and actually ‘ride’ the transport
· Stand with your feet hip width apart - if you can - and let your knees and hips bend slightly
· Think tall: align your pelvis with the crown of your head, letting your spine decompress
· Think wide: feel your body expand - and you’ll get a bit more space without pushing anyone
· Don’t let your shoulders hunch up towards your ears. Let them gently drop
· If possible, don’t carry your bag – place it on the floor between your feet, and use it to improve balance
· Allow your feet to ground you: let the toes release from the heel, and the heel from the ankle, making the soles wider
· Think of your toes lengthening, the way you would spread your fingers
· When you can, extend your arms and push your chest forward, encouraging muscle stretch and good posture
· Don’t throw yourself heavily into a seat – ease into it
· Don’t slouch in a seat or sit towards the back, but sit slightly forward
· Avoid ‘lying down’ in the seat: it compresses the discs in the spine and strains the neck and hip joints
And most importantly, say all the experts - don’t tilt your head downwards to read or use your phone. This really overburdens the neck and spine. Cavallone and Forsstrom advise making the conscious decision not to drop the face and neck towards the phone, but instead lifting the device upwards or moving the eye line downwards.
In 2014, Dr Kenneth Hansraj, a premier spinal surgeon in the US, published a study about the dangers of the ‘text neck’- tilting your head forward and dropping your shoulders, to look at a smart phone. He found that this can exert up to 60 pounds of force on your neck and spine. Since the introduction of WiFi on London tubes, the problem has only got worse.
Not everyone can be an author, but commuting does encourage reading. Rush hour is a time of sacred silence: an enforced no-talking zone, which gives people a chance to catch up on their news and entertainment. You’ll likely see a row of London commuters sitting side by side, with their Metro in the morning and the Evening Standard on the way home.
In London, there are even the ‘Poems on the Underground’ to enjoy: fragments of poetry dotted amidst banal advertising. Launched in 1986 by American writer Judith Chernaik, the initiative aims to bring poetry to a wider audience and stimulate creativity. It’s been so popular that it has inspired similar schemes in cities around the world.
As Matt Todman, physiotherapist and Director of Six Physio in London, points out: “Commuting is a necessity but it doesn't need to be pure purgatory - summer is just around the corner, let's catch it while we can.”
