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World Meditation Day – Fishing & Mindful Meditation
Today (21st May 2021), marks World Meditation Day. Although many anglers may not realise it, our favourite pastime is a form of meditation. Fishing requires you to take your mind off internal conflict and stress of the every day and can in some ways be very similar to meditation.
The sport of fishing asks for patience and quiet and in turn, gives time for an angler to reflect in peace. Angling allows you to step away from the noise that constantly surrounds us and concentrate just on yourself.
For some anglers, a day of solitary seclusion on the water, with a brew in their hand, sitting in your fishing chair, is the perfect chance for clear thinking and introspection that can bring greater understanding and happiness.
Fishing Can Help Treat Anxiety & Depression
The links between angling and mental health may not be so shocking with the recent encouragement of medical professionals to recommend fishing as a way to treat anxiety and depression, thanks to Tackling Minds.
Read more on this story, here.
What is World Meditation Day?
World Meditation Day is a call for people to take time to participate in clearing our minds and remembering that we are people first, and workers second and in turn helps relieve stress.
How are Fishing and Meditation Related?
Although fishing may not completely be clearing your minds…as you are always thinking about the fish, you are given the opportunity to escape to the bankside or shoreline where you can be at one with nature and away from stressful environments.
As you sit in your fishing chair, waiting for the bite alarms to sounds, the lake or river side offers complete tranquillity with only aquatic wildlife, birds and the sounds of the wind passing through the trees. This is the perfect opportunity to practice mindful meditation.
It is also suggested that meditation can be the act of performing simple tasks such as the casting of your line a hundred times with concentrated line speed, hand movements and where you are positioning your fishing bait before watching the bait sink down the water column. As you do these tasks, you can focus on your breathing, which in turn distracts the mind to concentrate on the ‘self’.
The mental health benefits of fishing is not a new recognition, as the late poet laureate; Ted Hughes commented on how fishing aids meditation in a previously unpublished interview with Thomas Pero in the US angling magazine; ‘Wild Steelhead & Salmon’.
“Any kind of fishing provides that connection with the whole living world. It gives you the opportunity of being totally immersed, turning back into yourself in a good way. A form of meditation, communion with levels of yourself that are deeper than the ordinary self.”
Benefits of Meditation When Fishing
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Helping with anxiety
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Reducing stress
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Reducing distractions