Why riding motorcycles is meditative
A sensory escape for the mind
There’s a common saying among riders that “you’ll never find a motorcycle parked outside a therapist’s office”.
Seven years ago when I got my bike licence, I never really understood the phrase. To be fair, it was so niched that I wasn’t really aware of its existence before then anyway. But now I can appreciate the zen-like state that comes from riding motorcycles.
Meditation is a common practice for many. Acute awareness of sensory experience and the ability to tap into the architecture of your thoughts, allowing your focus to hone in on a single thought. For many, the deep sense of relaxation and calm that comes from mediation stems from the momentary pause from the controlled chaos of balancing daily life’s pressures and obligations.
I began meditating daily about 3 years ago but it still doesn’t compare to the feeling of riding a motorcycle.
Initially, learning to ride was so sensorily stimulating that I’d often fall into a stupor from exhaustion after an hour or two. I can still remember the first time I experienced a freeway and the sheer wind noise was enough to rattle me. The wind buffeting over the screen and pulling at my neck as I twisted my head to change lanes. The vibration of the single piston of the Rotax 2-stroke engine rocketing towards 11000 rpm. It was only 100 km/h but it felt like warp speed being out in the elements. The realisation that I was doing what I would normally do, seated in my car, only now I was perched on top of the roof with no seatbelt.
With some years of experience now, the lack of novelty has dulled some of these experiences but unlike many are lead to believe, it now brings about a meditative state rather than one of heart-pumping adrenaline. Riding instead becomes a task of constant learning and improvement.
One thing that never changes is the heightened focus you have on the road ahead of you and the traffic around you. Motorcycle riding trains you to be observant and attentive. You become hyper-aware of your surroundings and the sensory inputs your nervous system is receiving. How the tyres feel on the road. Which part of your knee is pressing against the tank. Is that driver up there, on their phone?
Suddenly, all the little things that were nagging at you don’t matter anymore. There’s only one thing to focus on and for the duration of the ride, your mind is given a brief intermission from the stress and strain of daily life.
It gives an opportunity to take the scenic route and get out into nature; to detach from normality.
Im sure this probably sounds really hippy-dippy and if I had have told myself this 8 years ago, I probably would’ve scoffed at the idea but it’s something that just needs to be experienced to be fully understood.
