This is motorcycling for me. It requires my attention to such a degree that I have no choice but to focus on the matter at hand: staying upright and not crashing. It gives me a level of clarity and freedom I've not found elsewhere, and engages nearly all my senses at once. Riding on a small country road as the sun is peaking above the ridge, feeling the variation in temperature as you drop into a valley and inhale the smell of fresh cut grass or pine trees is just magical. It does wonders for my well being, even if my family my never fully understand why on earth I do it in the first place.

I’m an amateur classical musician (viola and sometimes piano) and it plays exactly this role. Playing music takes a lot of brain bandwidth, and also flexes different brain muscles (sorry for the terrible mixed metaphor)— it’s highly cognitive in a way that is different from most day-to-day stuff.

I enjoy skiing, mountain biking, and whitewater boating. Not particularly for the risk of injury (I did that enough in my youth to have no desire for more), but more for the physical and mental challenge of being competent at the sport. I don't particularly find it therapeutic though. Sure, in the moment I forget my worries. But I guess I don't do any of these often enough that it moves the needle overall. But I still enjoy them for the challenge and the chance to get outside.

I have long said that a bicycle is a happiness machine. I know mine is.

I am a long-time cyclist in NYC and lately I have been riding most mornings before starting my work-from-home gig. My current favorite ride is a loop from my place on the UWS up and over the Triboro Bridge down through Astoria, over the Queensboro and then home through Central Park. It never fails to put me in a great mood for the day.

The day citibike launched in NYC, I had this exact experience. I was suddenly, exclusively, extremely present. Trying not to die, yes, but also feeling a metric ton of new things all at once. It was a really nice day in May, too, and I remember, among the cascade of sensations, the intense pleasure of the dappled sunlight on my shoulders as I rode along a shady street in Chelsea.

This is exactly how I feel about skiing! On the edge of danger and forced to pay attention with my entire body and mind. In a way it reminds me of being Buddhist - to be fully present in the moment. I wish I could find that all the time, but I'll take the additional aid of concentrated focus

We have a cargo bike to haul the kiddos around and the difference in my mental health when we bike compared to driving a car is incredible.

i love this and agree, for me it's trail running, snowboarding (esp back/sidecountry), and MTB. but also:

therapy is therapy.

immersive meditative experiences don't teach me how to address my triggers or be more compassionate to myself. they just allow me to get out of my stupid head for hours.

https://bsky.app/profile/kottke.org/post/3lpmkjvdent2i

I've been saying much the same thing for several years. I was a road biker for decades, and while that's fairly meditative, there's plenty of mental bandwidth left over for worrying. Get out onto some singletrack on the MTB and there's no room in your head for anything but what you're doing. "Be here now, or be on the ground."

Snowboarding introduced me to this reality about 20 years ago--until then I hadn't experienced the hyper focus of physical movement. I've broadened it over the years to include various forms of physical embodiment. I can experience it backpacking, etc. An added plus, I value my body for what it can do, not what it looks like. #genxlegacy

Getting semantic-y: this deep embodied focus is therapy as a "healing power or quality." It sure contributes to my general wellbeing. But it's not a substitute for psycho therapy where I seek to understand my self, ye olde family system and learn to manage my reactivity in relationship with others. #steppingdownfromthesoapbox

After prior sports injuries started to add up, swimming checks the thrill/meditative mental health boxes. So many approaches to swimming in a 20-30 minute swim: Meditative regular laps to process daily life ideas and what else shows up, sprint laps that push you providing the feeling of flight/speed (unless you notice the post college swimmer in the lane over), the deep laps trying to see how long you can stay underwater or the sensual swimming laps where I just kick off the wall and go deep, slow down, enjoying the feeling of weightlessness, bodies moving overhead, the warp of the water distorting the world above.

I understand the mountain biking angle but haven't done it for years as the cost of gear and access exceeded my reach. Same for skiing :( So I turned to things closer to home. For me now it's inline skating in a busy urban landscape (Vancouver streets, bike lanes and seawalls!) and SUPing in English Bay. I love a good calm day on the water for going distance, up to 20 km when I'm in peak summer shape and conditions are right, and that's a challenging work out but doesn't put me on the edge that requires extreme focus. For that I seek out windy, stormy days, the ones almost no-one else goes out on, with rough chop and big swells. Just me versus the elements and a great mental break and cleanse. Some days I get my ass kicked. Same with a good skate. I feel simultaneously used up and relaxed, and in a place that no other exercise activity/sport gets me to.

I'm not a mountain biker, despite living in a town known for it. But I do love riding a bike around the gentle trails and roads around my town - so this still resonates.

It's not death defying... but when the chips are down, I love picking fruit. You've got blueberries, cherries, strawberries. Peaches are immensely satisfying but you end up with too many too quickly. Wild huckleberries on the side of a mountain. Cherry tomatoes. Invasive (and incredibly delicious) Himalayan blackberries in the Pacific Northwest. Windows down, warm air, car smells like jam.

As a certified lazy person I am shocked that I just passed 3,000 miles on the gravel bike I bought in May ‘23. As a transplant to the midwest (a thing I have struggled with from time to time) I am delighted that it has made me appreciate this place more, by seeing its backroads at a slower pace. The wildflowers here are exceptional and not easily appreciated unless you are on a bike or on foot.

Everyone should get a bike.

I will also never stop talking about gardening for mental health. It’s a great activity for ADHD/easily distracted minds, because you can switch from thing, to thing, to thing. (planting, dead-heading, mulching) Plus, eventually you get flowers and food. It’s made me appreciate the seasons changing a lot more, and there’s really something amazing about seeds and plants just coming back year after year. Very cheering.

My therapy machine is a dialed in Stumpy Evo that I throw down hills, mountains and concrete stairs with abandon.

Everything else fades … and it’s just picking the right line, boosting the next jump, eating a big hit…

… and keep on pedaling.

It’s not the danger… but the relationship between physical demand, mental focus and symbiotic machine that is so intoxicating.

When your heart begins to relent, your breathe eases and the legs stop throbbing… the sense of satisfaction & peace keeps on permeating.

Biking as a way of getting around (there's a big difference between road-warrior cycling and utility cycling, but that's not for this post), running as mental therapy. The key to either, I think, is doing this without headphones. Years ago I was talking about running with an old friend, and she asked what podcasts or songs I listen to while out.

"None," I said.
"You are just OK with being alone in your head for that long?" she asked.

Yep. That's kinda the point.

One more - I've had a running watch (old Garmin) for years. On Sunday I ran a race that I've done dozens of times, and I ran it for the first time in a decade without the watch. Over 12k I beat my time from last year by over a minute, just going for flow. There might be something to that.

My latest obsession is quad roller skating. I used to adore roller skates when I was young and then I got into running instead. Now in my 50s, I picked up skating again and it makes me so happy. I want to do it constantly and get better and better at it. The music, the lights, the other daredevil skaters showing off -- what a blast!

any repetitive (minimum 4 days a week) exercise outdoors is therapy! It doesn't fix everything but then neither does "real" therapy! yes it can't replace therapy with a therapist but the benefits are real. Most people who are in a funk don't have a regular outdoor exercise routine (again minimum 4 days a weeks; weekend warrior-ing is great but not sufficient :-) ) Indoor exercise is great but not what our bodies evolved for. #Ymmv

It has been better said by others - The bike is a joy machine.

Seeing this post and comments has brought a modicum of joy by proxy. I discovered MTB in NYC, commuting across Central Park to JHS as a kid. Found a crew of riders doing trials type stuff in the park. Tried to ride what they were riding. Mid '80's. The joy has never left and cycling in general is an absolute balm.

The world of cyclists is a world of happy nerds.

Trail running is my real number one but lower extremity joint issues keep me away from it. Anticipating every footfall, especially on a fast, loose descent is exhilarating in the most terrifying way, which is just the best.

Luckily I also really love riding bikes. Mostly on the road with drop handlebars and narrow (though not nearly as narrow as the ones my dad rode on back in the old days) tires, but if it has 2 wheels and pedals I'm not picky. I get just as much of a sense of presence from working on bikes: tightening bolts to the right torque setting, placing bearings, threading cables, adjusting derailleurs, listening to the sound a chain makes on the teeth of a cog, loosening a stubborn seatpost. Even when it sucks it's great.

The sentences you emphasised are spot on! Spending two hours each day commuting on my Speed Pedelec are the best times a day.

Not listening to any podcast or music, just clearing my mind, letting my thoughts wander and, yes, processing the wealth of input from the traffic around you (although we have dedicated bicycle paths). I believe it makes me live both longer and happier.

For me it’s dance classes, something I’ve been doing in one form or another since I was a child. It feels extra special now because I have to work smart, within my body’s limitations —even though I’m blessed that I can still move with a great deal of ease— and I have more a more mature understanding of what dance is and can be.

The focus here is the taking in of new choreography in every class, coordinating my brain and body to remember it, and then (hopefully!) translating it into a form of expression. It makes me feel alive and humbled.

Wait... the water bottle's spout pointing down... is that how you're supposed to store it? What's this witchery? 🤯

I am a total ignorant when it comes to "how to bike", so I thought I'd ask.

On a bike your consciousness is small. The harder you work, the smaller it gets. Every thought that arises is immediately and utterly true, every unexpected event is something you’d known all along but had only forgotten for a moment. A pounding riff from a song, a bit of long division that starts over and over, a magnified anger at someone, is enough to fill your thoughts. ~Tim Krabbé from his book The Rider, the current Defector Reads a Book selection.