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Why I Meditate - Jack

Jack Kavanagh started running when the Covid restrictions kicked in in 2020. He initially used it as a way to spend more time in the countryside before joining a running club, meeting his coach and turning professional. In 2025 Jack became English champion over 5000 metres and was runner up at that distance at the 2025 UK Athletics Championships. He shared with us his thoughts on how meditation supports his athletic career and brings balance to his life…

Was it a revelation to you that running was a meditative experience, something that allowed you to go more deeply into yourself?

Yes, I believe so. That’s what got me so interested in running. It almost became a bit of an addiction, the running and escaping into the countryside.

Where I live, I can be very at one, I can just put away my phone and enjoy being outside.

A year after I started running, I started my meditation practice. I became interested in flow and the idea of being at one with your sport. I remember watching a snooker match when the commentator was saying how effortless the player was making it look. Really he was making lots of mini decisions in his brain and there was a lot going on. It got me fascinated in how I could possibly tap into that for my running.

I started meditation for two reasons: overall health and wellbeing, and then to see of it would have an effect on my running.

How has meditation affected those two things?

With running, there have been races where I’ve been so at one with my running; I can hear my breath, I’m using my breathwork, sometimes I even listen to my competitors’ breath and see how hard they’re working. You’re going fast and it’s the ability to stay calm and to make these critical decisions under pressure, and I think meditation helps you to do that.

Definitely for 5k running, which is my preferred distance, it requires patience and a sense of calmness; the meditation helps with that as well.

You’re describing a flow state in which mind, body and spirit are together.

Absolutely. There have been times in races when it’s started to get a bit tough, but I just trusted the process and diverted my thoughts to my breath to remind myself that I can handle it. Meditation definitely helps me to come to my centre; it helps me nip in the bud any self-doubt as well, any negative thoughts. I can bring myself back.

What is the process of centring yourself during a race, given that you can’t sit down and take a rest?

In a 5k race, it’s usually around 2 to 3k that the negative voices come in; sometimes they say ‘quit, just step off.’ Your mind sometimes tries to protect you, and I remind myself I can handle it; I use positive affirmations within myself. I like to use, ‘Not me, not this’ and to just trust my training.

Are you able to be mindful as you run?

We train on a cinder track; you can really hear the footsteps, so when the demons come in, because they can come in during training as well, it’s good to listen to sounds instead.

My coaches constantly tell me, ‘Stay relaxed and find your flow.’ I sometimes like to imagine I’m dancing, not running, and get really into the rhythm.

More athletes seem to be getting into meditation.

It’s definitely become more known. Rory McIlroy juggles just before his events to stimulate the brain and get into that flow state, and I’ve started doing that before races. Just before my British Championship I was round the back doing my juggling.

There seems to be a common thread of bringing lightness to whatever you are doing, whether it’s training, preparation, or the race itself.

Meditation has helped me become more grateful for the simple things. I’m lucky to be in this position to compete, to be involved in the act of running and to push my body to its limits.

How do you compare mindfulness to other mental strategies people use at moments of peak stress?

Sometimes I like to use the pain and understand that pain is part of success. What you’re looking for is just around the corner, something you just have to go through. In other races, I like to use distractions; I have to get to the next bend.

Have you had any negative reactions from others when you told them you meditate?

No. I would like to make meditation a cool thing to do, to make it a fun thing.

Do you see meditation as a form of training? Or is it something different?

I think it is a form of training. It’s very much part of my routine now. It’s my way of saying, ‘This is my morning.’ It’s really helped my running; if I stopped doing it, I’d notice. It’s important to strength train the muscles and the brain as well; meditation helps me to do that.

From January last year I wanted to meditate every day and I have. Sometimes I do it twice a day. On a race day, I’ll meditate again a couple of hours before the race and my meditation teacher Steve has created a pre-recorded guided meditation I use for races. It’s slightly personalised, it talks about the race, my goals for the race, it’s been really helpful.

I go into the race with emptiness, ‘what will be will be,’ not baggage, just the best intentions. A lot of great things happen when there’s not much going on in the brain, you’re just focused on the task you’re doing.

My meditation teacher has taught me that we’re not chasing. As much as we want results, we want medals, personal bests, if you work hard enough, the opportunity just presents itself. It’s up to you to grasp it.

My meditation practice has helped me ease the pressure heading into races. I’m going to do my best, I’m going to leave it all out there and the outcome will be what it will be.

I want the gold, the personal bests, the medals, of course I do. But as long as I stay true to myself, I have a higher chance of getting those things.

Sometimes we try to define ourselves by the things we do, by the job we have or the medals we’ve won, but that doesn’t last forever. I definitely found myself missing something when I went full-time as an athlete. I was a teacher before that and I missed the act of service, so I went back to my school and started volunteering to read to children and do PE lessons. It helped me become not just Jack the Runner; there’s plenty more things that I am.

If you had to teach a fellow runner one thing about meditation in under a minute, what would it be?

The constant coming back to your anchor. When times get tough, come back to who you are, to the present moment again. Have a thought, come back. Have a negative thought, come back. During a race, having a repetitive thought like ‘I can’t do it’ – come back.

Doing this thousands of times in meditation helps you to do it in a race.

When it’s head-to-head, during the final hundred metres, it comes down to who wants it most. All the things we do to prepare add up, and meditation is a big thing.

I’d also remind them of their ‘Why’ – it has to be rooted within; it can’t be just for one race. It sometimes comes back to why you started running.

In the last 100 metres, you need the freedom to remember, to remind yourself to stay relaxed.

Do you have any other reflections on meditation, including how it relates to your work with children?

In life we have different hats on. Doing some meditation is a break between roles. Perhaps it makes the everyday tasks more enjoyable, perhaps it can have a snowball effect, and we get a lot done more effectively.

There are so many distractions that are easy to do, the screens, the games. Very rarely are we bored, there’s generally something just there that we can grab. A lot of great ideas come from boredom; creativity starts in the moment of boredom.

There’s a balance to be found. I have to want to perform well and do as well as I can. I have to enter a pain cave in the race, but believing what will be will be, and meditation set me up nicely. Within, I’ve got values that enable me to balance calm and speed.

A lot of people think meditation is a very serious thing to do, but I’ve found it revitalised my sense of comedy; I found myself with a better sense of humour after starting meditating. It has invited me to laughter again. My meditation teacher has that sense of humour in the class. It’s relatable. It helps put everything in perspective.