Door, Propped – Wide Open
Posted: January 8, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, cycling, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hope, kindness, life, love, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, running, trail running, walking, whole foods, yoga 4 CommentsGood resolutions are like babies crying in church. They should be carried out immediately-
If this is your first time visiting CultFit? Welcome and I sincerely hope you enjoy your visit. If you came in search of some prophetic wisdom pertaining to life, yoga, mediation and whatever else tickles your fancy? Don’t let the door slam your tush as you scurry away …
Wanting to be a super flexible yogi and actually being a super flexible yogi are two entirely different “things“. After a restless nights sleep, a twenty-five minute drive to the studio, biting morning temperatures and sitting on a frozen yoga mat (Top Tip: Bring your mat in the house …), morning yoga practice is the last thing I feel like doing. Although, on these days when I’ve given up and decided to cut myself a break to head to Dunkin Donuts instead of having a frozen tush? Leaves me feeling restless and anxious, instead of feeling centered and energized. I find myself being uncomfortable at work, daydreaming about some exotic, yoga beachfront retreat somewhere in Mexico-Land as I continue making bullshit promises to myself that I’ll practice when I get home, with little to no chance of ever getting played out.
I know my heart would feel calmer and more fulfilled if I went, if I merely had the drive to simply show up and stop making lame ass excuses …
Daily Meditation:
A text appears on my phone, a few streaks of coffee racing down the side of my stained Kahlua coffee cup, a thought appears in my mind … Smile, open the door gently and go for a walk.
K(now)ing
Posted: January 6, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, cycling, exercise, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, frozen, gluten free, happiness, health, hope, kindness, life, Lost Love, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, mental health, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, recovery, relationships, running, snow, trail running, walking, weather, whole foods, writing, yoga 6 CommentsI am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing-
Because each one of us reading on this chilly Monday morning are rational, intelligent people (and maybe myself). We believe that if we know the reasons for the “things“, in our daily life … This understanding of events will set us free. Imagine knowing what other people are thinking standing in line for a latte or how they are feeling, or why they act differently than we do?
Real life however? Does not work like this …
Knowing why other people “do” what they do, won’t make us feel any better this morning, and it certainly won’t make us any warmer on the inside – in our hearts. It seems as though our journey in today’s world, constantly seeking answers … “Let me look the answer up on my phone“, begins and ends with: “Yeah … But“.
Why don’t our thoughts and feelings fall into place when “life” so graciously presents us with a rational answer?
Daily Meditation:
Over the first part of the year, I am going to steer this CultFit vessel off course just a touch. I want to explore finding the “eureka” moment(s) in our lives, and how we react when the right answer arrives at our pretty little toes … Now, the real work begins.
Be well this morning and please take care!
Alive, I
Posted: December 23, 2013 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, christmas, compassion, Contentment, cycling, Everyday life, exercise, family, Festivus, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, holidays, hope, kettlebell, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, passion, perspective, pilates, recovery, running, Silence, trail running, whole foods, writing, yoga 16 CommentsIn Silence there is eloquence. Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves-
How different would everyday life become, if we embraced silence?
…
Over the course of writing this blog-o-thing I have adapted a leisurely pace in life … Attending more yoga classes, spending more time unconnected from the web and partaking in long, flowing bike rides without a care in the world.
As Festivus and winter set in, the bikes resting at ease in the front bedroom. I turned my attention homeward, focusing more on the events of my daily life. It truly is possible to attend a silent retreat, where my only interactions with my surroundings are with a smile and an attentive ear. I stopped listening to the radio while driving, the TV stays off when I get home from work and magically … My son and I are reading more in front of the fireplace.
It is such a relief to be free of “noise” … The stillness in my heart is based solely on silence rather than a frantic beat or change in tempo.
I have begun to notice in this “silence,” the crunch of salt on the walkways leading into work, the rustle of a few stubborn leaves in the breeze, a red tail hawk gliding past …
Silence has kindly given me clarity and inspiration.
Daily Meditation:
Be kind your body and heart today …
Lies
Posted: December 20, 2013 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Asana, blogging, compassion, cycling, exercise, failure, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, kindness, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, pilates, Practice, running, Self-compassion, Self-esteem, Self-Help, Spirituality & Religion, whole foods, WordPress, yoga 8 CommentsFailure is the condiment that gives success its flavour-
Search “self-help” this morning using your WordPress reader, and you are likely to find a billion posts listed under “self-esteem.” Let’s be fully open and honest – The sole purpose of these posts is to not only tell you why your self-esteem is suffering, but rather to guide your delicate heart to more of it.
Why is this so?
Self esteem is considered the pinnacle of true individual success. How can we possibly get ahead of the next person in life, unless we intimately believe we are perfect, and perfectly awesome!
In order to be perfectly awesome? We live in quiet terror of making mistakes in life, and we feel utterly devastated when we do. Our defense mechanism is to refocus our attention on the “things” we do well …
Stroking our own ego, relentlessly until our hearts forget this horrible episode of not being “awesome” and moving on to “something” more satisfying.
How does this relate to yoga practice, cycling, running and whatever else?
It’s important to understand, when I discuss self-compassion during a post … I’m discussion what self-compassion is not. Some folks like to think self-compassion is giving yourself a break, taking it easy. In essence self-compassion is simply accepting responsibility for, YOU. The difference lies not in where we end up during a flow of poses (the flow of life), but in how we process the ups and downs of the journey, our path in life.
Self-compassion is a willingness to look at our own mistakes and shortcomings with kindness and understanding – To err, is indeed human.
Daily Meditation:
The “trick” in life is to allow ourselves to make mistakes without feeling humiliated … Tune in and take notice of your abilities, your actions, and evaluate what needs to be done “differently” next time around.
Armonía
Posted: December 13, 2013 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, exercise, fitness, Forgiveness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hope, Inner peace, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, peace, perspective, pilates, running, Thought, trail running, whole foods, writing, yoga 6 CommentsOne of the keys to happiness is a bad memory-
What does our inner self sound like when it gently whispers to the world? My inner self, sounds like peace – and swearing, swearing then peace – something to that extent …
It’s interesting to witness someone in the throes of exploring the sound of their authentic self during yoga class, even while changing a newborns diaper (anything). Very often we will ask the instructor, a dear friend or our mother in law, what they think is going on: “Hey – Do you think I’m…?” they, too frequently responding with, “Yeah, you’re probably right …” Or, if we don’t ask, we just make assumptions based on what’s happening within our mind(s), based on the worst case scenario(s): “I guess I just suck at yoga … Damn dirty diapers!”
This deflating inner dialog leads us away from our true authentic self.
Peace, is calling us home through these trying moments in our lives. We can say “Fu*k it” and choose to ignore peace, continuing on the same path that created the resentment, the bitterness. We can choose to partially ignore it, and partially listen to it (men have perfected this tactic), leaving ourselves sitting perpetually on the fence, giving ourselves halfheartedly to the world …
Daily Meditation:
Or, we can choose to listen to ourselves, honor our deepest truth(s) and begin to do “things” – Differently.
Be well this weekend and please take care!
CultFit 