Bon Courage
Posted: August 29, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, compassion, exercise, family, fitness, friends, happiness, health, hope, jogging, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, Poem, Poetry, Prose, running, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, writting, yoga 5 Comments…
Why are the woods so alluring? A forest appears
to a young girl one morning as she combs
the dreams out of her hair. The trees rustle
and whisper, shimmer and hiss. The forest
opens and closes, a door loose on its hinges,
banging in a strong wind. Everything in the dim
kitchen: the basin, the jug, the skillet, the churn,
snickers scornfully. In this way a maiden
is driven toward the dangers of a forest,
but the forest is our subject, not this young girl.
She’s glad to lie down with trees towering all around.
A certain euphoria sets in. She feels molecular,
bedeviled, senses someone gently pulling her hair,
tingles with kisses she won’t receive for years.
Three felled trees, a sort of chorus, narrate
her thoughts, or rather channel theirs through her,
or rather subject her to their peculiar verbal
restlessness … our deepening need for non-being intones
the largest and most decayed tree, mid-sentence.
I’m not one of you squeaks the shattered sapling,
blackened by lightning. Their words become metallic
spangles shivering the air. Will I forget the way home?
the third blurts. Why do I feel like I’m hiding in a giant’s nostril?
the oldest prone pine wants to know. Are we being freed
from matter? the sapling asks. Insects are well-intentioned,
offers the third tree, by way of consolation. Will it grow
impossible to think a thought through to its end? gasps the sapling,
adding in a panicky voice, I’m becoming spongy! The girl
feels her hands attach to some distant body. She rises
to leave, relieved these trees are not talking about her.
Thank (Y)ou
Posted: August 28, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, freshly pressed, friends, happiness, hope, life, love, passion, Thank you readers of CultFit 6 CommentsLet us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom-
Those of you reading these heartfelt words, in this present moment … Thank you for your continued support of CultFit!
Morning Classic(s)
Posted: August 28, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: bikramyoga, blogging, crossfit, exercise, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, Hatha yoga, health, hipster, hope, intensity, kettlebell, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, passion, perspective, pilates, Poetry, Religion and Spirituality, running, whole foods, WOD, yoga 11 CommentsIt takes courage to grow up and become who you really are-
As a little dude, I grew up doing what I was supposed to do (this is my side of the story), when I was supposed to do it, following a largely unconscious – persistent script about what it meant to live one’s life. Not just play but excel at sports, go to school and become edumacated, start a rewarding and vibrant career, get married to the woman of my dreams (this happened) and have a few kid(s) for good measure…
As a self-described “athlete“, I did a lot of running, picking up heavy things and moving them around, competing at all costs, ignoring injuries, bragging about results, sticking within the status quo like many of the blogs we will read today … However a string of serious injuries in my mid 30’s made me rethink everything I had thought about both competing and what I was doing with my life more broadly.
At the same time I had discovered seva, karma yoga, mindfulness, rediscovered my love for cycling and enjoying nature. As I began to play – not compete outdoors, my friends and family would often say “let’s ride here, swing a kettlebell if we like or maybe a spot of yoga?” and most importantly: Smile, Laugh and have Fun. And that’s all I’d want.
Being authentic hasn’t come easily to me, and I’m still working on it, although it’s changed how I think about this inspiring world we call home.
Notes:
Being open to new paths, new ways of doing things, formulating new perspectives, creating your own melodies: these are the “things” that life has truly taught me, and continue(s) to teach me to this wonderful day.
Una Pizca de Perspectiva
Posted: August 27, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, compassion, exercise, family, fitness, gluten free, health, hope, kettlebell, kindness, life, love, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, philosophy, pilates, running, simplicity, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, writing, yoga 3 CommentsA good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place, but a seed to be planted so it may bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of ideas-
Imagine if you will, that you are riding along a country road and your full attention is focused on the movements of your body, position of your hands on the bars, each up and down stroke of the pedals, the air flowing past your ears and the countryside rushing by. There is no room out here in your “awareness” for errors or contradictions; most of us know that a distracting thought or emotion might get us buried face down in a hedge, conveniently packed with stinging nettles for our future enjoyment.
If cycling on gravel roads during extreme heat does not resonate with you this morning, the complete immersion in an experience could occur while you are patiently waiting in line for a latte, practicing yoga, picking your nose, or reading an old issue of Good House Keeping magazine. If your passion is running (injury free mind you), it could happen during the descent of a tricky trail course or even two miles out from finishing your first 10k.
Notice that moments such as these provide flashes of intense – vibrant living against the dull, mundane events of everyday life.
Vibrant living, rather than happiness, makes for enjoyable experience(s) in this thing called life. We can be happy experiencing the passive pleasure of lying on the couch watching the Red Zone Channel, trudging along head down, ear buds in, tuning out the world around us. Although this kind of happiness is dependent on favorable events beyond our control: Mainly the wife or husband letting you veg on the couch all day and the weather outside dictating your daily activities.
Notes:
The happiness that we surrender to, the happiness of our own making, what truly makes us happy without any outside factors? Opens many doors to personal growth, without ever counting miles, cadence, split times or reps …
Gravel (U)pdate
Posted: August 25, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: biking, blogging, compassion, cycling, freshly pressed, friends, Gravel Riding, Gravel Worlds, happiness, health, hope, kindness, life, Lincoln, love, lululemon, musings, natural, nature, nebraska, Omaha, passion, recovery, trail running, walking, WOD, writting 21 CommentsI felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy”-
Mountains?!? Who said anything about mountains? Especially here in good ole’ flat Nebraska.
Is having to explain what you love to others tearing away the fabric of your happiness – your being, like enjoying a leisurely 150+ gravel bike ride around Lincoln, Nebraska? Or a quaint 100k Trail Run through Breckenridge, Colorado? Or even meditating and walking?
Often we are asked to explain the reasoning for our choices, let’s be fully open with one another this morning shall we: It’s easier to blog and talk about our decisions at a logical and snarky level, “Why do you like cycling on Gravel Roads?” I enjoy being outdoors in a non competitive environment, enjoying the company of other folks that are there for very similar reasons…
There’s a catch to throwing out the “easy – polished” answer. Doing so, over and over every time we meet like-minded folks erodes our ability to formulate a decision based on “emotion” or a “gut feeling.” These emotions are rather hard to put into words and to explain to someone looking at you in the eye, wondering why you look like a damn mess, covered head to toe with dirt, sweat, snot dripping out your nose and a ridiculously shaped tan line (cyclists know what these look like).
“I like ultra distance gravel rides because they connect and ground me to the earth, they make me feel whole. They allow me to tune into myself, listening attentively, no distractions, just myself – on my single speed bike, chugging along.”
Enjoy the pics folks as this ride was one of only a few where I carry a phone, let alone a camera thing!
Notes:
One of the main undercurrents that keeps this CultFit machine moving along is that we often ruin our enjoyment of the simple pleasures in our lives due to the fact we try to rationalize, at every turn, why we like doing what we do or we want to prove to ourselves why our decisions are correct and superior to others.
The only “thing” that matter folks? Is that we like “whatever” because we like it, period.
CultFit 