You are falling

sun shine miracle
your lips are wet
                        rain
to our hearts
floods in every opening
on the stoop your skirt rises
fingers go up your legs
you are falling in the streets
the hallways of east harlem
the dark hallways of east harlem
the dark hallways with mattresses
of east harlem
                     you are falling
roll with us
the avenues
you are falling
the night
queen of the earth
you are falling
on us with lips
& thighs
& big round breasts
we hold in our hands
& hear your bomb tick
your blood get hot
come out
crack your eggs
on stupid american heads
queen of the earth
push us to the walls
fall on us
kill us
with your love
& tongue
harlem queen
fine mama
sprinkle us with it
there are no bargains
pure product
                  you are falling
bloom bloom
you got all
sing
dark
& you shine
grown fat
for love
in the dark
you are like
a volcano
with a sea
of heat
          explode
          you are falling
          explode
– Victor Hernández Cruz – Glow Flesh

Notes:

Smile today and be well!

CultFit Create

For more inspiring artwork please check out the brilliant work of Erik Johansson.


I Can’t Go For (That)

We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master-

Remember those New Year’s resolutions you made under the best intentions to run a marathon this summer, loose a couple extra pounds, become less attached to technology, whatever?!?

I can’t remember them either, so we’re cool

Before we get too far along, start traveling sideways and I start doling out advice about “life“. The tone of this post is to bring to light an idea(s) to help you celebrate yourself this summer and the remainder of the year. Far too often we celebrate finishing a big race, blossoming on the mat, that we often overlook who got us there in the first place …

Take a moment this weekend to sit down, with an actual pen, a few pages of organic-renewable-locally sourced paper, a pint of Wynkoop Rocky Mountaion Oyster Stout, to write yourself a letter. Dated one year in advance for good measure. I can personally say that this exercise is best done after a recent success or  “pat on the back” moment in your life. Imagine looking back a year from now, from a place of having achieved your most important goal this year. Don’t hold back while you pen your letter either. Thank your present self, give some tips, share a few failures and what you did right when things got tough. Savor this moment …

Notes:

My resolution this year was not to write any self-serving advice posts … Take care and be well today!

CultFit Color


Inside of Clouds

Something more terrible than a hell where one suffers may be imagined, and that is a hell where one is bored-

I’m tired, weary and bored. The quintessential trifecta of re-injuring oneself, or others.

Boredom typically arises from one’s own lack of motivation, conviction and creativity. Each one of us gets bored now and then, for all I know you are already bored with this tedious post? However, the difference between being perpetually bored and seeking “healthy” alternatives is vast. You can become bored with running, cycling and yoga. Showing up and going through the motions, ignoring your body and true spirit. This is the kind of boredom that takes us down a destructive path …

How can anyone be bored in today’s world? Computer do-dad’s, IThingy’s, you name it! There’s even an app for being bored! It seems that one has to look rather hard, actually seek boredom to become bored. Once we are bored, it takes some perseverance to shake off. We can form a habit out of being bored because it presents a degree of comfort and safety. This is the point in the post where I tell you that you can become bored while running or doing yoga in the morning: Comfort and Safety.

Maybe today on the mat we can start in corpse pose? Shake things up a little bit …

Notes:

Today is a brilliant day to get creative, who knows what might happen, especially if we keep an open mind?!?

CultFit Family


I have nothing now

… But praise for my life. I’m not unhappy. I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can’t stop them. They leave me and I love them more…What I dread is the isolation. … There are so many beautiful things in the world which I will have to leave when I die, but I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready.
Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

Notes:

Be well today and please take care.

CultFit Sendak


Come Close

Like gravity, karma is so basic we often don’t even notice it-

What do five random posts:

Next Lifetime

Lost in Translation

Slowly Surely

Roll If (ya) Fall

Rat Race (Pro)

Plus an outrageously random video about a Dude and his Toyota Supra:

Have anything to do with Karma?

I hope you stick around a little bit longer than normal to find out!

What is karma exactly? We often think about karma in terms of “Black” and “White” – “Good Karma” and “Bad Karma“. You do something good in the course of your day, or your life and good will come bouncing right back to you; you do something bad, and bad “things” will come roaring back with a vengeance. The little known fact about karma? Karma is neither good or bad, black nor white … Karma is truly about our action, non-action(s), responsibility, accountability and consequence. Karma is an action that has no change in state. Karma simply is.

How do we interweave this “new” definition of karma into our day-to-day lives, without over thinking it and trying to be a modern-day zen master? For the sake of our conversation this morning, Karma translates into: There are no bad decisions you can make.

“You guys still with me here?!? Anyone, hello … “

What in the world do I mean, there are no bad decisions you can make? Exactly that, there are no bad decisions, there are only consequences to our decisions. You can go out and purchase all the latest and greatest running gear, brag and boast about all your accomplishments in the yoga studio to your friends on Facetube, punish and abuse your body by over training, drink too much and party even harder. None of these fine examples are a bad decision …

What you have done is potentially propagate consequences for which you need to be responsible and ultimately accountable for in the future. This Dear Reader, is karma, plain and simple.

Notes:

Discovering how karma works for us personally, means taking and owning responsibility for the choices we make and being accountable to these choices. Because every choice, as you can imagine and probably know … Has a consequence.

*If you skipped watching the video? Dude has a sweet ride and an even better message about life!*

CultFit Calm