A Second Childhood
Posted: February 7, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, exercise, fitness, friends, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kettlebell, life, living, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, natural, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, Poems, Poetry, running, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 7 Comments… When all my days are ending
And I have no song to sing,
I think that I shall not be too old
To stare at everything;
As I stared once at a nursery door
Or a tall tree and a swing.
Wherein God’s ponderous mercy hangs
On all my sins and me,
Because He does not take away
The terror from the tree
And stones still shine along the road
That are and cannot be.
Men grow too old for love, my love,
Men grow too old for wine,
But I shall not grow too old to see
Unearthly daylight shine,
Changing my chamber’s dust to snow
Till I doubt if it be mine.
Behold, the crowning mercies melt,
The first surprises stay;
And in my dross is dropped a gift
For which I dare not pray:
That a man grow used to grief and joy
But not to night and day.
Men grow too old for love, my love,
Men grow too old for lies;
But I shall not grow too old to see
Enormous night arise,
A cloud that is larger than the world
And a monster made of eyes.
Nor am I worthy to unloose
The latchet of my shoe;
Or shake the dust from off my feet
Or the staff that bears me through
On ground that is too good to last,
Too solid to be true.
Men grow too old to woo, my love,
Men grow too old to wed;
But I shall not grow too old to see
Hung crazily overhead
Incredible rafters when I wake
And I find that I am not dead.
A thrill of thunder in my hair:
Though blackening clouds be plain,
Still I am stung and startled
By the first drop of the rain:
Romance and pride and passion pass
And these are what remain.
Strange crawling carpets of the grass,
Wide windows of the sky;
So in this perilous grace of God
With all my sins go I:
And things grow new though I grow old,
Though I grow old and die.
— G.K. Chesterton
Notes:
Please join us tomorrow for a very important post, until then … Take care and be well.
Walking on a Dream
Posted: February 6, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, exercise, fitness, free range, Freshly Pressed is Overrated, happiness, health, hipster, karma, kettlebell, love, marathon, perspective, pilates, running, Spirituality, walking, WOD, yoga 13 CommentsThe understanding of what you actually are is far more important than the pursuit of what you should be. Why? Because in understanding what you are there begins a spontaneous process of transformation-
(We should stop here in all actuality. The quote above is tremendously poignant in today’s world.)
Consider this if you may, what if your approach to contributing to the world was based around helping others rather than helping yourself? Let’s use yoga as an example, cool?!?
Pull up your Google Machine this morning and search away: Om Yoga, YogaFit, Zen Yoga and even the patently ridiculous CrossFit Yoga. Sadly we (more times than naught) associate these forms of Yoga as pure Yoga, hardly the case.
There is only one Yoga. Yoga is a 5,000 year old spiritual discipline. Yoga is a powerful contemplative vehicle meant for each one of us who are interested in furthering our personal and spiritual journey(s). Spiritual, not physical.
Yoga is a tremendous system for helping us to reach our true potential as individuals, however, lost amongst the $$$ signs and intertwined craftily with vanity. Yoga as we know it now, is purely a physical practice that just happens (quite coincidentally) to bring spiritual awakening, while picking out arm warmers at Lululemon.
We are off to light a simple candle, chill a bit, sweat a bit … All the while exploring our true potential.
**There also happens to be these Yoga “things” called Karma Yoga (the path of action), Bhakti Yoga (the path of devotion to God) and Jnana Yoga (the path of knowledge) … Just saying.**
Notes:
We are spiritual beings who just so happen to have physical experiences, here and there … Daily, maybe?!?
Rebirth of Slick
Posted: February 5, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: Anatomy, blogging, change, exercise, Feet, fitness, flowers, Foot, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kettlebell, life, love, lululemon, marathon, motivation, natural, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, running, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, Wonder, yoga 15 CommentsOnly you can take inner freedom away from yourself, or give it to yourself. Nobody else can-
Often times in moments of stress, anxiety, injury, recovery and other negative mind states that we experience daily, it can be extremely hard to focus on positive personal development, moving forward in life. The thought of becoming a fire-breathing, trail destroying feen (or fiend) can seem far off. A goal so far out of reach given life’s everyday problems.
When was the last time you wondered like a kid? Not the crap we as adults wonder about: Fancy cars, a hot boyfriend or wife, huge house, money, run times … Are we forgetting anything? Today we challenge you to Wonder about creating a sense of perfection in whatever you choose to do. Just Wonder, nothing more. Creating daily experiences of Wonder can lead us to a sense of emotional and spiritual transcendence.
We just lost about 95% of you with the garbage above: Before you set out on your journey today, Wonder. Create an image of yourself, blanketed in love and happiness.
The Workout-
26 bones, 2 sesamoid bones, 33 joints, 19 muscles and 107 ligaments. What in the world are we talking about?!?
You can learn so much about your body and how to move properly by politely taking your shoes/socks off and going for a Walk.
Notes:
We know most of our readers stop on over daily, stay 43 seconds, click “like” and carry on with their merry lives. If you really want to change? We can help you see through the noise, pain and misery of life. How you may be asking? By learning on how to see, well … “YOU”.
Lo Fi Groove
Posted: February 4, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, crossfit, fitness, free range, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kettlebell, life, love, lululemon, marathon, motivation, natural, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, running, social media, Super Bowl, walking, whole foods, WOD, World, yoga 12 CommentsWhatever you do, it should be an expression of the same deep activity. We should appreciate what we are doing. There is no preparation for something else-
It’s amazing how some days (like today) we slowly roll out of our warm beds, rub the concrete form our eyes, wake up and the world seems beautiful, awe-inspiring at every turn, full of wonder, kindness … Pretty cool indeed. We haven’t even looked out the window to see what the true weather has in store for us. The sun shines on us this day, the future seems promising and bright, we feel healthy and energetic, and our lives are full of love.
Although other days (tomorrow) on which our life is eerily similar to the movie Groundhog Day, we roll out of bed and wake up to a sense of darkness, already believing the world is bleak, dark and ugly, that the people around us are feeble-minded newts, that the IT Band ache we have been nurturing will be the end of us, that our past weeks worth of slowing down to listen to our bodies was wasted, and our future is bleak because your pretty pink socks are in the wash … **“I can’t run today with an outfit that does not match from head to toe!”**
We are so easily swayed and affected by our caught up in the moment emotions, desires and rambling thoughts. When we fantasize about the newer, cooler purple Brooks pure connect 2’s or get caught up about the miserable fight we had last night against our body during yoga class? Tomorrow is going to suck to no end! Our lives have become similar to one long stare at the brilliant sun shining down upon us: We are ever so blinded that we simply cannot see beyond this very moment.
The Workout-
Crocodile Breathing, Dead Man Rolls, Dead Bugs, KB Arm Bars, Perfect Turkish Get Ups … Breathing goes a long way today (hint).
Notes:
At the end of the day, when we are wrapped up in bed pondering the thoughts of the last 24 hours … Few things in life appear to be as important as we think they are while we are thinking of them.
**A show of hands if you have ever uttered these words?!? Come on don’t be shy, purge your feelings this morning.**
Who did That to You
Posted: February 1, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: 5k, blogging, confidence, crossfit, exercise, fitness, free range, gluten free, happiness, Happy Hips, health, hipster, hope, intensity, jogging, kettlebell, life, love, lululemon, marathon, motivation, natural, paleo, passion, Patience, perspective, pilates, Practice, running, trail running, walking, Warm Ups, whole foods, WOD, yoga 35 CommentsMeditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away or become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already-
One mistake we often make is misunderstanding how confidence affects us, some firmly believe confidence is something you either have or you don’t have. Confidence is a skill that develops when we nurture our bodies, discover self-awareness and practice, yes practice- Confidence.
When we talk about confidence, inevitably the topic of success creeps into the conversation. It’s nearly impossible to go out and have a huge success in life and instantly gain confidence. Finishing your first marathon does not mean you have more confidence, you had enough when you clicked “submit” after filling the registration form out (in your jammies), picked out your matching running outfit, stocked up on useless fuel gels and finally showing up at the Start Line.
We preach here: little “victories” every day in your preparations and work effort. When you leave work for the weekend, the gym this afternoon, the studio … You should be able to say that you have just “won” by doing what you needed to do to achieve your long-term goal(s). Each small victory (as small as they may seem), one after another, accumulate. Moving us closer to the big victory’s in life, like making it through a 90 minute power yoga session, a 4 hour-long marathon and especially the first firm grip and foot placement at the beginning of a day long climb.
The Workout-
Our signature Happy Hips Warm Up followed by whatever you feel like doing today, enjoy.
Notes:
Confidence, did it magically fall in your lap this morning? Probably not. Take care this weekend and be well.
CultFit 