Decay
Posted: July 15, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, ego, exercise, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kindness, life, love, lululemon, Manipulation, marathon, meditation, motivation, natural, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, running, walking, whole foods, WOD, yoga 11 CommentsI would prefer not to-
Many, many issues in life arise when the self-centered aspect of our being, our ego, goes unchecked and uncontrolled. Manipulation … Let’s take a moment to say this aloud: Manipulation.
Manipulation is the preferred means of the ego in order for it to get what it wants, no matter the cost or damage incurred. Manipulation in a physical form can be seen all around this lovely Monday morning. Peek in on a yoga class and you’ll see well-intentioned folks pushing, gushing negative energy, simply not “being”. Manipulation in a physical form can be seen at the local trail head as well, ace bandages covering throbbing, painful injuries. Knee braces supporting a weakened limb, headphones and devices tuning out the present moment.
If we seek diligently enough, maybe in a misty bathroom mirror … Manipulation can be seen to work on the emotional level as well. Bending us, forcing us to meet the manipulator(s) desires.
Notes:
Manipulation on both an emotional and physical level blocks us from being free, ourselves and destroys our free will.
Being Me*
Posted: July 10, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: exercise, family, fitness, freshly pressed, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, paleo, passion, pilates, running, walking, WOD, yoga 32 CommentsMake your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything-
Over the past couple years of writing this blog-o-thing, I have alluded a few times to having chosen vulnerability as a path of spiritual practice for myself. Most recently when I wrote about the freedom of committing to a path, I wasn’t expecting to be pushed back to the very beginning. This is precisely what happened to me last weekend.
Last Saturday I was exposed to a unique set of circumstances that took some effort on my part to digest. Years of gentle practice has enabled me to go beyond my old, persistent way of being too hard on myself, pushing too far and letting my ego roam free. For the most part, I felt enormous tenderness towards the situation I put myself in. Every time I think of the pain I have caused myself and others, I feel an inner cringe. I’m not much fun to be around when I am so preoccupied with my fleeting thoughts; I feel less free, less open, less capable of loving. Where can I go to get relief?
In this moment, writing at ease, calm about the pain I subjected myself to. I am not in the least bit surprised at the events that occurred. One of the areas of challenging ourselves and changing behavior(s) for me personally is that I can revert back, in a split second, when I am under a lot of stress, when I am trying to ask my body to do something it physically cannot do … To a very dangerous place. Looking back now, all it means is that in certain challenging moments, I thought I was more present than I actually was.
I strive to share kindness towards myself and towards others. Why is this so hard?
Notes:
Now, as I am wrapping up this post, the confusion I so often have when I write about my personal struggles surfaces again. Why would anyone be interested in the intricacies of some random old dude’s life? How could this blog be of any meaning to anyone exploring a spiritual path?
Today Dear Reader, I see that new path arises off in the distance: How can I help you (and myself) embrace the possibility that some people may respond with love and appreciation? Please take a moment to read my heartfelt question again: How can I embrace the possibility of love and appreciation? How can I allow myself to take it in, to enjoy it, to rest in it?
* Tired, broken and completely laid bare … I place the future of CultFit in your hands.
(I) Remember
Posted: July 2, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, compassion, exercise, happiness, healing, health, hipster, hope, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, musings, natural, Omaha, passion, pilates, running, whole foods, WOD, Wounds, yoga 8 CommentsAfter nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world-
I don’t think I’ve been gentle enough around other people’s vulnerable, exposed wounds. Mainly because my short coming for all these years is that I have a tendency to get all self-righteous, to make myself “superior” to people once I’ve seen them in a vulnerable position. I make myself “right” and others “wrong” and then my ego convinces me that I shouldn’t have to walk on eggshells around someone else’s wounds, I should step all over them. I used do this all the time when I would first learn of someone’s weakness while competing … Seeing a runner ahead on the trail struggling to finish the last few miles, pulling away from the pack during a mountain bike race, watching someone struggle with an advance pose during yoga class, knowing I could do better, I would show them how its “done” or whatever that is supposed to mean.
Sometimes though, walking gently around someone’s raw wound(s) is the perfect opportunity to practice compassion and to demonstrate love. Not only towards ourselves but to other kind folks as well.
This Dear Reader, is my wound to work on. Maybe one of you could put arnica oil on it for me? Just being compassionate with this side of myself, the side I’m not so proud of, is a good start. Slowly over the years the lights have flickered on… No longer am I blind to how I created my own suffering for so long.
Notes:
May you find this post in light, probably on a tablet or whatever the kids call them these days. Take care and be well!
Auot Pilot
Posted: June 28, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: acceptance, Blame, blogging, exercise, fitness, Forgiveness, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, musings, paleo, pilates, running, whole foods, WOD, yoga 7 CommentsFor after all, the best thing one can do when it is raining is let it rain-
The single most important practice we can cultivate is gentleness towards ourselves. Yes, even more important than a regular yoga practice, healthy eating habits and “exercise“. Cultivating gentleness is especially important when we discover, once again, that we have tripped and fallen, head first, into a pattern of reaction instead of making well thought out choice(s). Sadly, we are more likely to react to prior injuries rearing their ugly head once again, falling off the diet train and sitting on the couch marinating in self-pity. By constantly putting the blame back on ourselves, we fail to open our warm beating hearts to our own human fallibility, accepting exactly where we are in this amazing world.
As part of this comforting engagement with ourselves, we tap into our curiosity and try to formulate reasons as to why our energy is drawn to placing blame. Why do we place such importance on blame, especially given that placing blame is against so many other values we are trying to develop?
What we discover today, this weekend maybe, can help us dampen the blame we throw towards ourselves.
Notes:
Blaming ourselves and others is re-markedly easy, gravitating towards acceptance on the other hand? Is not.
A few of the posts next week will be about me, the humble dude that writes this blog-o-thing. I have been reluctant to do this for many reasons, the most important of which is: I loathe talking about myself, its boring and dreadful. But, for the sake of where these posts originate I fell its important to give you some context. Be well this weekend and please take care!
The Waking
Posted: June 27, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: Arts, healing, Legacy Pilates and More, life, Literature, love, meditation, nebraska, Omaha, passion, pilates, Poems, Poetry, Prose, Reiki, Theodore Roethke, yoga 3 CommentsI wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.
We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.
Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.
This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.
Theodore Roethke, The Collected Poems
Notes:
I would like to share with you a special, inspiring event this coming Saturday at Legacy Pilates Yoga and More. Come join me as we rejuvenate our mind, body and spirit in good ‘ole Omaha, Nebraska! If you are interested in attending please leave a comment below and I will get you all the info you could ever want. Take care today and please be well!
CultFit 