Attention
Posted: October 18, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: Attention, blogging, Buddha, compassion, cycling, fitness, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, holistic, hope, kindness, life, love, meditation, motivation, musings, New Age, Omaha, Practice, Religion and Spirituality, running, trail running, wellness, whole foods, yoga, Zen 10 CommentsI am not absentminded. It is the presence of mind that makes me unaware of everything else-
It never fails folks. I string together a series of post(s) discussing spirituality, intimacy, love, passion, yoga, meditation, mindfulness and inevitably the emails come pouring in with such graceful comments like:
“All this stuff you have been trying to talk about – comes naturally. Especially intimacy and physical relationships. If you need instructions on how to enjoy these, something is wrong with you.”
What is the underlying reason that discussing our feelings, no matter what they may be – Rattles our cage so much?
There are those among us (check your blog role and yoga studio) who solely identify themselves as spiritual simply by observing holy practices, being a natural lover, super flexible and sporting the latest fashion trends. This behavior Dear Reader? Is akin to calling ourselves athletes when we are merely spectators of a sport …
Are you a fan (short for fanatic), a spectator of yoga, cycling, sex, running, walking – whatever? Or are you a participant?
Embracing a spiritual life requires participation over observation for the encounter, surrendering to a spiritual transformation.
Notes:
Have a beautiful weekend and please take care.
Thought(S)
Posted: October 9, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: blogging, compassion, Critical thinking, culture, cycling, exercise, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, happiness, health, Intelligence, intuition, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, mind, Mindfulness, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, recovery, Religion and Spirituality, rest, running, Social psychology, Thought, whole foods, WOD, writing, yoga 5 CommentsIf you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people-
We tend to naturally treat some of our thoughts as superior to others. Moment of honesty folks – All of us at one time or another believed we were smarter and superior to those around us … At times these intuitions guide us fairly well and during other times, rather poorly. Gather around if you like, as I lament, once again about honing our intuition and judgment …
As much as we tend to think our perfect little lives are well – perfect. Our intuitions and actions have evolved, we have learned subtle adaptations honed slowly to fit the “imperfect” world we live in.
Touching on mindfulness once again … I firmly believe mindfulness is best cultivated through critical thinking, through taking inventory of our weaknesses, the places where we’re naturally prone to misinterpret reality. Thinking Slowly and Diligently rather than Fast and Easy. I – We automatically favor thinking fast, it’s what we have been programmed to do after all! We favor the path of least resistance, although with practice we can make the harder path easier … That’s why we do what we do right? We meditate because its easy, we perform yoga because we are super flexible, we max out the leg abductor machine because its easy, we write touching blog posts about painful situations we are too scared to confront in real life, it’s why we argue with loved ones via text than face to face, held close – The easier path …
Mindfulness practice is easy. Breathing is just being. It takes courage to let go of a pesky thought, the ability to say, “I’m thinking way too much about this” and to ultimately – let go, surrender.
Notes:
I wish more people would allow mindfulness to expose the “sad but true” moments in their lives. I passionately do … Be well today and please take care.
Ground(ED)
Posted: October 2, 2013 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: Alternative, Anahata, blogging, Chakra, compassion, cycling, Earth, energy, family, free range, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, Muladhara, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, perspective, pilates, Religion and Spirituality, running, Sahasrara, Sanskrit, simplicity, trail running, Walk, whole foods, WOD, writing, yoga 8 CommentsThe body, she says, is subject to the force of gravity. But the soul is ruled by levity, pure-
I often get asked how I retain a calm center when all that I know, all that I have been taught, all that I have so diligently built over the years, centered on “performance” and “perfection” appears to be slowly falling away as I get older – not wiser mind you, older?
You may feel personally challenged on multiple fronts today: A recent spat of dealing with injury – again, stressing too much about an upcoming race, yoga pants riding up on you during class, family matters, school and the old standby: Work. You may feel un-grounded.
Grounding yourself is a way to build a relationship with the Earth, that “thing” beneath your sparkly toes. Grounding ourselves means actively choosing to make a conscious connection between your self and the source of your life force energy. Breaking News: Your job, online relationship status and how many sun salutations you can do in a row are not your true source of life force energy. Grounding provides our spirit with precise GPS coordinates on our physical body.
Spirit —> Body
Notes-
Discovering our root center connects us directly to the pure essence of the Earth—not to the physical surface of the Earth where our daily lives are played out, but rather the living, breathing entity of Earth.
*The inspiration for this tedious post came as challenge from a friend: Explain Chakra, without using the word Chakra and make it digestible for “common folks” … How did I do?*
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.
CultFit 