Spring Vibes
Posted: April 4, 2014 Filed under: Random Workout, Yoga | Tags: Bliss, blogging, compassion, freshly pressed, happiness, health, hope, India, life, Light, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, philosophy, Poetry, simplicity, social media, William Quan Judge, writing, yoga 6 Comments…
Walking within the garden of his heart, the pupil suddenly came upon the Master, and was glad, for he had but just finished a task in His service which he hastened to lay at His feet.
“See, Master,” said he, “this is done; now give me another teaching to do.”
The Master looked upon him sadly yet indulgently, as one might upon a child which can not understand.
“There are already many to teach intellectual conceptions of the Truth,” he replied. “Thinkest thou to serve best by adding thyself to their number?”
The pupil was perplexed.
“Ought we not to proclaim the Truth from the very housetops, until the whole world shall have heard?” he asked.
“And then-”
“Then the whole world will surely accept it.”
“Nay,” replied the Master, “the Truth is not of the intellect, but of the heart. See!”
The pupil looked, and saw the Truth as though it were a White Light, flooding the whole earth; yet none reaching the green and living plants which so sorely needed its rays, because of dense layers of clouds intervening.
“The clouds are the human intellect,” said the Master. “Look again.”
Intently gazing, the pupil saw here and there faint rifts in the clouds, through which the Light struggled in broken, feeble beams. Each rift was caused by a little vortex of vibrations, and looking down through the openings thus made the pupil perceived that each vortex had its origin in a human heart.
Only by adding to and enlarging the rifts will the Light ever reach the earth, said the Master. “Is it best, then, to pour out more Light upon the clouds, or to establish a vortex of heart force? The latter thou must accomplish unseen and unnoticed, and even unthanked. The former will bring thee praise and notice among men. Both are necessary: both are Our work; but – the rifts are so few! Art strong enough to forego the praise and make of thyself a heart center of pure impersonal force?”
The pupil sighed, for it was a sore question.
A Gentle Dissolve
Posted: March 31, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, freshly pressed, Gentle, gluten free, happiness, hipster, kettlebell, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, nebraska, Omaha, paleo, passion, pilates, Power Yoga, running, trail running, walking, whole foods, WOD, writing, yoga, Zen 10 CommentsNothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength-
“Slow down, you move too fast … Life, I love you, All is groovy.”
…
Can you recall the last time you were in love, with life? Noticing the subtle – yet profound flowers blossoming from the dormant grass below ?
During lunch with a close friend this past Friday, I struggled to put into words this exact thought: When was the last time you fell in love with life. All of us have become multitasking savants, hastily doing no fewer than three things at once. Making breakfast while texting about the NCAA tournament and updating a post we have been working on for a few weeks. Our minds are literally filled to capacity, overflowing with “things“. When does the Sun rise tomorrow? The Sun does rise – right? Why does Windows take so long to boot? What’s the forecast for this weekend? Am I out of shape? I look bloated! What if I perform poorly in yoga class, my next 5k? This latte is too much, are they stealing my debit card information? Will it snow tomorrow? I need to book an appointment to have my nails did – done – whatever? What time is it, do I have time to workout/run/swim?
Time is flat, circular and restrictive. We continually arrive back at the same point, with a gadget of some sort close by.
Can you recall the last time you went for a leisurely walk after dinner? The “garden of life” variety of walk that didn’t involve a pedometer, taking a selfie or tweeting to the masses the calories you burned, and all the “other” information we vitally need to live.
Daily Meditation:
If you can name the song and artist that set the gentle tone for the post today,without using your Google Machine – You win a prize or something! All, truly is groovy!!!
Moose in the Morning
Posted: March 27, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Bliss, blogging, Buddhism, freshly pressed, happiness, health, kindness, life, love, May Sarton, meditation, Moose, Morning, musings, nature, Omaha, passion, Poetry, writing, yoga, Zen 4 Comments…
Oh wild and gentle beast,
Immense antlered shape,
This morning in the meadow!
Like something ancient, lost
And found now, promise kept,
Emerging from the shadow,
Emerging while I slept—
Wilderness and escape!
You set me free to shirk
The day’s demanding work
And cast my guilt away.
You make a truant of me
This moose-enchanted day
When all I can is see,
When all I am is this
Astonishment and bliss.
Urban Buddhism
Posted: March 24, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Bliss, blogging, Buddhism, Commuting, compassion, cycling, exercise, fitness, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, joy, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, nature, nebraska, Omaha, passion, perspective, simplicity, writing, yoga, Zen 13 CommentsKeep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you-
” … Get your bike off of my road asshole!!!”
Last summer I built up an old Jamis road bike in order to make it more efficient and useful for commuting back and forth from work. For me – This is the perfect way to get a bit more exercise, heal and rehab some old injuries, save a couple precious dollars on gas, and in all honesty – I enjoy the ride, alone, the peace and quiet of spinning along in the early light. (I’ll save my rant about saving the environment for later this summer)
On my afternoon ride two Thursdays ago … I was waiting at an intersection near home for the light to change, when an Audi Q7 (affectionately adorned with five look at how many kids I have created stickers in the rear window) squeezed past me to get to the front of the line. The “kids” driving turned sharply in front of my front wheel and the driver kindly shared her advice mentioned at the beginning of the post.
My first reaction was one of slight amusement, as an avid cyclist, events like these happen all too often. I was simply waiting to cross the last intersection after a long day of work, when out of nowhere I was called some rather amateurish names. Instead of reacting, I simply crossed the street when the light changed, and then gently rode home.
When I arrived home and started to remove my helmet, I thought for a moment what was shared with me 15 minutes earlier … The recalcitrant behavior of our society is nauseating.
Daily Meditation:
Why do so many people feel the need to make these kinds of remarks in the first place? I’ll share with you my theory as to why: There are critical thinking flaws present in the way we live our lives, especially pertaining to unwarranted inferences from others.
A Lonely Quest
Posted: March 12, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Bliss, cultfit, Education, freshly pressed, Lonliness, love, meditation, Mindfulness, nebraska, Omaha, religion, Serenity, Spirituality, thank you, WordPress, writing, yoga, Zen 2 CommentsDo your work, then step back. The only path to serenity-
*I wrote this post during a brief stop, riding a century one scoring hot weekend last summer in Nebraska. I’m not sure why I didn’t publish it at the time, maybe I was on to something, or maybe not. It’s safe to say that I walk a path in this beautiful world differently than most, and this philosophy carries over into how I help folks to compete, not on the road – but rather in this thing called life*
I am fortunate and humbled by the amazing people I get to talk with each day. The most captivating, and certainly the most personal moments occur when we struggle to “spit it out“, to put into words the thoughts that lie at the very edge of our ability to put them forth as meaningful words, a dense conversation full of wonder and meaning. Each of us has experienced the feeling of straining, against the very limit(s) of putting our thoughts into words, or even these well intended thoughts into actions.
I’m here, with this tiny little blog-o-thing, to help you break through … Unfortunately, no one is listening. The Hedonic Treadmill keeps chugging along.
Opening people’s eyes to the real benefits of yoga and training athletes is more than just enhancing their ability in a tangible way (inflated numbers – fleeting results), but rather – developing deeper thinking, a curious mind and wondering too. This really bothers me, deeply. You know what? It flat-out pisses me off … If you can’t think what you can’t say? Don’t put your thoughts into action – with only half your heart. I’m comfortable saying for the first time on this platform, that I am gently leading you on a journey for more words, deeper thought and wondering, exploring different ways to say, see and doing “things“.
Many of us are comfortably corralled within the limits of our power of thought, speech and outward actions. We don’t think anything we can’t say and we can’t say much. The truth of the matter, we don’t even come close to doing the things we can do, and we certainly don’t do much. More often than naught, a closed mind isn’t stubborn, just stunted in its ability to grow, in hibernation so to speak. I feel the same way in-regards to how we live in this byzantine world we called home now-a-days.
Daily Meditation:
To get by in the ultra competitive world we live in, all we need is a few things to think and say, a few things to do, and a few ways to stop our thoughts from running beyond what we’ve already thought.
I feel my work here is done, be well and do take care.
CultFit 