i carry your heart with me

Posted: October 24, 2013 | Author: CultFit | Filed under: Random Workout, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, cycling, E.E. Cummings, exercise, family, fitness, free range, freshly pressed, gluten free, green, happiness, health, Heart, hipster, hope, John Clare, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, Poetry, Prose, running, trail running, walking, whole foods, writing, yoga | 4 Comments

…

i carry your heart with me
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go, my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)

since feeling is first
since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don’t cry
—the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids’ flutter which says

we are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life’s not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis

– E.E. Cummings

Espac(I)o

Posted: October 23, 2013 | Author: CultFit | Filed under: Random Workout, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, cycling, exercise, freshly pressed, friends, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, Physical exercise, pilates, Podium, recovery, running, space, trail running, whole foods, writing, yoga | 7 Comments

We are not supposed to all be the same, feel the same, think the same, and believe the same. The key to continued expansion of our Universe lies in diversity, not in conformity and coercion. Conventionality is the death of creation-

As kind, passionate human beings, our curious minds, when unclouded and unburdened, can create limitless ideas to change the world. However, to engage in such inspiring thoughts, we must first clear some space between our ears to do so.

Meditation is a powerful, yet simple tool to remove blocked energies in our minds. It requires letting go of that which no longer serves us. But first, we have to identify what those “things” are.

In my case, it was trail running and racing, competing to win. My body and my family suffered greatly over the last three years due to my attention being elsewhere. As many of you know, running can be easy enough to start and enjoy, although to maintain conditioning, to be in the best possible position to win takes a great effort. After many years, I finally let go of running-competing that had meant so much to me, once upon a time, my own personal fairy tale. My weary body had limped across one too many finish lines, leaving a hole in my heart where self-love and compassion could have resided.

To fill the void left by turning away from what I thought I loved, I entertained feelings of remorse, regret and apology, as if I owed those around me something better than what I had to give them through boasting about a podium finish …

Yet the strangest “thing” occurred recently. I shed a single tear of farewell, then set about cleaning up other space(s) in my world that had experienced equal neglect: my beautiful and cool son, my bikes that needed more attention than a glancing stare walking past them in the garage, my $$$ yoga mat rolled up neatly in the living room. Having experienced the delightful levity of a space.

Notes:

I’m starting to take my dreams seriously, clearing space so that they have room to grow. Be well today, and please take care.

(A) Visit

Posted: October 22, 2013 | Author: CultFit | Filed under: Random Workout, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, cycling, exercise, gluten free, happiness, health, hipster, hope, kettlebell, kindness, Knee, life, love, lululemon, marathon, medicine, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, Orthopedic, pain, Pain management, paleo, passion, Patella, perspective, recovery, running, Surgery, trail running, whole foods, writing, yoga | 6 Comments

It’s not time to worry yet-

Dear Readers, since Summer has surrendered to the beauty of the Fall, I have been obsessing over my left knee as the days grow shorter and the nights increasingly grow colder. I feel nothing different in it. It doesn’t hurt as much as before, just some clicking and popping – the occasional swelling reminding me to slow down and rest. And yet, in the past, I have had severe, tear inducing pain underneath where my left index finger rests this morning. A few months ago (July maybe …) after doing too much physically during class, cycling with no intention or purpose: In essence ignoring my body, I had the same feelings, in the same spot of my surgery. I obsessively spent countless hours rubbing and massaging around the medial side of my left patella, the femoral notch, the spot on your lovers knee that you place your hand while driving one Fall morning to pick apples … I did this to the point of bruising the still tender soft tissue where my surgeon ripped my knee apart.

Last evening while reading Siddhartha, cuddled up with my Son lying on the floor, nothing is going on. no pain, Yet in my mind I feel like I feel something, in the sense of sensing something is wrong. I feel like I sense something there, like an old friend paying a visit after a long journey …

Which reminds me of something. It’s about “some” dude who visited a friend recently, “Right here.” I He said, jabbing, poking at the exact spot. The ~~doctor~~ friend replied, looking directly in my unwavering eyes, “have you been doing this a lot?” “What do you mean by this?” I replied, jabbing and prodding at the incision points insistently.

“Yes. Said the doctor. “Yes,” she said.

Notes:

My friend looked me in my eyes once again, her hand placed on my knee with care and softly spoke … “Stop doing that – Dude.”

(e)Strecho

Posted: October 21, 2013 | Author: CultFit | Filed under: Random Workout, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, Dhāraṇā, friends, gluten free, Gravel, happiness, health, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, mind, motivation, musings, Namaste, natural, nature, non-attachment, Omaha, paleo, passion, perspective, pilates, Practice, Practices, Religion and Spirituality, running, trail running, whole foods, WOD, writing, yoga, Yoga Wisdom | 9 Comments

Look around you. Everything changes. Everything on this earth is in a continuous state of evolving, refining, improving, adapting, enhancing…changing. You were not put on this earth to remain stagnant-

There is much more to yoga than twisting into poses on a sweaty, $95 Prana Revolution yoga mat early one Sunday morning.

Quick example, one of the ways of applying yogic principles away from our mat is by developing non-attachment, focusing on what we are doing in the moment … Practicing not getting caught up in the drama and uncertainty swirling around us. When we practice yoga in class, we are reminded to breathe into the movement, release tension, surrender, disconnecting our mind from discomfort. Practicing non-attachment away from our practice allows us to disconnect our mind, from wanting “things” to be different and worrying about the future. Our mind(s) is then free to stretch, explore, and tap their true creativity.

Is complete non-attachment in today’s world realistic? Are you reading this post on your iPhone? Our innate sense of control is an illusion at times. Disappointment in life is inevitable, although pursuing and actively seeking to develop a strong practice of non-attachment can help us realize that we don’t have to choose to get stuck, mired in a bog of cynicism and hopelessness.

Notes:

Hidden within our narrow focus, among the 8 Limbs of Yoga, lies ishvara-pranidhana, which is a way to explore staying connected to something larger than ourselves. Non-attachment is just one varietal of surrender, where we recognize no one can truly control the events of our day or other people in our lives.