on the pavement.
and in the mountains.
in the vastness of the lake.
in connection with the bar on the squat rack……
the practice is Harmony.
currently, my favorite sound is the symphony of shoes hitting the pavement. there’s something special about it.
there is always a moment that i can feel the palpable shift from ‘this is challenging’ to ‘this is it’. for me, it’s just part of the practice. while i can sit for hours in silence, my most embodied and meditative practice of presence asks movement to guide me home. so i move often. i call it the practice of dynamic stillness. everything is always moving. i enjoy being in the dance of that.
speaking of movement, the last few weeks, my ‘training’ for ironman has looked like being upside down so that my hip was most supported in its healing process. it’s looked like days of resistance to the process. being upside down is quite literally a completely different perspective to live life in. training has also looked like surrender to the fourth (or first or fifth) discipline of triathlon - rest.
it was in this place that i remembered that i am a natural swimmer. my physical therapy support requested that i hang up my sneakers completely for weeks and deeply decrease my cycling. so i was left with swimming (without kicking). in a matter of weeks, i went from barely getting 10 yards in the pool to swimming 2200 yards nonstop in the lake. the ‘injury’ was part of the training. my body has been learning to move in new ways. this called for a shift in my body to honor my desires. it can be seen as injury. i see it as alignment.
detours can be acknowledged as alternate paths. perhaps, they can be seen as options that were once less appealing. and really, detour in itself is just a perspective. the practice is to be alive and aware in the process.
the practice will always lead to the destination. the destination is always the practice.
here we are.
and well, what i know is that practice is the medicine.
it is from this place that i share in abundance. i share a short form of my practice every day via text and i am playing around with sharing a weekly practice here.
right now, that looks like tuesday at 11:42a in whatever time zone my body resides.
and oh the places we will go.
will you practice with me?