Virtual Experience...
Every morning I do a little routine of exercises to stretch strength and condition... Using the furniture as my 'equipment', at the moment my 'step up box' is the loo (seat down!)
I ran an easy half an hour this morning as post race recovery run, and on my return, announced to Anadi that today would be a watching exercises day rather than doing them!
I have asked Matt Shore to be my long distance strength and conditioning coach, now that my attention is turning once more to track running and the importance of balance being prioritised...
One of the reasons I like to set goals is to alert me to any imbalances in the body, which could go unnoticed if not revealed by extending my movement...
Stretching out of our familiar patterns in any arena can reveal where we are stuck or energy is blocked...
This doesn't mean we need to be doing things not energetically suited to us... But when we try something new and it brings up embarrassment or tension, the stuck or blocked energy is not the difficulty we may have with a new skill... It is in the tension that arises because of this...
And it is of course totally okay to not do something if it is not for us...
It is in noticing whether we feel any oughts or shoulds or not good enoughs
In seeking in every moment to drop through the spaces between our thoughts, there will be no tension at all.
If we make everything a meditation, and notice where our worries arise, our stiff moments whether that be our hips or in perhaps learning a new task or skill on our computer; or instead of getting caught up with the issue, if we 'press pause', drop through the worry into the place of stillness that is within us all, then the next step is a soft one, a light tread...
Matt is an excellent trainer and has sent me three different routines to do this week, with videos to go with them to make sure I know what I am doing...!
When he thought up some ideas for my training he hadn't read the blog I wrote recently, where I explored how 'going fast in any area of life can hide where the imbalances are...
And yet this is what he wrote to me with reference to planning a suitable routine for me...
'Thinking about running and what I have recently learnt - the human body does movements fast to hide weakness and to power through without full engagement.
I have learnt that slowing movements right down is the key to re-learning movement and re-mastering the skill of movement and control'
And so I watched the videos Matt sent me yesterday in the coffee bar crowded with runners, so I couldn't hear but got an idea...
I am now about to watch them again with the luxury of headphones...
I love what he has set me...
And it is resonate with this journey being one of meditation in action and investigation into the areas within me that are stuck and out of balance...
I have also been in dialogue with my friend Si, it is his birthday today, and we were agreeing about the beauty of San Sebastián, despite for Si, the presence of torrential rain when he was last here...
Si owns the wine bar 'Ten Green Bottles' in Brighton, where I am holding my book launch and he has directed me to a blog he wrote about a superb bar in this City...
And so my plan now is to look at Matt's exercises and read about the bar...
An hour of virtual experiencing...
And tomorrow I will action the exercises, and may well be drawn to seek out the bar...!
