Most Noble Sangha,
okay, yesterday was the poetry,
today? the PAIN!
below are my Monthly Practice Stats for July, August, and September.
i always wondered how my Practice would uphold if i had a baby.
others made it seem like having a baby completely destroys Abhyasa (Steadfast Practice).
so far, Dewa has only deepened my Practice in sacred, impossible to describe ways.
ironically enough, eleven days after Dewa was born i attained my
Fourth Overall Podium in Four Different Sports in the calendar year of 2007.
That's not Age Group victories, youngsters, Overall Podiums:
• January - 3rd Place Overall USSSA Western Regional Snowshoe Championships
• February - 1st Place Overall; Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon
• March - 1st Place Overall; Topaten Nordic High Altitude Ski Championships (new Course Record)
• September - 3rd Place Overall; Flagstaff Marathon 10k
Clever, eh? Too bad such versatile fitness is overlooked by our Addicted to Sport Specificity world.
In fact, if my cycling season didn't suck so bad thanks to the ongoing asthma i gave myself at Topaten in March,
i maybe, just maybe could have squeaked out 5 Overall Podiums in 5 Different Sports in this calendar year.
i've pulled stunts like these throughout my life. i smile deeply when i recall when i once pulled off a Bodybuilding Podium and a 50k Mountain Running Race Podium; in the SAME MONTH! that is about as extreme a physiologic gap as a human athlete can bridge, at least in my opinion. so, yes, it feels very go(o)d to have had this banner year, my first such
one since my 10-year Dharma Mission in Los Angeles.
what makes my inner smile especially deep from this season of racing; is to have experienced and contributed to every step of the pre-natal, delivery, and post-natal Journey of my baby daughter during such a Wholistically Fit year. there was no trace of your typical obsessive/compulsive athlete in my season.
fact is; i love being a Wholistic Fitness athlete. i love being brave enough to let go of sport mastery to become a Beginner again in a new one throughout the year. i love being recognized as a cyclist by cyclists, a gym guy by gym guys, a skier by skiers, a climber by climbers, a yogi by yogis, a mountain runner by mountain runners...i like always showing up on their playing field and giving the Sport Specific addicts a run for their money. i only wish more of them would play the widespread (wholistic) game! it's lonely in a way, the Path of the WF athlete. however, the karmic, physiologic, emotive, and spiritual return on being a WF athlete instead of a Sport Specific athlete is far, far too much fun and merit-full to turn around walk downstream, along with the ego-strengthening current of the Discipline-Specific 'main-stream'. ilg prefers his little tributary of Wholistic Fitness and the body/mind symmetry and balance she imparts.
the slight dip in Cardio Hours during the month Dewa was born (September), is due to
getting off the bike -which requires longer training hours - and into mountain running and inline Ski Skate mode which mandate less training hours, something that helps a new daddy warrior!
So, may these foot-tracks inspire your own Abhyasa
and may your insights from Direct Experience of Sweat and Stillness empower your ageless life...
head bowed,
the consistent one
***
NOTE: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MIMIC THESE TRAINING VOLUMES ON MY VERY LIMITED CALORIC INTAKE!
SORRY: DUE TO HISTORY OF PEOPLE TRYING TO "KEEP UP" WITH MY TRAINING STATS AND LIMITED CALORIC INTAKE AND HURTING THEMSELVES,
MY MONTHLY PRACTICE STATS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE FOR DL SUBSCRIBERS
